Canals, from the Bridgewater Canal to the Manchester Ship Canal, created Manchester. They run through the city centre, hidden below street level, unnoticed as you walk around. The Bridgewater Canal was engineered by James Brindley and opened in 1761, starting the canal age in England. The Manchester Ship Canal, connecting Manchester with the River Mersey, was opened in 1894. Manchester became the third-busiest port in the UK, despite being 40 miles from the sea. The hub of the old canal network is at Castlefields, next to the remains of the Roman fort. Castlefields is a three-dimensional maze of canal basins and railway viaducts. I recently walked back from Castlefields to Piccadilly Station along the Rochdale Canal.
The canal is never very far from a busy road, but feels isolated between high walls and the back of buildings. There are stretches that I would not walk along after dark.
Castlefields.Castlefields.Castlefields.Castlefields.Castlefields.Castlefields.Castlefields.Rochdale Canal.Rochdale Canal.Rochdale Canal – the Deansgate Tunnel.Rochdale Canal – the Deansgate Tunnel.Rochdale Canal – the end of the Deansgate Tunnel.Rochdale Canal. The Deansgate-Castlefield metro station is on the viaduct to the left.Rochdale Canal. Albion Street bridge.Rochdale Canal. The Axis Tower.Rochdale Canal – the Bridgewater Basin and Bridgewater Hall are on the left past the locks.Rochdale Canal – the Bridgewater Basin junction and Oxford Street bridge.Rochdale Canal.Rochdale Canal, Manchester.Rochdale Canal – the tunnel beneath Piccadilly.Rochdale Canal – the tunnel beneath Piccadilly. This is very dark – I did not see the man at the end until I almost walked into him. Rochdale Canal – the end of the Piccadilly tunnel.Rochdale Canal. From here, at the end of the Piccadilly tunnel, I walked the short distance through back streets to the Ashton Canal, which joins the Rochdale Canal near the Store Street aqueduct.
