Chasing MV Snowdrop A History of the Manchester Ship Canal

Chasing MV Snowdrop A History of the Manchester Ship Canal

The Manchester Ship Canal The Big Ditch An engineering marvel that made a city with no direct access, 36 miles from the sea Into the 3rd busiest port in Britain In September 2023, Steam Chasers followed Mersey ferry MV Snowdrop on several of its tours from Liverpool to Warrington

So sit back, relax and we will fly over where the Big ship sails on the Alley, Alley Oh Starting our journey at the remains of the Eastham  Ferry jetty on the Wirral side of the Mersey.  Since the Middle Ages, a ferry service has  operated across the River Mersey between  

Eastham and Liverpool, the early ferries were  run by monks from the Abbey of St. Werburgh.  The Eastham Ferry was established in 1509. Paddle steamers were introduced in 1816 to   replace the sailing boats, but the  demand for a service declined in the  

1840s with the opening of a railway. In 1846, the owner of the ferry,   Thomas Stanley, built the Eastham Ferry  Hotel and shortly after, the Pleasure   Gardens were added to attract more visitors.  The gardens were landscaped with rhododendrons,   azaleas, ornamental trees and fountains. The Hotel can just be seen through the  

Trees opposite the jetty, the smaller  building is the Tap public house.  The regular ferry service was discontinued in  1929 and the pier was removed at the end of 1934. Snowdrop now waits for Scald to exit the  Manchester ship canal through Eastham Locks. 

Scald is a 1,949 gross tonnage Hopper Dredger  under the flag of the Netherlands built in 2007.  A trailing suction hopper dredger is  used to maintain navigable waterways,  This is made possible by large powerful  pumps and engines able to suck sand, clay,   silt and gravel deepening the canal  that is threatened to become silted. 

This material is used to construct  new land elsewhere or replace sand   eroded by storms or wave action on the beaches. Snowdrop now enters Eastham Locks which form  the western end of the Manchester Ship Canal,   and are the largest locks in the UK. Queen Elizabeth II Dock became  

Operational on the 19th January 1954 The dock was built to provide berthing   facilities for large tankers that could not  be accommodated on the existing canal due   to their size. Simultaneously, Eastham Oil  Terminal was built nearby and pipelines were  

Laid to link the dock and storage facility to  the Stanlow Oil Refinery near Ellesmere Port.  With a depth of 40 feet the four  berths are each capable of handling   tankers of up to 30,000 gross tonnage. As part of the emergency procedures for  

The Manchester Ship Canal, an emergency  siren located at the dock is tested every   morning around 0845 and is audible in many  parts of South Liverpool and Ellesmere Port.  The colour of the water on either side of the  lock gates is dramatically different clearly  

Defining the separation of the tidal Mersey  estuary and the relative calm of the ship canal. Now at the section known as Manisty Cutting named  after the departmental engineer Edward Manisty who   was in charge of the construction of this section. Mount Manisty is the name of the large  

Man-made hillock seen behind the ship The mound, which is 100 feet 30 metres tall,   was created from earth excavated during the  building of the ship canal and is uninhabited   apart from a vast population of rabbits The Vessel MAINGAS is a Liberian Liquefied   petroleum gas Tanker returning out  to sea from Stanlow Oil Refinery.

On this beautiful clear day, you can  see Liverpool John Lennon Airport over   the water in Speke and beyond all  the way back to Liverpool itself. On a cloudier day snowdrop is seen after  she has passed through Ellesmere Port  and is just clearing the outskirts of Stanlow. Stanlow is one of the largest refineries  

In Europe covering an area the  equivalent of 300 football pitches  The refinery processes up to 9  million tonnes of crude every   year – that’s more than 20,000 litres per minute Distribution of products from Stanlow is mainly   via road and pipeline. The remainder of our  products leave via the Manchester Ship canal 

Stanlow is the second largest in the United  Kingdom after Fawley Refinery in Hampshire  It produces a sixth of the UK’s petrol needs,   and it is also a large producer of  commodities such as jet fuel and diesel. Clear of the industrial zone, our ferry  reaches the rich greenery of Frodsham Marsh 

The Manchester ship canal sliced through the  marsh and created the strip of land known as   the score salt marsh, it is now over two  kilometres long bounded in part by gabions   and elsewhere by vegetated earth banks. The land cover is rough grassland with   many patches of dark-coloured  nettle and burdock in summer. 

