One Street - The Packet Boats

If you look carefully on One Street you can still spot architectural features from the days when it was used to service industry and commerce. Having invested heavily in building the canal, primarily to transport his coal cheaply from his mines to Manchester, the Duke of Bridgewater looked for other income streams. So as well as coal his canal carried other cargoes and passengers.

In days when traveling by road would have been uncomfortable and very slow you could take one of the Duke's packets, which would have been built in his own boatyards, and made the journey from Manchester to Liverpool in nine hours. The boats would have been pulled by a team of three horses driven by a postillion and could achieve speeds of up to six miles an hour. Another rider would have gone on ahead to clear the towpath.

The photo shows the steps at Stockton Heath where passengers would have picked up the packet. This lady looks as if she is looking for an approaching packet. I didn't have the heart to tell her the last one was 100 years ago.

Other shots today include:

a boat using the winding hole at London Road bridge to turnaround
a few more from my favourite spot between Hough's Lane and Walton Hall bridges
runners and rowers raising funds for the East Cheshire Hospice
Sammy the swimming spaniel - his owner told me that he regularly swam in the canal for over half a mile