Big Ditch: Manchester's Ship Canal

Regular price €19.99
Quantity:
In stock with our UK publisher. 14-28 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
14 days return policy Shipping & Delivery
1880s
A01=Cyril J Wood
Author_Cyril J Wood
banana boats
Barton Aqueduct
big ditch
canal
Category=WGG
cattle carriers
docks
engineering
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
industrial
Manchester
Manchester Ship Canal
MSC
pleasure steamers
Salford
Salford docks
ships
Thelwell Viaduct
tramp steamers
victorian engineering
Victorian era
waterway
waterways

Product details

  • ISBN 9780752428116
  • Weight: 370g
  • Dimensions: 165 x 235mm
  • Publication Date: 01 Aug 2005
  • Publisher: The History Press Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns

Nowadays most of us think of the Manchester Ship Canal as that bit of water under the Thelwell Viaduct as we sit in one of England's traffic jam black spots but in the days before the M6, the Manchester Ship Canal was an important route from the docks at Salford and industrial Manchester to the world. From banana boats to cattle carriers, from tramp steamers to pleasure steamers, all sorts of ships used this busy thoroughfare.

It wasn't always like this - at one time the docks at Birkenhead and Liverpool received the goods that Manchester needed and everything travelled by railway, canal or road to the North's industrial metropolis. In the 1880s, construction on Britain's largest man-made inland waterway and soon sizable ships sailed to Salford. A stunning engineering project in its own right, the 'Big Ditch' also spawned smaller marvels such as the Barton Aqueduct and it remained busy for almost a century. Now little used, it still remains a marvel of Victorian engineering.

Cyril Wood is an established author, photographer, and lecturer, who has had an active interest in canals and inland waterways since childhood.

More from this author