The boat went under the curving Merchant's Bridge and set off along the Bridgewater Canal. Halfway through the eighteenth century the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater wanted to send coal from his mines at Worsley to Manchester, so he commissioned James Brindley to build a canal. The canal reached Castlefield in in 1761 and was completed in 1765. As he went along, Mr Monkey noticed that some of the warehouses and factories lining the canal banks had been remodelled for the 21st century, and some had just had their windows broken.
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Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey.