The Bridgewater Canal is considered to be the UK's first true canal because it didn't simply follow or improve on existing rivers.
It was built be the Duke of Bridgewater in 1761 to connect his coal mine at Worsley with Manchester.
The canal was later extended and although no longer used commercially is popular with leisure boaters, walkers and cyclists.
For many years it has not been possible to access the original wharves at Worsley where the canal met the coal mine, but the renovation work has included the building of viewing platforms and information boards at that location.
A number of information boards, "You Are Here" maps, benches and sculptures have also been installed between Worsley and Barton.
This artwork was created by a design company called Scartworks. There are three sculptures people associated with the early days of the Bridgewater Canal, Francis Egerton (the Duke of Bridgewater), James Brindley and John Gilbert.
This sculpture is of Francis Egerton.
"Commissioned by Salford City Council as part of a £3.6 million Heritage Lottery funded project, these pieces were installed Autumn 2017. The new canal side features were created from water-jet cut 20 mm thick Cor-Ten Steel. Also known as ‘Weathering Steel’, this metal is designed to have a long lasting rusty patina and was selected for this project for its colour. The Bridgewater Canal is permanently stained an orange colour due to oxide residues seeping into the water from the redundant mine workings it once serviced."
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Francis Egerton
"Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (21 May 1736 – 8 March 1803), known as Lord Francis Egerton until 1748, was a British nobleman from the Egerton family. He was the youngest son of the 1st Duke. He did not marry, and the dukedom expired with him, although the earldom was inherited by a cousin, Lieutenant-General John Egerton.
A pioneer of canal construction, he is famed as the "father of British inland navigation",[1] who commissioned the Bridgewater Canal—often said to be the first true canal in Britain, and the modern world. The canal was built for him by his agent John Gilbert with advice from James Brindley to service his coal mines at Worsley, in Lancashire.
Life
Bridgewater, the younger son of Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater, was born on the 21 May 1736. Upon the death of their father in 1745, his elder brother inherited the title to become John Egerton, 2nd Duke of Bridgewater. He died only three years later, and Francis succeeded to the dukedom at the age of twelve, becoming 3rd Duke of Bridgewater and 6th Earl of Bridgewater.
As a child Francis was sickly and of such unpromising intellectual capacity that at one time the idea of cutting the entail was seriously entertained by his mother. Despite this, after some education, Francis began to exhibit business acumen and developed several business interests in North-West England.
Shortly after attaining his majority he became engaged to the society beauty the Dowager Duchess of Hamilton, but her refusal to give up the acquaintance of her sister, Lady Coventry, led to the breaking off of the match. Thereupon the Duke broke up his London establishment, and retired to his estate at Worsley where he devoted himself to the making of canals.
Canals
The Bridgewater Canal from Worsley to Manchester which he constructed to transport coal obtained on his estates is usually cited as the first modern British canal as opposed to a river navigation—although the Sankey Canal is a rival to this claim, projected as a "navigation", but built as a true canal. The construction of Bridgewater's canal, with its aqueduct across the River Irwell, was carried out by James Brindley, the celebrated engineer.
The completion of his first canal led the duke to undertake a more ambitious work. In 1762 he obtained parliamentary powers to provide an improved waterway between Liverpool and Manchester by means of a canal. The difficulties encountered in its execution were still more formidable than those of the Worsley canal, involving carrying it across Sale Moor Moss. But the genius of John Gilbert, his agent and Brindley, his engineer, proved superior to all obstacles although at one period the duke's financial resources were almost exhausted, the work was carried to a triumphant conclusion.
Both canals were completed by the time Bridgewater was thirty-six years of age, and the remainder of his life was spent in extending them and in improving his estates. During the latter years of his life he derived a princely income from the success of his enterprise. Although a supporter of Pitt's administration, he took no prominent part in politics."
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