Alan Davies, SB, 248 x 172 mm, 240pp 200 images mono and 38 colour
£17.99 + P&P adit now members post free until 10th December

Mike

As ever this is another excellent book written by Alan Davies some rare photos are used
"Publishers review below"
Lancashire can be considered one of the homes of the Industrial Revolution and it was the abundance of coal close to the surface which literally helped fuel the great growth in cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. With poor roads, it was easier to move coal by water and so Lancashire landowners developed the first canals in Britain. Lancashire coal powered the cotton mills, the steelworks and the ironworks, it powered the locomotives which transported people and goods and it fuelled the ships which brought raw products to the UK and exported engineering wonders to the rest of the world.

Alan Davies, author of The Atherton Collieries and The Wigan Coalfield tells the story of the Lancashire Coalfield, using a selection of rare and previously unpublished images showing both the industry itself and the human face of one of the world’s most dangerous jobs.


http://moorebooks.co.uk/shelves/cart.php?target=product&product_id=20080&category_id=249 

Mike,
Out of interest,when did the Lancashire Canals open?

Recommended, some cracking underground pit photos. Also, great ones of old workings uncovered by open casting.

A cracking read this one. I have a signed copy from the Author himself :thumbup:

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Mike,
Out of interest,when did the Lancashire Canals open?

do you mean the bridgewater canal - i think that was 1760's?

Mike

Aye tis a fine read indeed.

Mike,
Out of interest,when did the Lancashire Canals open?

do you mean the bridgewater canal - i think that was 1760's?

Mike

Thanks Mike,
I did mean in general in Lancs,but looked it up last night myself,the Duke of Bridgewater seems to be the first to construct a canal in 1763 in Lancs,by the jist of the info,seems the first in the UK,or was there an earlier one somewhere else like Durham being an early coal mining area.?

I am led to believe it is the earliest with the 2nd oldest being the Lilleshall Canal which took limestone from the Church aston / lilleshall mines eventualy the furnaces within the Telford area although a lot went simoply for Lime Burning. The Duke of Sutherland was related to Duke of Bridgewater and copied the ideas albeit used various inclines and eventualy and a shaft and crane up to the higher level (the tunnel still exists)


Daves Adams volume of the Church Aston and Lilleshall Mining area describes al in detail
Mike

Fasinating engineering of the time,where i m originally from in the Swansea Valley,that canal was started 1792 and finished 1800,16mls,my G Grandfathers brothers worked on the canal,one was a Mason building the bridges and locks and the other was a barge man.
Anthracite coal from a Colliery in Cwmtwrch was taken on a tramway down to Gurnos warfe ,then on barges down to Swansea,then shipped round to Kent,to be burnt in the Oast houses.

Off thread,but fasinating stuff.

Mike,
Out of interest,when did the Lancashire Canals open?

It is always difficult to timeline some of the canal building schemes but one thing is for certain, in most if not all cases the driving force in England at least was to get supplies of coal to where it was needed. The canals provided this function and in doing so had the added benefit of reducing the cost coal.

As for who was first, well because canals crossed multiple landowners, an Act of Parliament was needed to initiate the process. So the following timeline can be established:-

1755 Act of Parliament granted for the building of the Sankey Canal.
1757 Sankey Canal opened.
1759 Act of Parliament granted for the building of the Bridgewater Canal.
1761 Bridgewater Canal opened.

The most probable reason why the Bridgewater is accredited as being the first canal is in part due to the fact that the Sankey Canal did in places follow the original line of the Sankey Brook, whereas the Bridgewater did not follow any natural watercourse.. There is of course the promotional side, even in those days the first, the biggest, the best had a sway on those who invested in such ventures. Inevitably it lead to facts being clouded after all, why let the facts get in the way of a good story holds good then just as much as it does today.

Peter.

The Sankey Canal was later known as the St Helens Canal.

Nothing like the true facts,thanks for the info.

Who was the driving force behind the Sankey canal?

Was he also a Duke like the Bridgwater canal builder,

The Duke of Beaufort was the force behind the Swansea Valley canal.

AFAIK there was no figure head Duke like the Bridgewater venture, it was needed so they got on with it.
The Duke of Bridgewater's venture was hailed as being ground breaking. Not only was the coal brought out from the mine by canal boat (starvationers) and then delivered to the heart of Manchester and it's textile mills but it halved the price of delivered coal.