Cattle and sheep graze Frodsham Score and are  transported across the Ship Canal by raft from   the landing stage near Frodsham Marsh Farm. Frodsham Score is not accessible to the general   public but is visited by ornithologists,  who conduct monthly bird counts.

It is also home to the Frodsham Wind Farm which  is one of England’s largest onshore generating   stations and the largest in the Cheshire region. As snowdrop turns into the current of the River   Weaver you might be able to make  out the lock on the opposite bank. 

This is Weston Marsh Lock and it allows the  river Weaver navigation access to the ship canal.  All water from the river weaver enters the canal,   and any surplus is released into the  Mersey through the Weaver sluices.  Seen in the foreground as  snowdrop passes over them.

Next on our journey is this magnificent  structure which connects Runcorn to the   other bank of the Mersey in Widnes. It was opened in 1961 as a replacement   for the Widnes–Runcorn Transporter  Bridge that was built in 1905.  In 1977 the carriageway was widened, after  which the bridge was given its official name  

In honour of Queen Elizabeth II, marking the  25th anniversary of her accession to monarch,   naming this the Silver Jubilee Bridge. The main arch is 330 metres long. During its   construction, 720,000 rivets were used. Its height over the river bed is 87 metres and  

The headroom over the ship canal is 24 metres. The bridge transformed Runcorn from an effective   cul-de-sac into a town with through traffic.  Road communications between north Cheshire   and south Lancashire were immediately  improved and trade at the Port of Runcorn   increased sixfold between 1960 and 1970. Traffic on the bridge continued to grow to  

Over 80,000 vehicles a day, and there was  frequent congestion. To alleviate this,   a further crossing was built, known as the  Mersey Gateway Bridge. This is a six-lane   toll bridge to the east of the Silver Jubilee  Bridge that opened on the 14th of October 2017. 

Following the opening of the Mersey Gateway,  the Silver Jubilee Bridge was immediately   closed to vehicles for refurbishment. It reopened, also as a toll bridge,   to all traffic on 26 February 2021 with a single  lane of vehicle traffic in each direction.

A short distance up the ship canal is Old Quay  swing Bridge that joins Wigg Island to Runcorn.  Built around 1894. It takes its name  from the Old Quay Canal, more commonly   referred to as the Runcorn to Latchford Canal. The canal was bought by the Manchester Ship Canal  

Company in the 1890s, who particularly wanted  ownership of the Runcorn to Latchford Canal,   as the ship canal would use the same course for  part of its route. Much of the western end of the   canal, including the docks at Runcorn, disappeared  when the much larger ship canal was built. 

The lock seen in the background  granted barge access to the   River Mersey when the tide was right. The remains of the canal now make up the   lakes and water courses that are located  in Moore Nature Reserve on Wigg Island. 

The RSPB states that this is one of  the best in Cheshire for bird spotting,   noting that it hosts all three species  of woodpecker including the lesser   spotted woodpecker and five species  of British owls including tawny owls.  Wigg is not formally an island, as it  is not surrounded on all sides by water. 

The island was originally Runcorn salt marsh.  When the Manchester Ship Canal was cut through   Runcorn the island was physically  detached from the town and stranded   between the canal and the River Mersey. The island is named after Charles Wigg,  

Who started an alkali works there in the 1860s  to extract copper from its ore. The factory was   known as “Wigg Works” and in 1890 it was  bought by the United Alkali Company. This   company was bought by ICI in 1926 and  the original Wigg works were closed to  

Make way for a new chemical factory on the site. ICI continued operations until the 1960s, when all   production ceased. The area had become heavily  polluted with a diverse range of chemicals.  The 57-acre nature reserve was  opened by Bill Oddie in April 2002.

As Old Quay Bridge closes behind  our tour, so must this video.  I hope you’ve enjoyed Part One of our trip  along the Manchester ship canal and you’ll   come back for the next instalment. Please subscribe for notifications   of future releases and why not give me  a like, It really does help the channel. 

Thanks for watching until the  end and I’ll see you next time.

Join us as we travel along with Mersey ferry MV snowdrop and explore the fascinating history of the Manchester Ship Canal, from its construction to its modern-day significance. Learn about the challenges and triumphs of this engineering marvel and how it shaped the industrial landscape of the region. From its early days to the present, we delve into the story of the canal that continues to captivate and inspire generations.