The Ancoats, Castlefield and Worsley areas of Manchester and Salford have witnessed two key events in the history of transport in Britain - the opening of the Bridgwater Canal in 1765 and the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway in 1830. The building of the Bridgwater Canal in the 1760s inspired nine decades of canal building in Britain where 4,000 miles of canals had been built in England and Wales by 1850.
It also, in turn, led to the construction of many canals in continental Europe and in North America. The canal is still open. The twin entrances to the Worsley underground mining canals are scheduled monuments, and the canal warehouses in the Castlefield district of Manchester exhibit innovation in the introduction of internal boat unloading at the rear.