BRIDGEWATER CANAL

British canal now extending from Worsley to Liverpool. An engineering masterpiece of the 18th century, the Bridgewater Canal was executed by James Brindley, a brilliant, self-taught mechanic and engineer in the service of the Duke of Bridgewater. The duke wanted a canal to facilitate transporting coal from his mines at Worsley to Manchester, a distance of 10 miles (16 km), and envisaged a conventional canal with a number of locks. Brindley, however, after reconnoitring the route, persuaded the duke to allow him to construct a gravity-flow canal crossing the Irwell valley on a viaduct carried on arches. The highly successful canal, completed in 1761, extended deep into the coalfield and cut the cost of coal in Manchester in half. In 1776 the canal was extended from Manchester to Liverpool, an additional 30 miles (48 km).