One Street - Worsley

This is the very starting point of One Street, the Bridgewater canal. Francis, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, wanted to get his coal from his mines in Worsley into the heart of Manchester as cheaply as possible. The mines were also prone to flooding. His land agent, James Gilbert came up with the solution to both those problems. The plan was to build a canal into which the water could be drained and the coal conveyed to Manchester.

There are up to 50 miles of underground canals on four levels, connected by inclines, which feed into the overland canal. Boats, known as starvationers because of their design which showed their ribs, brought coal out of the mines and it was then loaded on to barges. Transporting the coal by canal rather than cart to Manchester almost halved the cost.

The canal at this point is a distinctive orange colour which is caused by iron salts leaching out of the rocks in the underground canal.

Francis Egerton inherited the estate from his great uncle and moved to Worsley in 1837 and he described it as "a God forsaken place in a state of religious and educational destitution". He set out gentrifying the place and in 1851 Queen Victoria accompanied by Prince Albert and the Duke of Wellington visited and had a trip on the canal in the specially built state barge. One of the horses hauling the barge got so excited by the large crowds that it fell into the canal.

Many warehouses, boat yards and dry docks were built to service the canal. On a visit to his yard the Duke enquired why the workers were late returning from lunch. They said that although they could hear the clock strike 12 they often were unable to hear it strike one. His Grace made arrangements for the boat yard clock to strike 13 at one o'clock. The clock was later installed in St Mark's Church and today it still strikes 13 at one o'clock.

More images from Worsley.