The Manchester Ship Canal is a 36-mile (58 km) long river navigation in North West England. Designed to give the city of Manchester direct access to the sea, it was built between 1887 and 1894 at a cost of about £15 million (£1.22 billion as of 2010), and in its day was the largest navigation canal in the world.
The canal generally follows the original route of the rivers Mersey and Irwell, and along its course uses several sets of locks. The canal is able to accommodate a range of vessels, from coastal ships to inter-continental cargo liners, but it is not large enough for all modern vessels. A railway was built to transport goods to and from the docks located alongside the canal.
The canal is no longer considered to be an important shipping route, but it still carries about six million tonnes of freight each year. It is now operated under private ownership.
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The idea that the rivers Mersey and Irwell should be made navigable from the Mersey Estuary in the west to Manchester in the east was first proposed in 1660, and revived in 1712 by Thomas Steers.[1] However it was not until 1720 that the necessary bills were tabled. The Act of Parliament[2] for the navigation was received in 1721[3][4] Construction work was undertaken by the Mersey & Irwell Navigation Company.[5] Work began in 1724, and by 1734 boats 'of moderate size' could make the journey from quays near Water Street in Manchester, to the Irish Sea.[6] The navigation was suitable only for small ships, and during periods of drought or when strong easterly winds held back the tide in the estuary, there was not always sufficient draft for a fully laden boat.[7] The completion in 1776 of the Bridgewater Canal, followed by the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830, created increased competition for the carriage of goods. In 1844 ownership of the Mersey & Irwell Navigation was transferred to the Bridgewater Trustees, and in 1872 it was sold to The Bridgewater Navigation Company for £1,112,000 (£71.2 million as of 2010).[8][9] The navigation had by then fallen into disrepair; in 1882 it was described as being "hopelessly choked with silt and filth",[9] and was open to 50-ton (51 t) boats for only 47 out of 311 working days.[9]
Along with deteriorating economic conditions in the 1870s,[10] the dues charged by the Port of Liverpool, and the railway charges from there to Manchester were perceived as excessive; it was often cheaper to import goods from Hull than it was from Liverpool.[11] A ship canal was proposed as a way to reverse Manchester's economic decline by giving the city direct access to the sea for its imports and its exports of manufactured goods. Historians such as Ian Harford though have suggested that the canal may also have been conceived as an "imaginative response to [the] problems of depression and unemployment" Manchester was experiencing during the early 1880s.[12]
The canal was championed by Manchester manufacturer Daniel Adamson, who arranged a meeting at his home in Didsbury on 27 June 1882. He invited the representatives of several Lancashire towns, local businessmen and politicians, and two civil engineers; Hamilton Fulton and Edward Leader Williams. Fulton proposed a tidal canal, with no locks and a deepened channel into Manchester; Williams was in favour of a series of locks. Both engineers were invited to submit proposals, and Williams' plans were selected to form the basis of a bill submitted to parliament in November 1882.[13] However, due to intense opposition by Liverpool and the railway companies, the necessary enabling Act of Parliament was not passed until 6 August 1885. Certain conditions were attached; £5 million had to be raised, and the ship canal company was legally obliged to buy both the Bridgewater Canal and the Mersey & Irwell Navigation within two years.[14] The estimated cost of construction was £5,160,000 (£39.9 million as of 2010), and the work was expected to take four years to complete.[8][13]
The enabling Act of Parliament stipulated that the ship canal company's entire share capital of £8 million had to be issued within two years, otherwise the act would lapse.[16] Adamson wanted to encourage the widest possible share ownership, and he believed that the funds should be raised largely from the working population. Richard Peacock, the vice-chairman of the Provisional Manchester Ship Canal Committee, had said in 1882:
No few individuals should be expected to subscribe and form a company for mere gain; it should be taken on by the public; and if it is not ... I for one should say drop the scheme; ... unless I see the public coming forward in a hearty manner.[17]
The enabling act though, did not allow the company to issue shares of less value than £10. To make them easier for ordinary people to buy, shilling coupons were issued in books of ten, so that shares could be paid for in instalments.[18] However, by May 1887 only £3M had been raised. The contractor chosen to construct the canal, Thomas Walker, agreed to accept £½M of the contract price in shares, but raising the remainder required another Act of Parliament to allow the company's share capital to be restructured as £3M of ordinary shares and £4M of preference shares.[16] Adamson remained convinced that the money should be raised from ordinary members of the public, and he opposed the capital restructuring, resigning as chairman of the ship canal committee on 1 February 1887. A prospectus for the sale of the preference shares was issued jointly by Barings and Rothschild on 15 July, and by 21 July the issue had been fully underwritten.[19] Construction of the canal began on 11 November 1887, when Lord Egerton of Tatton, who had taken over the chairmanship of the Manchester Ship Canal Company from Adamson, cut the first sod.[20]
Large portions of the eventual cost of construction were borne by Manchester rate-payers, via Manchester Corporation. Loans were arranged during the early 1890s on condition that the Corporation held 11 of the 21 seats on the Canal Company's board of directors[21] led by John Aird, an engineering contractor and MP.
