Bridgewater Canal Towpath Footbridge – Manchester, UK - Arch Bridges on Waymarking.com

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.

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.

This inlet used by the nearby warehouses is directly opposite a set of locks the led down to the River Irwell. At the time the canal was built some boat traffic still used the nearby river to transport goods.

The locks have been disused for many years and are in a bad state of disrepair.

What type of traffic does this bridge support?: Pedestrians and cyclists What kind of gap does this bridge cross?: Warehouse inlet on the Bridgewater Canal Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: Yes Name of road or trail the bridge services: Bridgewater Canal Towpath Location: Manchester Length of bridge: Not listed Height of bridge: Not listed Date constructed: Not listed

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