History of the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal

In 1790, Matthew Fletcher carried out an initial survey after being commissioned by residents of Bolton who wanted to trade with carriers already using the River Irwell in nearby Manchester. Hugh Henshall, James Brindley's brother-in-law, carried out a further survey, and the Parliamentary Act passed in 1791 followed by further surveys by Charles Niven. The original plans were for a narrow canal splitting at Prestolee, with a branch going to Bolton and the other to Bury.

The Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal promoters were interested in joining with the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, under construction at this time. After two earlier proposals failed, an agreement was reached in 1794. As a result, the canal was broadened, with those locks already finished being taken down and rebuilt. The canal reached Bolton and Bury in 1796, but was not joined to the Irwell until 1808. The connection to the Leeds & Liverpool was never made.

In 1836, locks 4 and 5 were moved to give room for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. Two short tunnels - one just 66 yards long, the other 141 yards - were created. That same year, a new canal in central Manchester provided a direct route from the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal to the city centre and the Rochdale Canal. Christened the Manchester & Salford Junction Canal, much of it was built underground, an expensive process which almost guaranteed financial failure. The canal is no longer in use, but underground tours have occasionally been organised from the Granada Studios complex.

Dyed goods, chemicals, cotton, and coal were moved regularly between Manchester, Bolton and Bury - as were passengers! But with competition from the railway, use of the waterway began to decline. A serious breach occurred in 1936: then, during World War Two, the presence of the nearby Magnesium Electric Co. caused the Ministry of Transport to close a half-mile section of canal after fears that a breach could be caused by bombing.

Nonetheless, heavy coal traffic ensured the life of the Bury branch until the closure of Ladyshore Colliery in 1951. After this the canal went into serious decline, and was eventually closed to navigation by an Act of Parliament in 1968. In 1972 the terminal warehouses at Bury were demolished, and the basins filled; the site is now occupied by industrial units. In 1973, the last half-mile of the Bolton section was taken in with the construction of St. Peter's Way.

Today, British Waterways owns 50% of the canal. Approximately eight miles of the route survive, either in water or dry: the remainder has been obliterated. But as part of Manchester's waterway renaissance, local councils, BW, and the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal Society are working to restore navigation and to link the canal to the national network again. An early success was scored when a route for the canal was secured under Manchester's new inner ring road, with the help of a £300,000 Government grant.