The pub popular with 'rough navvies' working on the River Weaver

The nearest pub, the present Horns Inn, existed but is now closed and being renovated for other businesses.

At the time, The Horns was the nearest pub to the locks, and it served the main road from Tarporley to Warrington - now the A49.

Its owners, the Drinkwaters, opposed the lock's building, and they were even less happy about the rough navvies brought in to do the work on the river.

Near the Horns stood Knowle House Farm, and the farmer Joseph Hayes saw the opportunity to cash in.

He started to sell ale to the navvies, and the small ale house, which he called the Acton Bridge, prospered.

In around 1760, the present Leigh Arms was constructed over the road from the old ale house, and it continued to do well, retaining the name the Acton Bridge.

The former Horns pub as Italian restaurant Bella Napoli (Image: Paul Hurley)

When men hauled the flatboats along the river, they used the pub as a 'watering hole', and later when horses took their place, stables were erected to change the horses.

In 1828 it was a staging post for the packet boats that ran from James Gibson's Wharf in Northwich to Frodsham, and it was classed as a 'Packet Inn'.

When Dutton locks were constructed between 1875 and 1878, the pub still welcomed the 'rough navvies'.

There were many complaints from the locals about late-night carousing, the precursor of the present binge drinking!

The word Acton was dropped, and it became known as The Bridge.

During this time, the licensee was Henry Bowers, who took over the license in 1871 from his mother.

One night he took his dog for a walk by the river; it was his last walk on this earth. The following morning his battered body was found floating against the lock; his dog was never found!

The murder was never detected, even by the Special Constables who had been brought in to patrol the area and control the drunken navvies.

Acton Bridge from above showing the old route across the stone bridge (Image: Paul Hurley)

The pub remained in the tenancy of the Bowers family, and in 1882 Thomas Bowers took over.

Not a very good businessman, he soon got into financial difficulties, and in 1891 Lord Leigh, the owner, took it back, put in a new licensee, and changed the name to The Leigh Arms.

In 1918 the Little Leigh Estate was sold, including the pub. It was bought by Mathew and Joseph Cunningham, who later sold it in 1938 to the Burtonwood brewery.

The present swing bridge, constructed like the Northwich ones, was designed and built by John Saner.

It was opened on the November 27, 1933, with some aligning of the main road. Over the preceding years, other swing bridges crossed the river; the earliest was built in 1751 via the present stone bridge.

At that time, the road went close to the front of the Leigh Arms and along the side of the old Horns exiting onto the present A49.

The pub went from strength to strength. In 1979 it was extended by the brewery and has undergone further upgrading.

If I can suggest a pleasant Sunday activity, it would be to pass the Leigh Arms along Willowgreen Lane at the side.

Join the canal at the bridge and walk along the towpath to the Barnton tunnel.

Coss, the tunnel, follow the path down to the River Weaver and the Saltersford locks and walk back along the river to the Leigh Arms, where a Sunday lunch awaits.