CHAP. X. BIRMINGHAM AND LIVERPOOL CANAL. 425 



two levels, each of considerable length ; and it so 

 happened that the trade of each was in a measure 

 distinct, and required separate accommodation. The 

 traffic of the whole of the Congleton district had ready 

 access to the Grand Trunk system, without the labour, 

 expense, and delay involved by passing the boats 

 through locks ; whilst the coals brought to Macclesfield 

 to supply the mills there were carried throughout upon 

 the upper level, also without lockage. The engineer's 

 arrangement proved highly judicious, and furnishes an 

 illustration of the tact and judgment which he usually 

 displayed in laying out his works for practical uses. Mr. 

 Telford largely employed cast iron in the construction 

 of this canal, using it in the locks and gates, as well as 

 in an extensive aqueduct which it was necessary to con- 

 struct over a deep ravine, after the plan pursued by 

 him at Pont-Cysylltau and other places. 



The last canal constructed by Mr. Telford was the 

 Birmingham and Liverpool Junction, extending from 

 the Birmingham Canal, near Wolverhampton, in nearly a 

 direct line, by Market Drayton, Nantwich, and through 

 the city of Chester by the Ellesmere Canal, to Ellesmere 

 Port on the Mersey. The proprietors of canals were 

 becoming alarmed at the numerous railways projected 

 through the districts heretofore served by their water- 

 ways ; and amongst other projects one was set on foot, 

 as early as 1825, for constructing a line of railway from 

 London to Liverpool. Mr. Telford was consulted as to 

 the best means of protecting existing investments, and 

 his advice was to render the canal system as complete as it 

 could be made ; for he entertained the conviction, which 

 has been justified by experience, that such navigations 

 possessed peculiar advantages for the conveyance of 

 heavy goods, and that, if the interruptions presented by 

 locks could be done away with, or materially reduced, 

 a large portion of the trade of the country must con- 

 tinue to be carried by the water roads. The new 



