UK's world-famous Victorian engineering marvel people still visit 150 years later

One of Britain's lesser-known landmarks is a feat of Victorian engineering that still stands 150 years later, as it celebrates a milestone anniversary on the UK waterways.

The Anderton Boat Lift, also nicknamed the Cathedral of the Canals, is a lift in a Cheshire town that works to let both boats and barges rise 50 ft, around 15 metres, from the Weaver Navigation Canal, connecting to both the Trent and Mersey Canal. While it currently stands out of action for a slight repair, it remains just one of the two serving boat lifts in the entirety of the UK.

Now, locals are celebrating its 150th year on the water, as people continue to visit and watch it in action all these years later. Although its rich history all began with salt, as Cheshire played a huge part in producing salt for centuries, with the opening of the Weaver Navigation in 1732.

Boatmaster at Anderton Boat Lift, Andrew Fielding, explained the area's early beginnings in the industry, telling theBBC: "That put the canal and river in competition with each other, and the lift is basically here because of that competition."

According to him, goods were moved between the waterways using chutes and inclines, but in the 1870s they moved on to bigger and better things. He told them: "The lift was designed and built to transfer narrowboats from the canal to the river - and indeed big enough to carry barges as well back up - but principally narrowboats onto the river to transfer goods down here and then onwards to Liverpool and around the world."

In 1875, when the Anderton Boat Lift opened, it was a revolutionary creation, the first of its kind, although it began to fall out of use by the 1960s as road transport grew. With little need for commercial use, it was the beginning of its downfall, before the final closure in 1983 following corrosion issues.

With locals keen to keep the landmark alive, they garnered enough support to give the lift a new lease of life and helped to fund a major restoration project. After years of misuse, the Anderton Boat Lift reopened in 2002 and, as a part of its grand reveal, was paid a visit by King Charles, then Prince Charles, a year later.

Fielding explained the boat's significance outside of the UK, and the impact it has had globally has been quite important," he claims. Its unique design inspired the creation of other lifts across Europe in the likes of France and Belgium, as well as one operating in Canada that is twice the size.

"We even get a mention on the world's most modern boat lift on the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Dam. That's a huge boat lift, carrying boats of a gross tonnage of around 3,000 tonnes. Our little 35-tonne boat is down there on the river, so we're talking about major engineering, and they mention the boat lift here at Anderton," he told the BBC.

In the present day, the boat lift still firmly remains a significant part of locals' lives, especially those living on and near the water, as they regularly rely on the lift. Jerry Marshall is a resident living next to the River Weaver and opened up to the BBC about its importance to the area.

He said: "It's kind of embarrassing we're celebrating the 150th anniversary when it isn't actually working... It's part of our very important heritage - it is unique. There's nothing like it in the world - it's very, very important. It's very special."