The Canal Era 179 



distribution ; the merchants both of Hull and of Liverpool 

 could now send groceries and other domestic supplies through- 

 out the midland counties with greater ease, and with much 

 benefit to the people ; while among still other advantages 

 was one mentioned by Baines : " Wheat which formerly 

 could not be conveyed a hundred miles, from corn-growing 

 districts to the large towns and manufacturing districts, for 

 less than 203. a quarter, could be conveyed for about 53. a 

 quarter." 



The towns which had least cause for satisfaction were 

 Bridgnorth, Bewdley and Bristol, the traffic that had pre- 

 viously gone by the long land route from the Potteries to 

 the Severn, and so on to Bristol, being now diverted to Liver- 

 pool by the Grand Trunk Canal, just as the salt of Cheshire 

 had been taken there on the opening of the Weaver naviga- 

 tion, and the textiles of Manchester on the completion of the 

 Duke of Bridgewater's canal. 



These developments had, consequently, a further influence 

 on the growth of the once backward port of Liverpool, and 

 such growth was to be stimulated by the Leeds and Liverpool 

 Canal. 



Sanctioned by Parliament in 1769, six years before the 

 Grand Trunk Canal was opened, the Leeds and Liverpool 

 Canal was mainly designed to overcome the natural barrier, 

 in the form of a chain of lofty hills, which separated Lancashire 

 from Yorkshire, serving to isolate Liverpool and to keep back 

 from her the flow of trade and commerce from industrial 

 centres on the other side of the hills which should otherwise 

 have regarded Liverpool as their natural port. The canal 

 was further intended to open up more fully than had been 

 done before the great coal-fields of Lancashire, ensuring a 

 better distribution of their mineral wealth both to Liverpool 

 and to the manufacturing towns of Lancashire ; while, by 

 connecting with the Aire at Leeds, the capital of the York- 

 shire woollen industry, the canal was to provide another 

 cross-country connection, by inland navigation, between 

 Liverpool and Hull. 



The work of constructing the Leeds and Liverpool Canal 

 included (i) the piercing of the Foulridge Hills by a tunnel, 

 1640 yards long, which alone took five years of constant 

 labour ; (2) an aqueduct bridge of seven arches over the 



