tarboat's photos with the keyword: barton

The 2998gt ship Arklow Raven is loading scrap at the European Metal Recycling Irwell Park Wharf on the Manchester Ship Canal. Visible in the background are Barton Swing Aqueduct, Barton Swing Bridge and Barton High Level Bridge.

This bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal was constructed for Peel Land and Property and carried the A57 over the Manchester Sjip Canal. During testing in May 2016 the lifting equipment failed on the west side and the deck crashed down. This delayed the opening until the end of 2017 and the repaired concrete on the pillars is still obvious. Howard Civil Engineering carried out civils works for the bridge with Cass Hayward as designer.

Spotted this beauty at Barton Aerodrome. It doesn't look as if it is going to be there much longer.

The tarboat is just passing onto the Barton Tank (Barton swing aqueduct) over the Manchester Ship Canal as it heads towards Worsley and Leigh. It looks as if the steelwork could do with some painting.

The construction of the Manchester Ship Canal saw a number of accidents and mishaps and May 29th 1893 saw the very public failure of the approach to the new Barton swing aqueduct . Bosdin Leech described the incident in his history of the Ship Canal. At the end of the approaches were dams, separating the new work from the old course of the canal. Everything was complete, and it only remained to make an aperture in both dams, and fill the new length with water. Amidst the cheering of the people the apertures were made, but when the trough was half full, an alarming accident occurred. Through some fault of construction a considerable portion of the bed of the approach on the Barton side collapsed, and a large body of water rushing through the hole forced its way through three of the arches, which carried the wall and inundated, or washed away the structures below. Fortunately the water found its way into the Ship Canal, and thus limited the damage. The accident postponed the completion of the canal, inasmuch as the old waterway had to be used during repairs and thereby delayed the pulling down of Brindley's aqueduct, which had to be removed before the section could be opened. Repairs were quickly effected and the new aqueduct commenced to be filled on June 14th. The first barge to cross over was the Ann, of Lymm, which passed through on the 2ist August with a cargo of vitriol, for Hapton, near Accrington.

Tanker narrowboat passing the Barton swing aqueduct over the Manchester Ship Canal. The aqueduct is unique. It carries the Bridgewater Canal and the tank can be swung clear to allow the passage of ships.