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Manchester Ship Canal, Cheshire

Historical Description

Manchester Ship Canal, a canal from Manchester to the estuary of the Mersey at Eastham, undoubtedly the most important British undertaking of its kind. The idea is a comparatively old one, an application having been made in 1825 for parliamentary powers to cut a canal, but refused on the ground that plans had not been deposited. Since 1825 the question was repeatedly raised in a desultory sort of way, but in 1881-82 the project took a strong hold on the public mind, and in June 1882 a provisional committee was formed, surveys completed, and a bill for powers of construction presented to Parliament. The opposition on the part of the railway companies and the port of Liverpool was most determined, and the bill, although passed by the Commons, was rejected by the Lords. A second bill had a similar fate, being passed by the Lords but rejected by the Commons. The promoters, however, were indisposed to relinquish their design, and instructed their engineers to draw up fresh plans, omitting the items which had excited the strongest opposition. In the amended scheme the design of carrying a deep water channel protected by training walls through the estuary of the Mersey was given up, and the outlet of the canal was placed at a point near Eastham Ferry. The site of the docks at Manchester was also changed, and it was proposed to make the additional jetties and basins on the site of the Pomona Gardens, the river Irwell being enlarged and deepened for this purpose. The amended scheme received the sanction of Parliament in 1885, and the authorized share capital of the canal was fixed at £8,000,000, with borrowing powers to the extent of £1,812,000, or a total of £9,812,000. The Messrs Rothschild invited subscriptions for the canal, but did not receive sufficient to justify the commencement of the undertaking. The promoters, however, were determined not to be defeated, and a further appeal to local patriotism (coupled with permission to pay interest out of capital during the construction of the canal) led to the capital being raised. The first sod was cut by Lord Egerton on 18 Nov. 1887. As the works proceeded it became evident that the capital was insufficient, and in 1891, and again in 1892, the corporation of Manchester came to the assistance of the undertaking by obtaining parliamentary powers to advance £3,000,000 in the first instance, and an additional £2,000,000 in the second. The capital expenditure exceeded £13,000,000, including £1,782,172 for the purchase of the Bridgwater Canal, £1,161,347 for land purchase, &c., £8,861,761 for construction, and over £1,000,000 for interest in share and loan capital. The capital of the company amounts to £15,412,000. The canal was completed and filled with water from end to end by November 1893, and was opened for traffic in January 1894, and the formal opening by Her Majesty took place on 21 May of that year. The canal leaves the Mersey tideway at Eastham, 6 miles above Liverpool. The locks at Eastham admit vessels at almost any state of the tide, their lower sills being 3 feet deeper than the entrance channel. These locks are three in number of various sizes-viz., 600 feet long by 80 wide, 350 feet long by 50 wide, and 150 feet long by 30 wide; and in addition there are two sluices, each 20 feet wide, for assisting in filling the canal, the water level of which is 14 feet 2 inches above the Old Dock Sill at Liverpool, which is about the level of mean high water. At all tides above the ordinary level of the canal all the lock gates will be open for a considerable period before high water. The tidal portion of the canal extends to the next group of locks at Latchford, a distance of 21 miles. From Latchford to Manchester (a distance of 14¼ miles) the canal, being designed to take the place of the rivers Irwell and Mersey ,thus becomes a canalized river, large sluices being provided at each set of locks to deal with land floods and surplus water.

At Latchford the locks are two in number, the larger being 600 feet long by 65 wide, and the smaller 350 feet long by 45 wide. At Irlam, 7½ miles above Latchford, there are similar locks, as well as at Barton, 2 miles above Irlam, and at Mode Wheel, 3½ miles from Barton. These last-named locks form the entrance to the Manchester Docks, which extend 1½ mile above Mode Wheel.

The total rise from the ordinary water level of the canal at Eastham to the docks at Manchester is 60 feet 6 inches. This rise divided between the four sets of locks gives an average rise of about 15 feet 1¼ inch.

The river Weaver embankment pens the water up that river to Frodsham, a distance of 3 miles from the canal, thus forming a large sheet of water. This is joined to the Weaver Navigation by a lock 229 feet long by 42 wide, admitting the salt trade of Cheshire to the Ship Canal. Large locks at Weston Point and Runcorn allow coasters and barges to enter and leave the canal at those points. To let off flood and other spare water, sluices are provided similar to the sluices erected at the month of the river Weaver, four by the side of the locks at Mode Wheel and Barton, and five at Irlam. At Latchford only three are required.

Near Warrington.'where the railway lines of the L. & N.W. R. and G.W.R. cross the canal, they are raised by high level deviation railways so as to allow of shipping passing under the railway bridges. The railways between Warrington and Stockport and the Cheshire Lines railways near Irlam required similar deviations. The railway viaducts over the canal are in most cases considerably on the skew, and the clear spans of the openings vary from 266 to 137 feet-these large spans being necessary to enable the full navigable width of 120 feet being maintained for the canal under the bridges. There are two high level road bridges and six swing road bridges between Runcorn and Barton; the span of these bridges is in all cases not less than 120 feet. The minimum headway under the high level railway and road bridges is 75 feet. Vessels' masts should not exceed 70 feet from the water level.

At Barton there is a movable aqueduct carrying the Bridgwater Canal across the Ship Canal. This work has two openings of 90 feet each, which are crossed by a long iron caisson or trough resting on a central pier. The caisson is filled with water to the same depth as the Bridgwater Canal, and boats can pass along it over the Ship Canal. When vessels have masts too high to pass under the caisson it can be opened like a swing bridge, the water being retained in the caisson by lifting gates at either end. Similar gates are used at either end of the aqueduct leading to the movable caisson to maintain the water in the Bridgwater Canal.

The docks at Manchester have an area of water space of 114 acres, the area of quay space being 152 acres. The length of quay is 5½ miles. The plans include a dock of 23 acres at Warrington. At Partington the canal is widened out to allow steamers to lie on either side. With the use of the electric light steamers can navigate by night as well as by day, and the whole length of the canal should be traversed m about ten hours. The total length of the canal is 35¼ miles, minimum depth 26 feet, average width at water level 172 feet, minimum width at bottom 120 feet. Between Barton and Manchester the width is-at water level 230 feet, at bottom 170.

Besides the Ship Canal the company owns and works the Bridgwater Canal, the Runcorn and Weston Canal, the portions of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation which have not been absorbed by the Ship Canal, a short section in the town of Manchester of the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal, the Runcorn Docks in Cheshire, and the Duke's Dock 'in Liverpool.

The Bridgwater Canal runs from a junction with the Rochdale Canal at Manchester via Stretford, Altrincham, and Preston Brook, to Rnncorn on the Mersey. From Stretford there is a branch to the Leeds and Liverpool Canalat Leigh, and from Preston Brook there is a branch to the Trent and Mersey Canal.

The Runcorn and Weston Canal runs from the Bridgwater Canal near its Runcorn end to a junction near Weston Point with the River Weaver Navigation Weston Canal.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cheshire is available to browse.


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cheshire papers online:

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