Detailed Description

The Bridgewater Canal is one of the most iconic industrial monuments in the world. It’s opening in 1761 ushered in a boom in industrial canal-building in Britain and around the world.

The canal would not have been built, though, without the growing industrial market represented by nearby Manchester. The relationship of the canal to this city is thus of crucial importance in understanding Manchester’s place as the world’s first industrial city.

To walk along the canal from Worsley to Manchester is to follow in the footsteps of 250 years of sightseers. The current volume captures contemporary responses to the canal and the emergence of Manchester as an international city based around commerce, manufacture and transport. This is represented by the Bridgewater’s successors: the Ashton and Rochdale canals, and the world-famous Liverpool and Manchester Railway which are also explored in the work.

For enquiries please email; [email protected].