Thomas Walker was appointed as the contractor for the construction of the canal, and the work was overseen by the chief engineer and designer Edward Leader Williams. The canal's 36-mile (58 km) length was divided into eight sections, with an engineer responsible for each. The first section was from Eastham to Ellesmere Port. Northwest of Ellesmere Port, on a narrow stretch of land between the canal and the Mersey, is Mount Manisty, a huge mound of earth created from the extracted soil; it, and the adjacent Manisty Cutting, were named after the engineer in charge of that section. The last section to be built was from Weston Point through the Runcorn gap to Norton, as the existing docks at Runcorn and Weston had to be kept operational until they could be connected to the completed western sections of the ship canal.[22]
For the first two years, construction went according to plan, but on 25 November 1889 Walker died. Initially the work was continued by his executors, but the project began to suffer a number of setbacks, not helped by severe weather and several serious floods. In January 1891, when the work ought to have been completed, a severe winter added to the difficulties when the Bridgewater Canal, the canal company's only source of income, closed because of ice. The company decided to take over the contracting work itself, and bought all the equipment on site for £400,000.[23]
The canal was finally completely filled with water in November 1893, and opened to its first traffic on 1 January 1894. On 21 May 1894 Queen Victoria visited to perform the official opening. The Queen knighted the mayor of Salford, William Henry Bailey and the lord mayor of Manchester, Anthony Marshall at the opening of the Canal,[24] during one of the three royal visits the Queen made to Manchester. Edward Leader Williams was knighted by the Queen on 2 July by Letters Patent.[25]
The project took six years to complete, at a cost of just over £15M,[26] and was in its day the largest navigation canal in the world.[27] More than 54 million cubic yards (41,000,000 m³) of material were excavated, about half as much as was removed in the building of the Suez Canal.[28] An average of 12,000 workers were employed during construction, peaking at 17,000.[29] Regular navvies were paid at a rate of 41⁄2d per hour for a 10-hour working day, equivalent to about £70 per day as of 2009.[30][31] In terms of machinery, the scheme called upon over 200 miles (320 km) of temporary rail track, 180 locomotives, over 6,000 trucks and wagons, 124 steam-powered cranes, 192 other steam engines, and 97 steam excavators.[32][33] Major engineering landmarks of the scheme included the Barton Swing Aqueduct (carrying the Bridgewater Canal over the Ship Canal) and a neighbouring swing bridge for road traffic at Barton, both of which are now Grade II* listed structures.[34]
In 1909, the water level in the canal was raised by 2 feet (0.61 m), increasing the canal's depth from 26 feet (7.9 m) to 28 feet (8.5 m), to match that of the Suez Canal.[35]
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From Eastham, the canal runs parallel to, and along the south side of, the River Mersey, past Ellesmere Port and, having intercepted flows from the River Weaver, through the Runcorn Gap between Runcorn and Widnes and to the south of Warrington. Between Rixton, east of the M6 motorway's Thelwall Viaduct and Irlam the canal follows the route of the Mersey – with some old meanders now isolated from the canal – and between Irlam and Salford it follows the course of the River Irwell.
