456 



BRINDLEY'S LAST CANALS. 



PART V. 



their extraordinary prosperity is doubtless in no small 

 degree attributable to the facilities which the canal has 

 provided for the ready conveyance of raw materials and 

 manufactured produce between those places and the 

 towns and sea-ports of the west. Brindley surveyed and 

 laid out the whole line of this navigation, 130 miles in 

 length, and he framed the estimate on which the Com- 

 pany proceeded to Parliament for their bill. On the 

 passing of the Act in 1768-9, the directors appointed 

 Brindley their engineer ; but, being almost overwhelmed 

 with other business at the time, and feeling that he 

 could not give the proper degree of personal attention 

 to carrying out so extensive an undertaking, he was 

 under the necessity of declining the appointment. 1 



Brindley being now the recognised head of his 



1 The works were immediately 

 commenced at both ends of the canal, 

 and portions were speedily opened 

 out ; but the difficulty and expensive- 

 ness of the remaining works greatly 

 delayed their execution, and the canal 

 was not finished until the year 1816. 

 Twenty miles, extending from near 

 Bingley to the neighbourhood of Brad- 

 ford, were opened on 21st March, 1774 ; 

 and the opening was thus described 

 by a correspondent of * Williamson's 

 Liverpool Advertiser ' : " From Bing- 

 ley and about three miles down, the 

 noblest works of the kind that per- 

 haps are to be found in the universe 

 are exhibited, namely, a five-fold, a 

 three-fold, a two-fold, and a single 

 lock, making together a fall of 120 

 feet ; a large aqueduct-bridge of seven 

 arches over the river Aire, and an 

 aqueduct on a large embankment over 

 Shipley valley. Five boats of burden 

 passed the grand lock, the first of 

 which descended through a fall of 

 sixty-six feet in less than twenty-nine 

 minutes. This much-wished-for event 

 was welcomed with ringing, of bells, 

 a band of music, the firing of guns 

 by the neighbouring militia, the shouts 

 of spectators, and all the marks of 

 satisfaction that so important an ac- 

 quisition merits." On the 21st Octo- 



ber of the same year the following 

 further paragraph appears : " The 

 Liverpool end of the Leeds and Liver- 

 pool Canal was opened from Liverpool 

 to Wigau on Wednesday, the 19th 

 October, 1774, with great festivity 

 and rejoicings. The water had been 

 led into the basin the evening before. 

 At nine A.M. the proprietors sailed 

 up the canal in their barge, preceded 

 by another filled with music, with 

 colours flying, &c., and returned to 

 Liverpool about one. They were 

 saluted with two royal salutes of 

 twenty-one guns each, besides the 

 swivels on board the boats, and wel- 

 comed with the repeated shouts of the 

 numerous crowds assembled on the 

 banks, who made a most cheerful and 

 agreeable sight. The gentlemen then 

 adjourned to a tent on the quay, 

 where a cold collation was set out for 

 themselves and their friends. From 

 thence they went in procession to 

 George's coffee-house, where an elegant. 

 dinner was provided. The workmen, 

 215 in number, walked first, with 

 their tools on their shoulders, and 

 cockades in their hats, and were after- 

 wards plentifully regaled at a dinner 

 provided for them. The bells rang 

 all day, and the greatest joy and 

 order prevailed on the occasion." 



