Barton Swing Aqueduct
Thursday, 31st January 2008 by Alex Turnbull
In the past we've featured some incredible feats of engineering in service of canals and their traffic, but perhaps none as elegant as the Barton Swing Aqueduct, England.
Designed by Edward Leader Williams1 and first used in 1893, the aqueduct carries the Bridgewater Canal over the Manchester Ship Canal. If a tall vessel needs to pass underneath on the MSC, the 71m-long iron trough swings through 90° to allow them clear passage.
Gates at either end of the bridge hold around 800 tonnes of water in place while it swings, and another set of gates on either bank hold back the rest of the canal.
Furthermore, this is actually a double swing bridge, as the Barton Swing Bridge pivots on the same purpose-built island simultaneously. How cool is that?
More about the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the Manchester Ship Canal and Edward Leader Williams at Wikipedia.
See our other posts on European Barge Lifting, A Canal Across Germany, the Corinth Canal, the Caen Hill Flight and the Saint Lawrence Seaway for more impressive canal engineering.
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Who was responsible for the Manchester Ship Canal itself, as well as the previously featured Anderton Boat Lift. ↩︎
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
Possibly the least exciting video on youtube:
Perhaps more related to the previous posts – is this a concorde? https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=53.353052,-2.285347&z=19
@Chet – I think the music adds a lot of excitement 😉
@dr.R.
Yep! 😀
You think watching a video of the bridge opening and closing is dull? You want to try getting caught in the line of traffic that builds up when the bridge has to open. To be honest i’m just being flippant because if you are in no hurry, the bridges opens so infrequently nowadays that its actually quite exciting to see it in action. In t’olden days it would swing several times a day – you would be lucky to see it swing once a week nowadays. This is just down the road from me and only walked over it yesterday. You have forgotten to mention that The Bridgewater Canal was Britain’s first true canal and essentially helped to establish Manchester as the crucible of the Industrial Revolution.
@Cookie Monster: I did forget to mention that, thanks for getting it in there!
Also I forgot to ask if anyone knows whether or not this is the world’s only swing aqueduct?
I saw no reference to the amount of energy used, but I have to image that it is much more than the barge lifters. For that reason, I have to be believe the barge lifters are by far a much greater engineering accomplishment.
You know what my favorite thing about this site is? I get to see more of the UK (or any other country) than I would be just visiting London. I wish I had as much interesting stuff to share back here in the States.
I would also ask you to kindly follow the course of the Bridgewater canal to the north. You will see it changes to a funny orange colour.
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=53.498609,-2.378937&z=17
This isnt a trick of the light but the water is actually stained that colour as the source of the water comes from the mines the canal was built to serve and iron deposits in the rocks cause the discoloration. It does make it look a bit like the chocolate river in Willy Wonka’s factory but the locals sometimes compare the colour to something altogether less palatable!
“the locals sometimes compare the colour to something altogether less palatable!”
Urgh…you mean Marmite? Terrible