346 THE BRIDGEWATER CANAL PART V. 



CHAPTElt IV. 



THE BRIDGEWATER CANAL FROM WORSLEY TO MANCHESTER. 



WE have already stated that, as early as 1737, an Act 

 had been obtained by the Duke's father, to enable the 

 Worsley Brook to be made navigable to the point at 

 which it entered the Irwell. But the enterprise seemed 

 to be too difficult, and its cost too great ; so the powers 

 of the Act were allowed to expire without anything being 

 done to carry them out. The young Duke now deter- 

 mined to revive the Act in another form, and in the early 

 part of 1759 he applied to Parliament for the requi- 

 site powers to enable him to cut a navigable canal from 

 Worsley Mill eastward to Salford, and to carry the same 

 westward to a point on the river Mersey, called Hollin 

 Ferry. He introduced into the bill several important 

 concessions to the inhabitants of Manchester. He bound 

 himself not to exceed the freight of 2s. 6d. per ton 011 all 

 coals brought from Worsley to Manchester, and not to 

 sell the coal so brought from the mines to that town at 

 more than 4d . per hundred, which was less than half the 

 then average price. It was clear that, could such a canal 

 be made and the navigation opened up as proposed, it 

 would prove a great public boon to the inhabitants of 

 Manchester, and it was hailed by them as such accord- 

 ingly. The bill was well supported, and it passed the 

 legislature without opposition, receiving the Royal assent 

 in March, 1759. 



The Duke gave further indications of his promptitude 

 and energy, in the steps which he adopted to have llic 

 works carried out without loss of time. He had no inten- 

 tion of allowing the powers of this Act to remain a dead 