Pomona Docks have been filled in and built over save for number 3 dock which remains totally intact and has a lock connecting the Ship Canal to the Bridgewater Canal that runs parallel to it at this point. The western four docks have been converted into the Salford Quays development and can no longer be used as shipping docks. Ships using the Manchester Ship Canal now dock at various places along the canal side, for example at Mode Wheel (Salford), Trafford Park and Ellesmere Port.[36]
Most vessels have to terminate at Salford Quays, though smaller vessels can continue past Pomona docks, and join the Bridgewater Canal via Pomona Lock or carry on up the River Irwell to near Manchester Cathedral.
The Manchester Ship Canal is the eighth-longest ship canal in the world, only slightly shorter than the Panama Canal in Central America. Upon completion, the Manchester Ship Canal enabled Manchester to become Britain's third busiest port, despite being about 40 miles (64 km) inland. [37]
The planned site of the terminal docks was sixty feet above sea level, so several sets of locks were required. The entrance locks are located at Eastham on the Wirral side of the Mersey, where the lock gates seal off the tidal estuary. Four additional sets of locks, located further inland, each have a rise of approximately fifteen feet.[38] These locks are located at Latchford, near Warrington; Irlam; Barton near Eccles and Mode Wheel, Salford. At each of the five locations there is a large lock for ocean-going ships and a smaller, narrower lock to handle tugs, coasters etc.[39]
Seven terminal docks were constructed for the opening of the canal. Four small docks were located on the south side of the canal near Cornbrook, within the Borough of Stretford and named Pomona Docks No.1, No.2, No.3 and No.4. The three main docks were located within Salford and were built primarily for large ocean-going vessels. These were situated to the west of Trafford Road on the north bank of the canal and were named No.6, No.7 and No.8. No.9 Dock was completed on the same site in 1905.[40]
In 1893, the Ship Canal Company sold a piece of land, just east of the Mode Wheel locks, to the newly established Manchester Dry Docks Company. The graving docks were constructed adjacent to the south bank of the canal, and a floating pontoon dock was located nearby.[41] Each of the three graving docks could accommodate ocean-going ships of up to 535 feet (163.1 m) in length and 64 feet (19.5 m) in beam, [42] equivalent to vessels of 8,000 gross tons. Manchester Liners Ltd acquired control of the company in 1974 in order to ensure facilities for the repair of their fleet of ships. [43]
From its opening in 1894, the canal has handled a wide range of ships and cargos, from coastal vessels to intra-European shipping and inter-continental cargo liners. The first vessel to unload its cargo on the opening day was the Pioneer of the Co-operative Wholesale Society,which was also the first vessel registered at Manchester. The CWS operated a weekly service to Rouen.[45] Although some other shipowners brought their vessels to Manchester, it took the initiative of Manchester Liners to establish regular sailings by large ocean-going vessels. In late 1898, the Manchester City, 7,698 gross tons, became the largest vessel to reach the terminal docks carrying cattle and general cargo and being met by the Lord Mayor of Manchester and a large welcoming crowd.[46]
In 1974, the canal handled 2,900,000 tons of dry cargo, 783,000 tons (27%) of which was carried by Manchester Liners.[47]
The dry tonnage was, and is still, greatly supplemented by crude and refined oil products that are transported in large tanker ships to and from the Queen Elizabeth II Dock at Eastham and the Stanlow Refinery just east of Ellesmere Port; also in smaller tankers to Runcorn. Reference to the link below to the 'MSC Online tracking of vessels on the Ship Canal' (Ince Banks section) will show details of tankers and other vessels in the canal at any given time. At 2230 hours on 2 December 2008, per the official website, there were seven tanker vessels anchored in the canal between the Queen Elizabeth II Dock and Runcorn docks; and at 1500 hours on 7 December 2008 this had increased to eight, clearly indicating the substantial volume of liquid cargos handled by the canal.
