Located on the Bridgewater Canal less than 6 miles from Manchester, this picture perfect little village's reason to exist was that it originally was the entrance to the area's underground mines. Believe me when I tell you that looking around at the park like setting one would be excused for believing that someone was trying to pull their leg with that story.
However, if you stop to think of why the canal water in this section is the color of ochre from an artist's palette, you will find a clue to the past. The water's unusual color is the result of the water having dissolved the iron ore found in the ground in this area.
Worsley is acknowledged to be the location where the idea of a canal system originated, although it is not where the first canal ended up being built. The third Duke of Bridgewater was said to have conceived the idea while touring his underground coal mines in 1753 and watching the coal being mined be moved by small boats through an underground system of waterways. 46 miles in total. Once on the surface, however, the heavy coal had to be dragged to Manchester using teams of horses. Observing this is said to have caused the Duke an Eureka! moment and the idea of surface canals to move the coal to Manchester was born, although the actual surface canal would not follow until 1765. l
However, if you stop to think of why the canal water in this section is the color of ochre from an artist's palette, you will find a clue to the past. The water's unusual color is the result of the water having dissolved the iron ore found in the ground in this area.
Worsley is acknowledged to be the location where the idea of a canal system originated, although it is not where the first canal ended up being built. The third Duke of Bridgewater was said to have conceived the idea while touring his underground coal mines in 1753 and watching the coal being mined be moved by small boats through an underground system of waterways. 46 miles in total. Once on the surface, however, the heavy coal had to be dragged to Manchester using teams of horses. Observing this is said to have caused the Duke an Eureka! moment and the idea of surface canals to move the coal to Manchester was born, although the actual surface canal would not follow until 1765. l
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