The Manchester and Salford Junction Canal was a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

in the city of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. It was originally built to provide a direct waterway between the

Mersey and Irwell Navigation The Mersey and Irwell Navigation was a river navigation in North West England, which provided a navigable route from the Mersey estuary to Salford and Manchester, by improving the course of the River Irwell and the River Mersey. Eight locks were ...

and the Rochdale Canal. The canal opened in 1839 and was abandoned in 1922.

History

The lack of any direct canal link between the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and the Rochdale Canal meant that goods being transported using both waterways had to be offloaded onto carts and carried across the city, before being loaded back onto boats to continue their journey. This was costly and time-consuming, as well as adding to traffic congestion on the streets of Manchester. In 1799, the nearby

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. ...

company proposed to connect their canal to the Rochdale canal with an aqueduct across the Mersey and Irwell Navigation. Due mainly to strong objections from the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, who would have suffered a loss of trade, the link was not forthcoming. In 1805, John Nightingale was asked by the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company to estimate the cost of a canal link between Manchester and Salford. Nothing would happen until 1836, when John Gilbert was appointed as engineer. In 1838, just as the canal was being built, the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, Greater Manchester, Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was ...

Company were completing their

Hulme Locks Branch Canal The Hulme Locks Branch Canal is a canal in the city of Manchester. It is 200m (one furlong) in length and was built to provide a direct waterway between the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and the Bridgewater Canal. The canal opened in 1838 and w ...

. This provided an alternative route from the Rochdale Canal to the River Irwell, and cargoes from either direction could navigate onto the Irwell without the need to use the new Junction Canal. Salfordjunctioncanal1

Construction of the new canal was funded in part by the proprietors of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal. The canal was opened in 1839. In 1885, the

Great Northern Warehouse The Great Northern Warehouse is the former railway goods warehouse of the Great Northern Railway in Manchester city centre, England, which was refurbished into a leisure complex in 1999. The building is at the junction of Deansgate and Peter S ...

was built on top of the line of the canal and a dock was constructed to allow the interchange of goods. There were four large bays below the warehouse with two lift shafts to allow goods to be unloaded from the boats using the canal, and raised up to the warehouse for storage.

Decline

The canal was constructed just as railways were becoming popular. In later years, both the Bridgewater and Rochdale canals came to be owned by the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the river ...

Company, removing the competitive incentive for keeping both canals open and the Junction Canal was abandoned in 1922. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, sections of the canal were drained and converted for use as air-raid shelters.

Route

The canal ran for 5

furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hor ...

s (1 km) between the River Irwell from southwest of Quay Street, to a branch of the Rochdale Canal southeast of Lower Mosley Street, mostly through a tunnel. The canal is now dry, and disused, although large parts remain underneath the city, particularly sections underneath the

and

Granada Studios Old Granada Studios (known simply as Granada Studios and previously known as The Manchester Studios) is a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programm ...

. The original western entrance is still visible from the River Irwell; the eastern entrance has been redeveloped into a small canal basin behind the Bridgewater Hall. The canal used four

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

and lifted water from the River Irwell with two

pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as well drilling, drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastru ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Location of northwest canal entrance from Google Maps imageryImages of the canal on FlickrImage of canal entrance at Water Street, 1938Subterranea Britannica pages on the canalImage of eastern end of canal 1973History of the Great Northern
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester And Salford Junction Canal Canals in Greater Manchester Canals in Manchester Canals in Salford Canals opened in 1839 1839 establishments in England