Mersey and Irwell Navigation

The Mersey and Irwell Navigation was a canal and river connection in the North West of England. They established a navigable route from the mouth of the Mersey to Salford and Manchester, by linking the rivers Irwell and Mersey. Between 1724 and 1743 eight locks were built and changed the course of rivers by various breakthroughs. The ship traffic on the track took off in the 1870s and was eventually superseded by the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal. The channel destroyed large parts of the navigation in the area of the Irwell and the distance between Runcorn and Latchford.

History

The plan to connect the rivers Mersey and Irwell for shipping between Liverpool and Manchester was first discussed in 1660, but only in 1712 concretized. 1720 a law was introduced into parliament and decided in 1721. Construction led the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company by 1724-1734. With the completion of the canal boats on the quay in the Water Street could run up to the Irish Sea in Manchester. The size of the ships was limited. During dry periods or when a strong east wind drove back the tide at the mouth of the Mersey, fully loaded vessels may could not travel the route.

On the length of the track eight locks were built as well as various short passages were dug to circumvent shallow river sections and finished with gates. Some bends in the rivers were straightened. The course has been revised repeatedly over time. A difficult -to-travel section at Howley could be circumvented in 1804 by the so-called Runcorn and Latchford Canal. In Runcorn harbor basin was established to provide ships at low water a place to wait for more water.

By 1776 the Bridgewater Canal opened and the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 received the channel serious competition. From the 1870s the waterway fell progressively. The transport took off because of the port of Liverpool demanded very high fees. So it was cheaper to ship goods via Hull on the other side of England than Liverpool. It also coincided with the industrial performance of Manchester declined sharply. Therefore, a plan was developed to build a canal between Liverpool and Manchester, which should allow ships to call at Manchester directly and thus halt the economic decline of the city.

The construction of the Manchester Ship Canal made ​​the Mersey and Irwell Navigation superfluous. Traffic on a section below Rixton there until 1950. Nowadays a small section above the Pomona Docks Manchester Ship Canals is the only track that is still operated in many other places, the route is now dry and is no longer passable.

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