WATERWAYS OF ENGLAND AND WALES, 1750 to 1760

This decade sees the beginnings of the main Canal Era, around Manchester. River navigations were still being built, but nobody had succeeded in getting Parliament's permission to build a canal proper, until Liverpool Council used a clever stratagem. They applied to Parliament for permission to make the Sankey Brook navigable. This was granted in 1755, the Act containing provision for them to make Navigable cuts. They took advantage of this clause to build a complete canal parallel with the brook, later to be known as the St Helen's Canal.

The motive behind this navigation was bring coal from pits around St Helen's to Liverpool at considerably less cost than was possible by pack-horses, the only practical alternative. The need for transporting coal was caused by the emerging Industrial Revolution.

Another coal-owner in the area was the Duke of Bridgewater, with mines at Worsley, and a demand for coal in the twin towns of Manchester and Salford. His original proposal, shown here along with an earlier one from Wigan, was for a canal from his pits to Salford, on the North side of the Irwell.