The Bridgewater
Canal received Royal Assent on 23rd March 1759, and was to be
the forerunner of all modern canals. It was to follow a route
which would be independent of all other watercourses.
Francis Egerton, the 3rd
Duke of Bridgewater conceived the idea as a way to move coal from
his mines in Worsley into Manchester - a way he believed would
be quicker and cheaper. In the event he spent over £20 million
on its construction, and only raised £8 million in revenue.
His engineers were to be James
Brindley, who later built the Trent
& Mersey Canal, and by John Gilbert. Originally there were
some 40 miles of underground canals running deep into the mines,
some on different levels and linked by ingenious incline planes.
This whole system was fully operational until the late nineteenth
century. In 1762, Egerton obtained consent to extend his canal
to Runcorn and to join it to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Preston
Brook. The route between Liverpool and Manchester was opened in
1776, though Brindley died before it was completed. Finally, in
1795 the line was linked with the Leeds
& Liverpool Canal at Leigh.
Although Egerton, knownlater as "the Canal Duke",
lost a fortune in his investment, he finally began to recoup his
money in ripe old age, to die, happily, a rich man again. The
canal was purchased for £1,120,000 in 1872 by the newly formed
Bridgewater Navigation Company, and they in turn sold it to the
Manchester Ship Canal Company in 1885.
Aerial
View Bridgewater Canal & Old Packet House, Worsley. Aerial
Photo Courtesy of www.webbaviation.co.uk
© 2005
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
The building
of the Manchester
Ship Canal necessitated the removal of Brindley's stone aqueduct
over the River Irwell, and its replacement by the present Barton
Swing Aqueduct. This is a steel trough enclosed by gates at both
ends, and pivoted on an island in the Ship Canal, about which
it rotates to allow ships passage on the Ship Canal beneath. The
weight of water carried by the aqueduct amounts to 1500 tons.
The Bridgewater canal continued to carry working traffic until
1974, for its branches pass through the heart of Trafford Park,
Manchester's huge industrial estate, where large companies, such
as Kelloggs and Courtaulds, still manufacture produce. By the
time that trade ceased on the canal, it was carrying 10,000 tons
of American grain a year into Trafford Park . As the canal approaches
Manchester, there are close-up views of the Ship Canal and of
Salford Quays, as well as a circuit of Manchester United's Old
Trafford Football Stadium, before arriving at Castlefield Basin,
and the end of the Bridgewater Canal. Today, as with most inland
waterways, its only business is in pleasure craft.
