Cottonopolis · event 1 of 12

1761

The Bridgewater Canal. The Duke of Bridgewater’s canal reaches Castlefield from his coal mines at Worsley and halves the price of coal in Manchester almost overnight. It is the first British canal built independently of a river, and it starts a national canal mania.

The Cottonopolis era

  1. 1761
  2. 1781
  3. 1804
  4. 1830
  5. 1838
  6. 1853
  7. 1857
  8. 1858
  9. 1877
  10. 1894
  11. 1900
  12. 1906

See the full timeline or read the history of Manchester.