To service the large amount of freight being landed at the canal's docks the Manchester Ship Canal Railway was created to carry goods from nearby industrial estates, including Trafford Park, and connect to the various railway companies near the canal. The MSC Railway, unlike most other railway companies in the UK, was not nationalised in 1948 and became the largest private railway system in the British Isles, with 790 employees,[48] 75 locomotives, 2,700 wagons and over 200 miles (320 km) of track.[49]
The MSC Railway was able to receive and despatch goods trains to and from all the UK main line railway systems using connecting junctions at three points in the terminal docks. Two were to the north of the canal operated by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and the London and North Western Railway and one was to the south operated by the Cheshire Lines Committee.[50]. There was a railway swing bridge over the canal near No.6 dock that linked the MSC lines on either side of the canal.
Many of the MSC steam locomotives were 0-6-0 tank engines, several of which have been preserved, including Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T no. 32 Gothenburg, which until 29 April 2009 operated as Thomas the Tank Engine at the East Lancashire Railway.[51][52]. An interesting feature of these locomotives enabled them to negotiate the tight radius curves of the tracks in the Trafford Park industrial estate; the middle wheels of the 0-6-0 arrangement were flangeless, and the coupling rods had a hinged central section that permitted several inches of lateral play. A fleet of diesel locomotives was purchased between 1959 and 1966, but this was later run down and the remaining engines are stationed at Ellesmere Port and Stanlow.[53]
Unlike most other British canals, the Manchester Ship Canal was never nationalised. In 1991 the Ship Canal Company became a part of Peel Holdings, and as of 2008, the canal is owned and operated by Peel Ports, who also own the Port of Liverpool.[54]
Today, largely because of the decline of UK-based manufacturing industry and also because many ocean-going ships are too large to fit in the canal, the amount of freight it carries has dropped to about six million tonnes each year.[55] Total freight movements have dropped from 7.68 million tonnes in 2000 to 6.71 million tonnes for the year ending September 2009.[56] Salford Docks are no longer used as ship docks, and ships using the Manchester Ship Canal unload their cargo at various places along the canal side, for example at Trafford Park.[57]
On 18 October 2007, the retail chain, Tesco, announced that it had begun using the canal for transporting New World wine between Liverpool and the Irlam Container Terminal, from where the cargo is offloaded and transported to a nearby bottling plant. The firm has said that this will save 700,000 miles (1,130,000 km) of road haulage per year.[58]
Leisure craft (e.g. narrowboats) can join the Manchester Ship Canal from the Shropshire Union Canal at Ellesmere Port, from the Weaver Navigation at Weston near Runcorn, and from the Bridgewater Canal at Pomona Lock in Salford. However, the safety rules necessary on a major commercial waterway are too onerous for most leisure traffic, so only a few narrowboaters use the canal to complete a "Shropshire Union/Weaver/Trent and Mersey" or Bridgewater Canal ring route. It is easier to take advantage of the less severe restrictions upstream of Salford Quays by descending Pomona Lock from the Bridgewater Canal to explore the easterly section of the canal and a short length of the River Irwell. It is possible to use Eastham Locks to gain access to the tidal Mersey and reach the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, now extended to the Pier Head at Liverpool, or travel upriver to Fiddlers Ferry, but only the more intrepid narrowboaters attempt this.
Although it was built for ocean-going vessels, ship sizes have long outgrown the canal. While many ships are designed specifically to fit the Suez and Panama Canals (Suezmax, Panamax), the narrower Manchester Ship Canal is no longer of major importance for shipping.
