CHAP. IV. FlloM WoHSLFT TO MAXCHKSTER. 3.~>7 



construction of the canal, but liis attention seems to have 

 been equally dim-ted to tlie contrivance of the whole 

 arraiiirniH'iits and machinery by which it was worked. 

 The open navigation between Worsley Mill and Man- 

 el irster was 10| miles in length. At Worsley, where 

 a large basin was excavated of sufficient capacity to 

 contain a givat many boats, and to serve as a head 

 for the navigation, the canal did not stop, but entered 

 the bottom of the hill by a subterraneous channel which 

 extended for a great distance, connecting the different 

 workings of the mine, and enabling the coals readily 

 to be transported in boats to their place of sale. In 

 Brindley's time, this subterraneous canal, hewn out of 

 the rock, was only about a mile in length, but it now 

 extends to nearly forty miles in all directions un- 

 derground. 1 Where the tunnel passed through earth 

 or coal, the arching was of brick- work ; but where it- 

 passed through rock, it was simply hewn out. This 

 tunnel acts not only as a drain and water-feeder for the 

 canal itself, but as a means of carrying the facilities of 

 the navigation through the very heart of the collieries ; 

 and it will readily be seen of how great a value it must 

 have proved in the economical working of the naviga- 

 tion, as well as of the mines, so far as the traffic in coals 

 was concerned. 



1 Worsley-basin lies at the base of 

 a cliff of sandstone, some hundred feet 

 in height. [See the cut at p. 306.] 

 Luxuriant foliage overhangs its pre- I archway is the entrance of a wider 



which would be caused by the en- 

 trance and egress of so many barges 

 through a single passage. The other 



cipitous side, and Ix-yond is seen the 

 graceful spire <>f Worsley church, In 

 contrast to this bright nature above, 

 lies the almost stagnant pool beneath. 

 The barges are deeply laden with their 

 black freight, which they have brought 

 iron i the mine through the two lo\v, 

 semi-circular arches opening at the 



channel, extending nearly six miles 

 in the direction of Bolton, and from 

 which various other canals diverge 

 in different directions. The barges 

 are narrow and long, each convoying 

 about ten tons of coal. They are 

 drawn along the tunnels by means of 

 staples fixed along the sides. When 



of the rock, such being the en- they are empty, and consequently 



trances to the underground canals. higher in the water, they are so near 



Tin- smaller aperture is the mouth ol the roof that the bargemen, lying on 



a canal of only halt' a mile in length, their backs, can propel them with 



serving to prevent the obstruction their feet. 



