Greater Manchester – Narrowboat Firecrest

Back onto the Bridgewater

As we couldn’t trust being able to cruise the full length of Leeds and Liverpool, we’ve opted to meander towards Chester. We’re going to stay in the northwest with the hope that we can cruise east next spring. But watch this space things could change. So for now we’ve booked ourselves 7 nights on the Bridgewater, to unlock the rest of our summer

Its scary seeing the size of lock gates out of the canal

Our RHS tickets were valid until the end of the month so we stopped off for the night outside RHS Bridgewater Garden

Its just over two months since we were last here, and the plants had magically transformed from a mass of purple iris and alliums into a hot bed of oranges and yellows. Hard to say which season I prefer. RHS Bridgewater is very much a 21st century garden where nature has been embraced and encouraged. Several potentially formal herbaceous borders were scattered with wild flowers seeds and the rewards were worthy of Monnet’s painting skills, or perhaps Jackson Pollock could splatter some colour like this.

Our meanderings into the art world took us into the heart of Manchester, as we took a detour and turned left at Stretford for a night moored in Castlefields. We were lucky to be able to meet up with Rito and overwhelmed by the choice of what to do in the city, we opted for the Manchester Art Gallery

You can never quite tell what impact an art gallery is going to make. Some are stuffed with halls and halls of old masters which beyond appreciating the detail and talent of the artist, leave me a bit bored. Manchester hit the nail on the head by mixing up the periods, giving them context, and celebrating local art in all shapes and forms, and really made us stop and wonder

We saw a fair few Lowry’s, but outside I had to pay homage to a hero of mine, Emmeline Pankhurst who came from Manchester, thankyou.

Cruising through Manchester has a bit of a reputation, and it wasn’t certain that we would be able to get a mooring in Castlefields but we were lucky, we found a space and it felt safe enough. Interesting being surrounded by the old and modern buildings, ( although I think the planning board need to consider the aesthetic impact of the high rises)

Castlefields by day evening and early morning

Rito went home to sleep in his own bed overnight, but joined us again as we cruised back out of central Manchester. Past the start (or end) of the Rochdale canal,

Im not sure I fancy going through that lock

And some very impressive arches carrying the transport infrastructure that helped make Manchester the thriving city it is.

Past some impressive street art, and some bad graffiti,

the city of Manchester adopted the image of of the worker bee over 150 years ago because it encompasses the ethic of hard work and a hive of activity

Past the famous football ground,

And back into the “country side”

but that can’t be real countryside, just look at the towpath quality

what’s the rush

What’s the rush,

I’ve been somewhat distracted over the past month or so. Now we were on the Bridgewater it felt like Firecrest was within touching distance of its final destination, Liverpool. So close to the Mersey, yet from Preston Brook to Salthouse Dock, it is 74 miles and another 14 locks and we had a whole month to complete our journey.
We have cruised the Bridgewater before so we knew roughly where we wanted to stop. We enjoyed a day in Lymm but behaved ourselves so we didn’t get locked in the stocks,

We explored the house

and grounds of NT Dunham Massey

We stopped for breakfast at the fabulous https://www.waltonperk.co.uk/ Walton Perk NB cafe and enjoyed a Bridgewater special, basically a bacon butty but in a toasted teacake with gherkin and mustard.

Before we crossed the incredible feat of engineering, the Barton Swing Bridge

And we were lucky enough to snag the prime mooring spot with an uninterrupted view of the Packet House in Worsely. And whilst it might be a stunning 18th Century building, it’s effectively was just the ticket office and station platform for those wanting to travel along the Bridgewater into Manchester

Ive always fancied a house with a garden mooring

Whilst we were moored in Worsley we took the opportunity to walk to the newly opened RHS gardens, making the most of our years membership that we purchased last year whilst we were on the River Wey at Wisley. Being end of May, the gardens were dominated by Alliums and Iris. The gardens is obviously still being developed over its huge site, so it will be fun to return in years to come and watch it grow. We added a comment to the suggestion box…. Where’s the visitor mooring! It might only be a mile from Worsley, but its practically a mile to circumnavigate the car park from the towpath.

and I’d like a garden with flowers like these

With our 7 days of permitted time on the Bridgewater, it was off up to Scotsmans Flash on the Leigh branch for a few days

Although with the recurrent lack of water issues at Wigan we did fear we might get stuck there until monsoon season returned but another Pondstock Lock is invariably drained overnight, vandalism or leaky gates, who knows, we were able to get through and into Lancashire, only 35 Miles to go

The Barton Swing Aqueduct

Reputed to be one of the 7 wonders of the canal navigation, the Barton Swing aqueduct deserves this accolade. It spans the Manchester ship canal and is still opened regularly. It is the only swing aqueduct in the world.

