The A5147 follows the Leeds & Liverpool Canal through a largely rural tract of West Lancashire. The road has been renumbered several times: starting out as the B5196 it soon became the A598 and then became part of the A567 in 1935. It kept this number for a longer period but finally became the A5147 in the 1970s. The southern end, in Maghull, was the A59 until that road was moved onto the bypass in the 1930s.
Northbound traffic on the A59 can turn off just to the north of the canal bridge onto the A5147; this is one-way here and no other movements are available. The road has to give way to the southern branch of the B5422, after which it continues north to traffic lights where it meets the northern branch of the B5422 and the mainline of the A5147 which heads east to traffic lights on the A59 where all movements are permitted.
The A5147 near Downholland
We continue north along the residential Liverpool Road North before bearing left by the Methodist Church (the B5407 continues to the right back to the A59). We continue through the suburb of Lydiate before crossing the Leeds & Liverpool Canal shortly before reaching open fields. After passing two churches (the first RC, the second Anglican), both large and apparently isolated, we reach Downholland Cross where there's a brief multiplex with the B5195 over the canal. In pre-A5147 days the canal bridge was slightly to the south and so the junction looked more like a crossroads.
We soon cross the canal again and run parallel to it about a quarter of a mile away, passing through the village of Halsall. Just as the canal starts to bear off to the right our road ends at a T-junction on the A570 on the edge of Scarisbrick.