move to adapt to the changing world situation in a century that witnessed the loss of a hug e Empir e and the dec line of the heavy industries that made it tr uly great.
MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL
AT A GLANCE
The idea of joining the b udding industrial nor th-west to the sea was by no means new b ut most impr ovements such as the Bridgewater Barge Canal fell short of Manchester, which relied heavily upon Liverpool and the Mersey to fill its transport needs. With the added incenti ve of alleviating the r ecession caused by the American Union cotton b lockades, Manchester industrialists, spearheaded b y Daniel Adamson, f ormed a project committee at the beginning of 1882 to build the future Manchester Ship Canal.
Weather: Mean Temp Rainfall Manchester: July 61ºF/16ºC 2.6”/66mm London: November 45ºF/7ºC
3”/76 mm
Time: GMT+1 (Late March to late October) Official language: English Currency: Pound Sterling Banking hours: Mon – Fri: 09.00 – 16.30 Sat: 10.00 – 12.00 at some branches
Construction began in 1887 under Thomas Walker, who had already w orked on the Se vern Tunnel – sadl y, lik e Adamson before him, he was not to see the project through. He estimated that the v enture would take four and a half years at a cost of £51/2 million – in r eality, the total e xpenditure was trebled to over £15 million and the time-scale lengthened to se ven years. Countless other problems were encountered along the way – the boggy ter rain, bad w eather leading to f looding, injuries and deaths. Building tec hniques w ere the most ad vanced of their time, using new machinery that included steam excavators, earth dredgers, railway wagons, steam cranes as well as large gangs of navvies, 16,000 men and boys in total.
Shopping hours: Mon – Sat: 09.00 – 18.00 some shops opening on Sunday mornings
The channel was dug deep to avoid dredging, on the same principle as the Suez Canal. Six locks were installed to raise the water level by 601/2 feet (18.4 m) over a distance of 351/2 miles (57 km) – P ort Sunlight-Eastham, Latc hford, Ir lam, Bar ton 22