It was in 1761 when James Brindley built the first navigable aqueduct in England. He created a 3 span brick and stone structure to take the Bridgewater canal over the River Irwell.

Over a hundred years later 1885 the Manchester ship canal company, bought the Bridgewater canal and in order to facilitate the passage of larger vessels into Manchester, realised they would have to demolish this structure and replace it with something taller or something moveable. Edward Leader Williams designed the Barton Swing Aqueduct, which was built by Andrew Handyside and Co 11 years later. It was a huge feat of Victorian civil engineering. The river Irwell had to be diverted during construction and, because of its proximity to the old bridge, they were unable to test that the swing would work until after it’s completion, when they were able to demolish it.

The old aqueduct just before it was demolished in 1893

Fortunately it all went to plan and on 1st January 1894 the new aqueduct was opened and is still in operation today.

It is approximately 100m long 2m deep and 5.5m wide, weighs 1500 ton and carries 800 tons of water. It pivots 90°over a purpose built central island.

The views up and down the ship canal are amazing, looking East to central manchester’s city skyline

And west towards Mersyside and the M60, although this view is dominated in the foreground by the sister, swing road bridge and the central control tower.

Looking towards Merseyside, over the road bridge and towards the M60

Oh boy am I glad I am not responsible for opening and closing this particular swing, it’s a bit heavier than I’m used to. I enjoyed the crossing from the safety of the boat.

It was originally swung by steam operated hydraulics until 1940 when that system was replaced by electric pumps. The central pivot system consists of a 8.2 m race plate embedded in granite blocks. Sixty-four tapered cast iron rollers sat on top of the race plate, held in position by a spider ring. On top of that an upper race plate supports the aqueduct and its circular gear rack. But its collosal weight caused these rollers to deform.
a hydraulic press was installed in the pivot to help reduce the pressure. When water was admitted it took up to half the weight, but it was still pushing the structure to its limits and by 1927 it had dropped by nearly 10cm
In 1928 the hollow iron rollers were replaced with steel and since then the bridge has dropped by only 2.4mm and the hydraulic press wasn’t needed any more. Sadly the current custodians aren’t paying much attention to the aesthetics and although it is in working order, it’s in need of more than a lick of paint.

The crossing only took us 5 minutes and I wanted to turn round and do it again.

The original swing aqueduct was built with an elevated suspended towpath 2.5m above the water level. I wonder what the horses thought as they pulled their narrowboat cargo. I don’t think I’d have been brave enough to use it.

I would have liked to have seen it being swung and although I believe it is opened twice a day, I couldn’t see any information about when.

Onto the Bridgewater canal

Once you’ve picked up the weekly groceries from the canal side Aldi in Leigh, it’s under the bridge and straight onto the Bridgewater canal. Bye bye Leeds and Liverpool, it’s been home for almost a whole year as we set off from Leeds on 1st August 2019

The Bridgewater is a little different to other canals because it isn’t managed by CRT, but is still privately owned (currently by the same people that own the Manchester ship canal) Boats that are permenantly on the Bridgewater don’t need a CRT licence, cause they pay their own fee, however, there is a reciprocal agreement that CRT boats are allowed free passage for the period of 7 consecutive days. And they do keep a count (I believe that there is a new system of booking starting later this year) undeterred we set off on the floatiest of canals.

I think this sign at Boothstown is made up of knitted squares

The Bridgewater was one of the earliest commercial canals in England, when Francis Egerton, third Duke of Bridgewater realised he could transport the coal from his mines more quickly cheaply and efficiently than by road. The Packet house is a most pleasing sight as you come under the noisy bridges of the M60

And under the old Worsley Bridge

And wow, an 18th century black and white mock Tudor ticket office, for canal passengers. And whilst i was looking up it’s history, I noted it was for sale, £375,000, (insert shocked face emoji. ) Then we realised that it was only the narrow timbered section. Still, a home with a nice view. Even if the water is frequently stained orange from the mines residue of iron oxide

I would have like to have stopped here to explore this pretty village, Milton Keynes might have concrete cows but Worsley has brass ducks but we’d arranged to meet family so pushed on.

It’s always reassuring to have a lighthouse guiding your way when you’re at sea but we weren’t aware of any dangers on the canal at Monton. Why a light house here? “Barnacle” Phil Austin, a canal enthusiast built it in the 1980s, just for fun.

Some structures do serve a purpose though and the Barton Swing Aquaduct is known as one off the seven wonders of the canals. I’ll share more in my next post.