Bridgewater Canal

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Bridgewater Canal map

legend Leeds and Liverpool Canal Leigh Bridge (St Helens Road) Start of Bridgewater Canal Crane Bedford Basin Mather Lane Bridge Butt's Bridge Butt's Basin Hall House Bridge Great Fold Bridge (Surrey Avenue) Marsland Green Bridge A580 East Lancs Road Lingard's Footbridge. Astley Bridge Astley Green Colliery Museum Vicar's Hall Bridge Boothshall Bridge Boothstown Bridge Boothstown Basin Bittern Pits Wood, M60 J13 slip M60 motorway Barton Road Worsley Packet House Worsley Delph branch Entrance to mines Iron Footbridge Worsley Dry Dock Parrin Lane Bridge Lighthouse M602 motorway Railway Viaduct A57 Liverpool Road Barton Lane Barton Swing Aqueduct over M.S.C. Ashburton Road West Parkway Bridge Crosses line of Thirlmere Aqueduct Mosley Road Bridge Moss Road Taylor's Footbridge Manchester and Runcorn branch Railway Viaduct Disused Railway Viaduct Railway Viaduct Europa Gate A56 Chester Road Stretford Edge Lane Old Trafford Football Ground Hawthorn Road Sir Matt Busby Way River Mersey A5081 Wharfside Way M60 motorway Trafford Road Throstle's Nest Bridge Manchester Metrolink Entrance to M.S.C. Pomona Strand Manchester Metrolink Railway Viaduct Hulme Hall Road A57 Dawson Street Castlefield Basin Merchant's Bridge Meeting with Rochdale Canal Dane Road Northenden Road Marsland Road Park Road Railway Viaduct Railway Viaduct (closed) Spring Lane Seamon's Road School Lane Back Lane Woodhouse Lane River Bollin Park Lane Spring Lane Burford Lane Oughtrington Lane New Road, Lymm Brookfield Road, Lymm Camsley Lane, Lymm A56 Cliff Lane Knutsford Road Church Lane Church Lane Lumb Brook Road London Road Red Lane Hough's Lane Warlington Road Chester Road A56 Underbridge Lane Mill Lane Holly Hedge Lane Canal Side Daresbury Expressway A558 Keckwick Lane Delph Lane Red Brow Lane Preston Brook junction M56 Motorway Chester Road A56 Preston Brook tunnel Junction with Trent & Mersey Canal Red Brow Lane Gooseberry Lane Windmill Hill Avenue North Sandy Moor Lane Busway Ashmore Road Ashmore Bridge Lane Central Expressway A533 Central Expressway A533 Sea Lane Daresbury Expressway A533 Heath Road South Leiria Way Devonshire Place Slip between A557 and A553 Queensway A557 Section missing due to A557 Junction with M.S.C.

The Bridgewater Canal is a navigable canal in the north west of England, connecting Runcorn and Manchester. It is on one level and has no locks. Unusually, the canal is operated by the Manchester Ship Canal company, not by British Waterways.

Opened in 1761, it was arguably Britain's first completely artificial canal. The stone aqueduct in which the canal originally passed over the River Irwell was considered a marvel of its time. This was replaced in 1893 by another remarkable piece of engineering, the Barton Swing Aqueduct.

Contents 1 The Route 2 History 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] The Route

The original section of the canal terminated at Castlefield Basin where boats used to unload their cargoes in Manchester city centre, and where there is now a connection to the later Rochdale Canal.

From Castlefield, the Bridgewater runs west through the Manchester suburbs for about four miles (7 km) to "Waters Meeting" junction: en route it passes Hulme Lock, now disused, which provided a connection to the River Irwell and the Manchester Ship Canal, and a new lock at Pomona giving access to the Manchester Ship Canal (the stretch of the MSC upstream from here is the only part easily used by leisure boats).

