138 History of Inland Transport 



went across country in those days is shown in a letter written 

 in 1701 by Thomas Patten, a Liverpool citizen who had 

 taken a leading part in the movement that led to the Mersey 

 being made navigable as far inland as Warrington. Referring 

 to a certain consignment of tobacco which was to be despatched 

 from Liverpool to Hull, on behalf of a trader at Stockport, 

 Patten says that, as the tobacco could not be carried in the 

 hogshead all the way by road from Warrington to Hull, and 

 as the sea route from Liverpool to Hull would have taken 

 too long, the tobacco was first forwarded by cart, in twenty or 

 thirty hogsheads, from the quay at Warrington to Stockport. 

 There it was made up into canvas-covered parcels, and then 

 sent on by packhorse three parcels to a horse a distance 

 of thirty-six miles by road to Doncaster, and from Doncaster 

 it was conveyed by river for the remainder of the distance to 

 Hull. Baines, who gives the letter in his " History of Lan- 

 cashire and Cheshire," remarks : " Such was the mode of 

 conveying goods up to that time, and for upwards of thirty 

 years after. It is evident that there could be no great develop- 

 ment of trade and commerce so long as the modes of com- 

 munication were so tedious and costly." 



The improvement on the Mersey itself led to a further scheme 

 for making the Mersey and Irwell navigable from Warrington 

 to Manchester, thus establishing direct water communication 

 between Liverpool and Manchester, as an alternative to trans- 

 port by road. A survey of the two rivers was carried out 

 in 1712, and a prospectus was issued in which it was said : 



" The inland parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire being 

 favoured with a great variety of valuable manufactures 

 in woollen, linen, cotton, &c., and that in very great quan- 

 tities, has made that neighbourhood as populous, if not more 

 so, than (London and Middlesex excepted) the same extent 

 of any part of Great Britain. The trades of these counties 

 extend considerably through the whole island, as well as 

 abroad, and the consumption of groceries, Irish wool, dyeing 

 stuffs, and other important goods consequently is very great ; 

 but as yet not favoured with the conveniency of water car- 

 riage, though Providence, from the port of Liverpool up to the 

 most considerable inland town of Lancashire, Manchester, 

 has afforded the best, not yet employed, rivers of Mersey and 

 Irwell for that purpose." 