In 2005 the maximum length of ship accepted into the canal was 560 feet (170 m) with a beam of 72 feet (22 m). However, beams of around 75 feet (23 m) are acceptable with a smaller length. Maximum draught is 28.8 feet (8.8 m).[59]
The maximum size of a ship going to the end of the canal at Salford docks is length 530 feet (160 m), beam 53.5 feet (16.3 m), and draught 24 feet (7.3 m). This is due to the sizes of the largest locks that can be used, 600 feet (180 m) x 65 feet (20 m). Manchester Liners commissioned four maximum size container vessels in 1968, of 11,898 gross tonnage and these were the largest ships to regularly use the terminal docks.[60] Ships passing the Runcorn bridge also have a height restriction of 21.33 metres (70.0 ft) above normal water levels.[61]
The Queen Elizabeth II Dock built to handle liquid cargo, primarily oil, at the entrance to the canal has a separate entrance lock 807 feet (246 m) in length and 100 feet (30 m) wide. It can accept vessels up to 685 feet (209 m) long with a 92-foot (28 m) beam, maximum draught 33 feet (10 m). It opened on 19 January 1954.[62]
MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL. The advantage of a waterway for the conveyance of goods between eastern Lancashire and the sea is so obvious that so far back as the year 1721 Thomas Steers designed a plan for continuing to Manchester the barge navigation which then existed between Liverpool and Warrington. Parliamentary powers were then obtained to improve the rivers Mersey and Irwell from Warrington to Manchester by means of locks and weirs. This work was successfully carried out, and proved of great benefit to the trade of the district. The duke of Bridgewater, who had made a canal from his collieries at Worsley to Manchester, afterwards continued the canal to the Mersey at Runcorn; this extension was opened in 1722 and competed with the Mersey and Irwell navigation, both routes being navigated by barges carrying about fifty tons of cargo. The Liverpool & Manchester railway at a later date afforded further facilities for conveyance of goods, but the high rates of carriage, added to heavy charges at the Liverpool docks, prejudiced trade, and the question was mooted of a ship canal to bring cotton, timber, grain and other goods direct to Manchester without transshipment. The first plan was made by William Chapman in 1825, and was followed by one designed by Henry Palmer in 1840, but it was not until the year 1882 that the movement was originated that culminated in the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal by Queen Victoria on the 21st of May 1894.
In determining the plan of the canal the main point which arose was whether it should be made with locks or whether it should be on the sea-level throughout, and therefore tidal. The advantage of a still waterway in navigating large steamers, and the facilities afforded by one constant water-level for works on the banks and the quick discharge cf goods at the terminal docks at Manchester, secured the adoption of the plans for a canal with locks as designed by Sir E. Leader Williams. The fresh-water portion of the canal extended between Manchester and Runcorn, while from the latter place to Garston it was proposed to improve the upper Mersey estuary by constructing training walls and dredging to form a deep central channel. Parliamentary powers to construct the canal were sought in the session of 1883, when the bill passed the committee of the House of Commons but was rejected by the committee of the House of Lords. Brought forward again the next year, it was passed by the Lords but thrown out by the Commons. The opposition from Liverpool and the railway companies was very strong; to meet to some extent that of the former, a continuation of the canal was proposed from Runcorn to Eastham along the Cheshire side of the Mersey, instead of a trained channel in the estuary, and in this form the bill was again introduced in the session of 1885, and, notwithstanding strong opposition, was passed by both houses of parliament. The cost of this contest to promoters and opponents exceeded £4.00,000, the various committees on the bill having sat over 175 days. Owing to difficulties in raising the capital the works were not begun until November 1887.
