HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 431 



designs and undertakings ; and if he had not been liberally and 

 powerfully protected by the Duke of Bridgewater, at the com- 

 mencement of the business*, his triumph over the opposition with 

 which he encountered must have been in a very considerable de- 

 gree obstructed and retarded. The Noble Duke possessed an es- 

 tate at Worsley, about seven miles from Manchester, rich in mines 

 of coal, from which he derived little or no advantage, on account 

 of the expense which attended the conveyance of this article by 

 land-carriage to a suitable market for consumption. Fully ap- 

 prized of the utility of a canal from Worsley to Manchester, he 

 consulted Mr. Brindley on the subject ; who, having surveyed the 

 country, declared the scheme to be practicable. Accordingly his 

 Grace obtained, in the years 1758 and 1759, an act of parliament 

 for this purpose; and Mr. Brindley was employed in the conduct 

 and execution of the undertaking, the first of the kind ever at- 

 tempted in England, with navigable subterraneous tunnels and 

 elevated aqueducts. At the commencement of the business it was 

 determined, that the level of the water should be preserved without 

 the usual obstructions of locks. But in accomplishing this object, 

 many difficulties occurred ; and it was soon found that it would be 

 necessary to carry the canal over rivers and many deep vallies, and 

 that it would not be easy to obtain a sufficient supply of water for 

 completing the navigation. However, Mr. Brindley, patronized by 

 the duke, and furnished with ample resources, persevered, and at 

 length conquered all the embarrassments, occasioned by the na- 

 ture of the undertaking, and by the passions and prejudices of in- 

 dividuals. Having completed the canal as far as Barton, where 

 the river Irwell is navigable for large vessels, he proposed to carry 

 it over that river, by an aqueduct 39 feet above the surface of the 

 water. This was considered as a chimerical and extravagant pro- 

 ject ; and an eminent engineer, who was consulted on the occasion, 

 ridiculed the attempt. " I have often heard," said he, " of cas- 

 tles in the air, but never before was shewn where any of them 

 were to be erected." The Duke of Bridgewater was not dis- 

 couraged ; but confiding in the judgment of Mr. Brindley, em- 

 powered him to prosecute the work ; and in about ten months the 

 aqueduct was completed. This astonishing work commenced in Sept. 

 1760, and the first boat sailed over it the 17th of July, 1761. The 

 canal was then extended to Manchester, where Mr. Brindley's in- 

 genuity in diminishing labour by mechanical contrivances, was ex- 

 tiibited in a machine for landing coals upon the top of a hill. It 



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