Manchester Ship Canal

The Manchester Ship Canal is a 36-mile inland waterway in north-west England, running from the Mersey Estuary at Eastham in Cheshire to Salford Quays and Manchester, with the village of Moore in Cheshire situated along its route. It was constructed between 1887 and 1894 and was the largest river navigation canal in the world at the time of its opening, allowing ocean-going ships to reach the inland city of Manchester. The canal transformed Manchester into one of Britain's most important ports and was central to the city's industrial and commercial economy for much of the 20th century. Traffic on the canal has declined significantly since its peak, but parts of the route remain navigable and the former docks at Salford have been extensively redeveloped as a cultural and commercial quarter.