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The total length of the canal is 351 m. and it may be regarded as divided into three sections. From Eastham to Runcorn it is near or through the Mersey estuary for 124 m., and thence to Latchford near Warrington, 84 m., it is inland; both these sections have the same water-level, which is raised by high tides. At Latchford the locks stop tidal action, and the canal is fed by the waters of the rivers Mersey and Irwell from that point to Manchester, 141 m. from Latchford. The canal begins on the Cheshire side of the Mersey at Eastham, about 6 m. above Liverpool. The entrance is well sheltered and adjoins a good low-water channel communicating with the Sloyne deep at Liverpool. Three entrance locks have been provided close to and parallel with each other, their length and width being 600 by 80, 350 by 50, and 150 by 30 ft. These locks maintain the water-level in the canal nearly to mean high-water level (14 ft. 2 in. above the Liverpool datum); when the tide rises above that height the lock gates are opened and the tide flows up to Latchford, giving on high spring tides an additional depth of water of about 7 ft. On the ebb tide this water is returned to the Mersey through large sluices at Randles Creek and at the junction of the river Weaver with the canal, the level of the canal thus being reduced to its normal height. The canal throughout to Manchester has a minimum depth of 28 ft.; the depth originally was 26 ft., but the lock sills were placed 2 ft. lower to allow of the channel being dredged to 28 ft. when necessary. The minimum width at bottom is 120 ft., allowing large vessels to pass each other at any point on the canal; this width is considerably increased at the locks and other parts. The slopes are generally about 11 to i, but are flatter through some portions; in rock-cutting the sides are nearly vertical. From Eastham to Runcorn the canal is alternately inland and on the foreshore of the estuary, on which embankments were constructed to act as dams and keep out the tide during the excavation of the canal, and afterwards to maintain the water-level at low water in the estuary; both sides are faced with heavy coursed stone. The material for the embankments was principally clay excavated from the cuttings. In some places, where the foundation was of a porous nature, sheeting piles of timber had to be used. At Ellesmere Port, where the embankment is 6200 ft. long on sand, 13,000 whole timber sheeting piles 35 ft. long were driven, to secure the base of the embankment on each side; water jets under pressure through 11 in. wrought-iron pipes were used at the foot of each pile to assist the sinking, which was found most difficult by ordinary means. At the river Weaver ten Stoney roller sluices are built, each 30 ft. span, with heavy stone and concrete piers and foundations; at Runcorn, where the river Mersey is narrow, a concrete sea-wall 4300 ft. long was substituted for the embankment. At various points under the canal cast-iron siphon pipes were laid to carry off any land drainage which was at a lower level than the canal; the largest of these siphons were constructed to allow the tidal and fresh water of the river Gowy to pass under the canal at Stanlow Point, between Eastham and Ellesmere Port. Two 12-ft. siphons are there placed close together, built of cast-iron segments; they are each 400 ft. long, and were laid on concrete 4 ft. below the bottom of the canal. From Runcorn to Latchford the canal is nearly straight, the depth of cutting varying from 35 to 70 ft., partly in rock, but generally in alluvial deposit. The whole length of the canal passes through the New Red Sandstone formation, with its overlying beds of gravel, clay, sand and silt, which gave much trouble during the progress of the work; retaining walls of stone and brickwork had to be built in these places to maintain the sides of the canal from slips and injury from the wash of steamers.
The canal from Latchford to Manchester is in heavy cutting through the valleys of the rivers Mersey and Irwell. As these rivers are circuitous in course, only very small portions could be utilized in forming the canal; a line as nearly straight as possible was therefore adopted, and involved many crossings of the river channels. During the whole progress of the work these had to be kept open for the discharge of floods and land water, and in some places temporary cuts of considerable length had to be made for the same object. In November 1890 and December 1891 high winter floods covered the whole of the river valleys, filling many miles of the unfinished canal and causing great damage to the slopes. Altogether 23 m. of canal hard to be pumped out to enable the work to be completed. After the cuttings between the river channels were finished, the end dams were removed, and the rivers Irwell and Mersey were turned into the new channel now forming the upper portion of the ship canal. The total rise to the level of the docks atManchester from the ordinary level of the water in the tidal portion of the canal below Latchford locks is 60 ft. 6 in.; this is obtained by an average rise of about 15 ft. at each of the sets of locks at Latchford, Irlam (71 m. nearer Manchester), Barton (2 m. farther) and Mode Wheel (32 m. above Barton locks at the entrance to the Manchester docks). For the greater part of this last length the canal is widened at bottom from 120 ft., its normal width, to 170 ft., to enable vessels to lie at timber and other wharves without interfering with the passage of large vessels to or from the docks. The locks are in duplicate, one being 600 ft. long by 65 ft. wide, the other 350 ft. long by 45 ft. wide, with Stoney's sluices adjacent. They are filled or emptied in five minutes by large culverts on each side, with side openings into the lock. Concrete with facings of blue Staffordshire brick is largely used, and the copings, sills, hollow quoins and fender courses are of Cornish granite. The lock gates are constructed of greenheart timber. The sluices near the locks take the place of the weirs used in the old Mersey and Irwell navigation; they are 30 ft. span each, four being generally used at each set of locks. In ordinary seasons any water not used for lockage purposes passes over the tops of the sluices, which are kept closed; in flood times the sluices are raised to a height which will pass off floods with a comparatively small rise in the canal. There are eight hydraulic installations on the canal,, each having duplicate steam-engines and boilers; the mains exceed 7 m. in length, the pressure being 700 lb to the inch. They work the cranes, lifts and capstans at the docks, lock gates and culvert sluices, coal tips, swing bridges and aqueduct.
