Transport & space · 1761

Bridgewater Canal

A canal cuts Manchester's coal price in half and starts Britain's canal mania.

The Duke of Bridgewater and engineer James Brindley opened the canal in 1761 to carry coal from Worsley to Manchester. Coal prices in Manchester roughly halved. Its success triggered about 6,000 km of British canals that fed the early Industrial Revolution.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Pound lock 984

What it led to 1

Suez Canal 1869

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

UK coal production since 1700 Latest: 2.17M tonnes (2019) Source: Our World in Data

Output of key industries in England, 1270-1870 Latest: Coal: 3.77k index (1700=100) (1870) Source: Our World in Data