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The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Worsley to Manchester, and later extended from Manchester to Runcorn, and then from Worsley to Leigh. The canal is connected to the Manchester Ship Canal via a lock at Cornbrook; to the Rochdale Canal in Manchester; to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Preston Brook, southeast of Runcorn; and to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Leigh. It once connected with the River Mersey at Runcorn but has since been cut off by a slip road to the Silver Jubilee Bridge. Often considered to be the first "true" canal in England, it required the construction of an aqueduct to cross the River Irwell, one of the first of its kind. Its success helped inspire a period of intense canal building in Britain, known as "canal mania". It later faced intense competition from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Macclesfield Canal. Navigable throughout its history, it is one of the few canals in Britain not to have been nationalised, and remains privately owned. Pleasure craft now use the canal which forms part of the Cheshire Ring network of canals. == Design and construction == Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, owned some of the coal mines dug to supply north west England with fuel for the steam engines instrumental in powering England's industrial revolution. The duke transported his coal along the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and also by packhorse, but each method was inefficient and expensive; river transport was subject to the vagaries of river navigation,〔Vessels were affected by tide levels, and the shared use of water by industry〕 and the amount of coal packhorses could carry was limited by its relative weight. The duke's underground mines also suffered from persistent flooding, caused by the geology of the Middle Coal Measures, where the coal seam lies beneath a layer of permeable sandstone. Having visited the Canal du Midi in France and watched the construction of the Sankey Canal in England, the duke's solution to these problems was to build an underground canal at Worsley, connected to a surface canal between Worsley and Salford. In addition to easing overland transport difficulties and providing drainage for his mines, an underground canal would provide a reliable source of water for the surface canal, and also eliminate the need to lift the coal to the surface (an expensive and difficult proposition). The canal boats would carry at a time, pulled by only one horse – more than ten times the amount of cargo per horse that was possible with a cart. The duke and his estate manager John Gilbert produced a plan of the canal, and in 1759 obtained an Act of Parliament, enabling its construction.〔 James Brindley was brought in for his technical expertise (having previously installed a pumping system at the nearby Wet Earth Colliery), and after a six-day visit suggested varying the route of the proposed canal away from Salford, instead taking it across the River Irwell to Stretford and thereon into Manchester. This route would make connecting to any future canals much easier, and would also increase competition with the Mersey and Irwell Navigation company.〔Boughey, Joseph. (1998) Hadfield's British Canals, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-1840-3〕 Brindley moved into Worsley Old Hall and spent 46 days surveying the proposed route, which to cross the Irwell would require the construction of an aqueduct at Barton-upon-Irwell.〔 At the duke's behest, in January 1760 Brindley also travelled to London to give evidence before a parliamentary committee. The duke therefore gained a second Act of Parliament, which superseded the original.〔〔 Brindley's planned route began at Worsley and passed southeast through Eccles, before turning south to cross the River Irwell on the Barton Aqueduct. From there it continued southeast along the edge of Trafford Park, and then east into Manchester. Although a connection with the Mersey and Irwell Navigation was included in the new Act, at Hulme Locks in Castlefield (on land previously occupied by Hulme Hall), this was not completed until 1838. The terminus would be at Castlefield Basin, where the nearby River Medlock was to help supply the canal with water. Boats would unload their cargoes inside the duke's purpose-built warehouse. There were no locks in Brindley's design, demonstrating his ability as a competent engineer.〔 The Barton Aqueduct was built relatively quickly for the time; work commenced in September 1760 and the first boat crossed on 17 July 1761. The duke invested a large sum of money in the scheme. From Worsley to Manchester its construction cost £168,000 (£}} as of ), but its advantages over land and river transport meant that within a year of its opening in 1761, the price of coal in Manchester fell by about half. This success helped inspire a period of intense canal building, known as Canal Mania. Along with its stone aqueduct at Barton-upon-Irwell, the Bridgewater Canal was considered a major engineering achievement. One commentator wrote that when finished, "(canal ) will be the most extraordinary thing in the Kingdom, if not in Europe. The boats in some places are to go underground, and in other places over a navigable river, without communicating with its waters".〔 In addition to the duke's warehouse at Manchester, more buildings were built by Brindley and extended to Alport Street (now called Deansgate).〔 The warehouses were of timber-frame design, with load-bearing hand-made brick walls, supported on cast iron posts. The duke's warehouse was badly damaged by fire in 1789 but was rebuilt.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bridgewater Canal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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