At Barton, near Manchester, the Bridgewater canal crosses the river Irwell on the first navigable aqueduct constructed in England. It was the work of James Brindley, and since it was built at only sufficient height to allow of barges passing under it, means had to be found to allow of this important canal being maintained, and yet to permit steamers to use the ship canal below it. Brindley's canal is on one level throughout its whole length, and as its water supply is only sufficient for the flight of locks by which it descends at Runcorn to the Mersey, locks down to the ship canal would have involved the waste of a lock of water on each side and caused serious delay to the traffic. Sir E. Leader Williams surmounted the difficulty by means of a swing aqueduct for the Bridgewater canal, w; hich IN hen closed enables the traffic to pass as before, while it is opened to allow of ships crossing it on the lower level of the ship canal. The water in the swing portions of the aqueduct when opened is retained by closing gates at each end, similar gates being shut at the same time across the fixed portion of the aqueduct. The swing portion is a large steel trough carried by side girders, 234 ft. long and 33 ft. high in the centre, tapering 4 ft. to the ends; the waterway is 19 ft. wide and 6 ft. deep. The whole works on a central pier with similar arrangements to the largest swing bridges on the canal; it has two spans over the ship canal of 90 ft. each. It is somewhat singular that the first fixed canal aqueduct in England should, after the lapse of 136 years, be replaced by the first swing aqueduct ever constructed. The swing aqueduct is moved by hydraulic power, and has never given any trouble in working, even in times of severe frost. The weight of the movable portion, including the water, is 1600 tons.
The manner of dealing with the five lines of railways that were cut through by the canal was one of importance, both in the interests of the travelling public and the trade on the canal; they are all lines with a heavy traffic, including the main line of the London & North Western railway near Warrington, with its important route to Scotland. Swing bridges, although in use on some lines to cross navigations, are dangerous and inconvenient, and high-level deviation lines were adopted for each railway crossing the canal. No such alteration of a railway had been previously sanctioned by parliament, and it was only the importance of a ship canal to Manchester that secured the requisite powers against the strong opposition of the railway companies. Embankments were made close to and parallel with the old lines, beginning about a mile and a quarter from the canal on each side, the canal itself being crossed by viaducts which give a clear headway of 75 ft. at ordinary waterlevel. Vessels with high masts trading on the canal are provided with telescopic or sliding top-masts. The gradients on the railways rising up to the viaducts are i in 135. The span of the viaducts is so arranged as to maintain the full width of the canal for navigation; and as the railways generally cross the canal on the skew, this necessitated girders in some cases of 300 ft. span. There are nine main roads requiring swing bridges across the canal; all below Barton have a span giving a clear water-way of 120 ft. The width of these bridges varies with the importance of the roads from 20 to 36 ft., and they are constructed of steel, their weight ranging from 500 to 1000 tons each. They work on a live ring of conical cast-iron rollers and are moved by hydraulic power supplied by steam, gas or oil engines. The Trafford Road bridge at the docks at Manchester is the heaviest swing bridge on the canal; being of extra width, it weighs 1800 tons.
