Episode 2 of 2
Opening of the Worsley to Manchester Section
- When
- 1761
- Where
- Bridgewater Canal between Worsley and Manchester
The first canal section opened in 1761, carrying Worsley coal to Manchester and halving local coal prices within a year.
The Bridgewater Canal was opened in 1761 from Worsley to Manchester. The Barton Aqueduct, whose work commenced in September 1760, saw the first boat cross on 17 July 1761. The section cost £168,000 (equivalent to £31,000,000 in 2025) to build, but its advantages over land and river transport meant that within a year of opening the price of coal in Manchester fell by about half.
Sources
- Bridgewater Canal Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.