Bridgewater Canal Footbridge - 1993 – Manchester, UK - Bridge Date Stones and Plaques on Waymarking.com

The bridge was manufactured by cast iron restoration specialists Marsh Brothers of Bakewell in 1993. It is one of a number of bridges made by them in the area and is a cast iron clad steel bridge.

It crosses the Bridgewater Canal near to an small inlet on the canal that led to Slate Wharf. This is one of a number of wharves that lead off Bridgewater Canal near here. In 1997 the land at the end of the inlet was developed as part of the area’s regeneration and new apartment blocks erected.

There is some painted graffiti around the date but it does not obscure it any way.

The Castlefield area of the City of Manchester.
This area is so named because of the remains of a Roman fort in the area.

Manchester was one of the world’s first industrial cities and indeed claims to have started the industrial revolution with the building of the Bridgewater Canal. This canal was the first canal in Britain that did not make use of any existing waterways. It was built by the Duke of Bridgewater to connect his coal mines at Worsley with Manchester and terminated at Castlefield near to the River Medlock. The canal boats were able to carry around ten times more coal than was previously possible by cart. In fact, the canal was so effective that the price of coal in Manchester fell by over half within a year of its opening. This meant that the use of steam power in factories became economically viable.

The Bridgewater canal reached Manchester in 1761 at the Castlefield Basin. It was later extended to provide a link to Liverpool on the west coast. Many factories were built around Castlefield and so the canal started to carry many other goods as well as coal.

In 1799 The Rochdale Canal was joined onto the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield and connected Manchester to Rochdale. By 1804 the Rochdale Canal was extended to Sowerby Bridge and became the first canal that crossed the Pennine Hills. From Sowerby Bridge it was possible to reach Hull on the East coast by use of a number of other linked canals and rivers.

The next stage of Manchester’s development was the arrival of railways in 1830 and there are four separate railway viaducts that cross the Bridgewater Canal and wharves in Castlefield.

During the 20th Century canals and railways declined in use and Castlefiled became largely derelict. However in 1982 the area became the first Urban Heritage Park and large parts of the area have now been restored. There are now apartments, pubs and restaurants in the area. Various modern bridges have been erected to connect parts of the site and it is now a popular and interesting area to visit and explore.

See this Wikipedia page for a fuller description of Castlefield.

Date built or dedicated as indicated on the date stone or plaque.: 1993 Date stone, plaque location.: On bottom of the bridge next to the brick support. Road, body of water, land feature, etc. that the bridge spans.: The Bridgewater Canal Website (if available): Not listed Parking (safe parking location): Not Listed

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