The Manchester Ship Canal was a huge engineering achievement. It
included seven swing bridges and the aqueduct at Barton, and helped turn
the cotton-producing capital of Great Britain into an inland seaport.
This was a feat many at the time believed could not be achieved. One of
the wonders of the modern industrial world, the Manchester Ship Canal,
with its huge locks and ocean-going vessels, was a magnetic draw for
enthusiastic Victorians who marvelled at its construction. This book
looks at the changes and development of the Manchester Ship Canal
through time, from its origins as a thriving economic hub in the late
nineteenth century, to an important retail, leisure and media centre in
the early twenty-first century and beyond. Join Steven Dickens as he
explores the history of this 36-mile-long inland waterway in the
north-west of England, which links Manchester to the Mersey Estuary and
the Irish Sea.