CANAL WALK

Last Saturday we went for a walk along the Bridgewater Canal in Worsley, below are a few pictures and notes from our trip.

Named after Francis Egerton the Third Duke of Bridgewater who built the canal to transport coal from his mines at Worsley to the industrial areas of Manchester, the Bridgewater Canal was the forerunner of the UK canal network.

The Act of Parliament that authorised the Bridgewater Canal was passed in March 1759 and work began immediately. It was opened on 17 July 1761 and was the first canal in Britain to be built without following an existing watercourse. In 1765 the canal was extended to Castlefield followed in 1776 with a branch to Runcorn and in 1799 a branch to Leigh.

The canal’s total length is approximately 40 miles and is spanned by 78 bridges.

Unlike many later canals there are no locks along its length and the canal runs at the same level throughout.The only locks are at Hulme providing access to the River Irwell and at Runcorn which provides access to the Manchester Ship Canal.

Boathouse built by Lord Ellesmere to house a barge built specifically for Queen
Victoria’s visit to Worsley in 1851. The popular story goes that the boat was pulled by two grey horses, one of which became so perturbed by the cheering crowd that it jumped into the canal. I believe that they eventually got the horse out of the canal, not sure how though. 

Neptune, not the usual type of vessel I photograph. 

I believe she is a converted British Waterways mud barge.

A picture of the Packet House with steps down to the canal. Both the building and steps date back to 1760. The black and white timbering was added to the building about 1850 by the 1st Earl of Ellesmere. 

It is from here that passenger services along the canal started in 1769 and by 1781 there were daily sailings (excluding Sundays) to Runcorn, a journey of eight hours and to Manchester which took two and a half hours. Faster vessels carrying first class passengers were also used and could be drawn by three horses and get up to 6mph, the crew of these boats used a horn to warn other vessels of their approach enabling them to get out of the way.

A ‘Swift Packet’ service was introduced in 1843 with lower prices. It was possible to travel from Worsley to Manchester for 3d in the Best Cabin and 2d steerage.

Heading West from Worsley. The canal has a natural rusty colour caused by iron in the mines. The canal here is elevated with steep embankments on both sides, these are behind the trees and out of sight. When I was a 'lad' I used to spend a lot of time riding my bike along this canal. In those days it was quite different, there were not many trees and little grass or undergrowth, there was also no path to speak of.

Crane near Worsley village. This looked to be of some age but was still in working order. The crane is in place to drop a timber wall into slots in the sides of the canal to avoid total water loss incase of a breach in the canal system, 

View under a bridge in Worsley showing how the original relatively narrow bridge was widened on both sides possibly at different times.

View of the road bridge. It is through here that the barges carrying coal would have entered the canal from the mines. On the other side of the bridge are the entrances to the mines cut into a sandstone cliff. Unfortunately we could not get across the road due to blind bends in both directions and fast moving traffic.

This is one of the oldest buildings in Worsley, dating from the 17th century. Originally a residential dwelling, it became the Nailmaker’s workshop when construction of the canal commenced. 

This bridge was built about 1890 and replaced an earlier plank bridge. It was on this bridge that Queen Elizabeth II stood in 1967 when she opened the gardens next to the canal.

Another view of the bridge.

Worsley dry docks, these are probably the oldest living example of a dry dock associated with a canal in the UK and date from about 1761. 

There are currently two dry docks which are still in use sheltered by 19th century sheds, a third dock has long been filled in. Here boats were both built and repaired for use on the canal and within the mines.