The canal being virtually one long dock, wharves at various points have been erected to enable chemical or manufacturing works to be carried on, widenings being provided where necessary. At Ellesmere Port coal tips and sheds have been erected, and the canal is in direct communication with the docks there as well as at Weston Point and Runcorn, where a large trade is carried on with the Staffordshire Potteries and the Cheshire salt districts. At Partington branches from the railways connect the canal with the Yorkshire and Lancashire coal-fields, and the canal is widened out 65 ft. on each side for six hydraulic coal tips. At Mode Wheel there are extensive abattoirs and lairages, erected by the Manchester Corporation; also large petroleum oil tanks, graving dock and pontoons, coldair meat stores and other accommodation for traffic. At Manchester the area of the docks is 104 acres, with 152 acres of quay space, having over 5 m. of frontage to the docks, which are provided with a number of three-storey transit sheds, thirteen seven-storey and seven four-storey warehouses, and a large grain silo. The London & North Western and Lancashire & Yorkshire railway companies and the Cheshire Lines Committee have made branch lines to the decks, the railways and sidings at which are over 30 miles in length. Much traffic is also carted, or dealt with by inland canals in direct communication with the docks. The substitution of a wide and deep canal, nearly straight, for comparatively shallow and narrow winding rivers, and the use of large sluices in place of fixed weirs to carry off the river water, have been of great advantage to the district in greatly reducing the height of floods.
The total amount of excavation in the canal, docks and subsidiary work amounted to over 54 million cub: yds., nearly one-fourth of which was sandstone rock; the excavated material was used in forming the railway deviation embankments, filling up the old beds of the rivers and raising low lands near the canal. As many men were employed on the works as could be obtained, but the number never exceeded 17,000, and the greater part of the excavation was done by about eighty steam navvies and land dredgers. For the conveyance of excavation and materials, 228 miles of temporary railway lines were laid, and 173 locomotives, 6300 wagons and trucks, and 316 fixed and portable steam-engines and cranes were employed, the total cost of the plant being nearly £I,000,000. The expenditure on the works, including plant and equipment, to the 1st of January 1900, was £10,327,666. The purchase of the Mersey and Irwell and Bridgewater navigations (£1,,786,651), land and compensation (£1,223,809), interest on capital during constructions (£I,170,733), and parliamentary, superintendence and general expenses brought up the total amount to £15,248,437.
The traffic on the canal gradually increased from 925,659 tons in 1894 to 2,778,108 tons in 1899 and 5,210,759 tons in 1907. After its opening considerable reductions were made in the railway rates of carriage and the charges at the Liverpool docks in order to meet the lower cost of conveyance by shipping passing up it. The result has been of great advantage to the trade of Lancashire and the surrounding districts, and the saving in the cost of carriage, estimated at £700,000 a year, assists manufacturers to meet the competition of their foreign opponents who have the advantage of low rates of carriage on the improved waterways of America, Germany, France and Belgium. Before the construction of the canal, large manufacturers had left Manchester to establish their works at ports like Glasgow, where they could save the cost of inland carriage. Since its opening, new industries have been started at Manchester and along its banks, warehouses and mills that were formerly empty are now occupied, while nearly 10,000 new houses have been built for the accommodation of the workpeople required to meet the enlarged trade of the city.
For further details see Sir Bosdin Leech, History of the Manchester Ship Canal (Manchester, 1907). (E. L. W.)
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The Manchester Ship Canal is a wide, 36-mile (58 km) long, river navigation in North West England, opened on 21 May 1894. At the time of its completion, it was the largest navigation canal in the world.[1]
The "Big Ditch", as it is sometimes known, consists of the rivers Irwell and Mersey made navigable for seagoing ships from the Mersey Estuary to Salford Docks in Greater Manchester. It transformed Manchester from a landlocked city into a major sea port.
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