At Waters Meeting, the canal branches. The original canal travels north west for about 10 miles (16 km) to the original terminus in the village of Worsley at the entrance to the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater's coal mines via the Worsley Navigable Levels. On the way to Worsley it passes over the Manchester Ship Canal on the Barton Swing Aqueduct near Eccles. This section of the canal was later extended a further 5 miles (8 km) to Leigh where it makes an end-on connection with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

From Waters Meeting, the current main line of the canal (a later extension) runs approximately 20 miles south-west to Runcorn. This line goes through the towns of Sale and Lymm, passes to the south of central Warrington, and at Preston Brook junction, just short of Runcorn, a small branch connects with the Trent and Mersey Canal).

The canal now terminates in Runcorn basin, just before the disused locks which (before the approach road to the Widnes Bridge was built) used to lower the canal to the Runcorn Docks on the River Mersey (later, to the Manchester Ship Canal).

The proposed new road crossing of the Mersey may allow a realignment of the Bridge approach road and the complete restoration of the closed locks - thus re-opening of the link to Runcorn Docks, the Runcorn and Weston Canal, the River Mersey, the Manchester Ship Canal, and the River Weaver. This would create a new ring route for leisure boats involving the Trent and Mersey Canal, the Anderton Boat Lift and the River Weaver.

[edit] History

The Bridgewater Canal is often considered to be the first true canal in Britain, in that it relied on existing watercourses purely as sources of water rather than as navigable routes.

Note, however, that the Sankey Brook Navigation also has a claim to be the first modern British canal. Although the Company promoted the scheme as a "navigation" (ie simply making the existing Sankey Brook navigable), they actually constructed an entirely new channel alongside the Sankey Brook, simply using the Brook as a water supply. The Sankey Canal (not the first canal in Britain, but the first in the 'Industrial Revolution-fuelled Canal Building period') can therefore claim to be a modern canal built before the Bridgewater.

The Bridgewater Canal came about because the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, Sir Francis Egerton wanted an efficient way to transport coal from his coal mines at Worsley, into Manchester, where the Industrial Revolution was under way. Furthermore it solved the ongoing problem of flooding in these mines. In addition to easing the overland transport difficulties, the underground section of the canal at Worsley also removed the need for expensive and difficult vertical winding of the coal to the surface whilst providing drainage for the mines and a source of water for the surface canal.

The Duke commissioned James Brindley as canal engineer to build the canal, and it opened in 1761. At the time it was considered a major engineering achievement, as the canal contained a large aqueduct over the River Irwell (replaced by the Barton Swing Aqueduct when the Irwell was canalised as the Manchester Ship Canal), and it greatly enhanced Brindley's career. The Worsley part of the canal was later extended to Leigh, in 1799.

The Duke had invested a huge sum of his own money into constructing the canal, and it was a great financial success. Due to the greatly increased supply of coal which the canal had enabled, the price of coal in Manchester fell by nearly three quarters within a year of the canal opening. A few years later construction began of the route to Runcorn, which opened in 1772.

Inside the mines 46 miles (74 km) of underground canal on four levels linked by inclined planes was constructed. They were served by specially-built M-boats (also known as starvationers), the largest of which could carry 12 tons of coal. Mining ceased in 1887.^[1]

The canal carried commercial freight traffic until 1975, the last regular traffic being grain from Liverpool to Manchester for BOCM, and is now mainly used by pleasure craft. The canal also hosts two rowing clubs - Trafford Rowing Club and Manchester University Boat Club.

The canal has suffered three breaches: one soon after opening, one in 1971 near the River Bollin aqueduct^[2], and another in the summer of 2005 after a sluice gate failed in Manchester^[3] Cranes are located at intervals along the canal's length to allow boards to be dropped into slots in the banks. This allows sections of the canal to be isolated in the event of a leak.

The Bridgewater Canal is unusual because it is one of the few canals in Britain which is still privately owned and was never nationalised. This is because it was bought by the Manchester Ship Canal company in the 1890s, which itself was never nationalised.

[edit] See also

• Canals of Great Britain
  • Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, Somerset
• History of the British canal system

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Bridgewater Canal website
• Bridgewater Canal map
• Website with description and photographs
• Duke of Bridgewater Archive from the University of Salford site
• Duke of Bridgewater's Underground Canal at Worsley
• Astley Green Colliery Museum
• Manchester Ship Canal Company website

Coordinates: 53°29′N 2°31′W / 53.483, -2.517