Part 16 (1/2)

The reader may remember that while on my journey on foot from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830, I had restedthe canal near Patricroft, and gazed longingly upon a plot of land situated along the canal side

On the afternoon of the day on which the engine beaain to look at that favourite piece of land There it was, unoccupied, just as I had seen it some years before I went to it and took note of its dimensions

It consisted of about six acres It was covered with turf, and as flat and neat as a bowling-green It was bounded on one side by the Bridgewater Canal, edged by a neat stone , on another side by the Liverpool and Manchester Railhile on a third side it was bounded by a good road, accessible from all sides

The plot was splendidly situated I wondered that it had not been secured before It was evidently waiting for row beneath ht I ascertained that the proprietor of this est landed proprietors in the district

NextI proceeded to Trafford Hall for the purpose of interviewing the Squire He receivedupon hily pleased to have ave ent, Mr Thomas Lee, of Princes Street, Manchester, hoe as to the terms I was offered a lease of the six acre plot for 999 years, at an annual rent of 1 3/4d per square yard This proposal was e of a fee-si to sink capital in the land

All that I had to provide for was the annual rent

My next step in this iment of my excellent friend Edward Lloyd, the banker He advised me to close the matter as soon as possible, for he considered the terms most favourable He personally took me to his solicitors, Dennison, Humphreys, and Cunliffe, and introduced ether to MrLee, and within a few days the lease was signed and I was put into possession of the land upon which the Bridgewater Foundry was afterwards erected

[footnote

I called the place the Bridgewater Foundry as an appropriate and hureat canal round was on the first ewater Canal which the Duke had constructed under the superintendence of Brindley, so that itsense, ”classic ground”

I ewater Canal, which lay along one side of the foundry coland whilst the railway alongside enabled a communication to be kept up by rail with every part of the country

The Worsley coal-boats caside the wharf, and a cheap and abundant supply of fuel was thus insured The railway station was near at hand, and afforded every opportunity for travelling to and from the works, while I was at the same time placed within twenty minutes of Manchester

Another important point has to be mentioned A fine bed of brick-clay lay below the surface of the ground, which supplied the material for bricks Thus the entire works round;” for the whole of the buildings rested upon the land fro and burned into bricks Then, below the clay lay a bed of New Red Sandstone rock, which yielded a solid foundation for any superstructure, however lofty or ponderous

As soon as the preliements for the lease of the six acre plot had been s of a temporary timber workshop; as I was anxious to unload the floor of et as much of my machinery as possible speedily re the temporary accos of New Brunswick pine The logs were cut up into planks, battens, and roof-timbers, and were delivered in a few days at the canal wharf in front ofof the workshops rapidly proceeded

By the aid of soetic forehted workshops were soon ready for the reception of ine, which I had ether with the boiler

This was the first power I e my neorks

I ine, which had been the proximate cause of my removal from Dale Street It was taken to pieces, packed, and sent off to Londonderry When I was informed that it was erected and ready for work I proceeded to Ireland to see it begin it's operations

I ave every satisfaction, and I believe that it continues working to this day I had the pleasure of bringing back with ine of forty horse-power, required by Mr John Munn for giving motion to his new flax mill, then under construction I ine was the first iewater Foundry

This wasso near the Giant's Causeway, I took the opportunity, on ic interest, together with the nificent basaltic pro up the terrible-looking crags In a stratu of some sixty feet or more in thickness, I found the charred branches of trees--the remains of some forest that had, at some inconceivably re flow of molten lava from a deep-seated volcanic store underneath

I returned to Patricroft, and found the wooden workshops nearly finished The machine tools were, for the ewater foundry was in coine ordered at Londonderry was at once put in hand, and the concern was fairly started in its long career of prosperity The wooden workshops had been erected upon the grass

But the sward soon disappeared The hu belts, the whirl of the ave the place an air of busy activity As work increased, workave place to brick

Cottages for the accohbourhood; and what had once been quiet grassy fields becaewater Foundry From a sketch by Alexander Nasaged in the anxious business connected with the establishment of the foundry, to be surrounded with soon the west side of Manchester, we had the benefit of breathing pure air during the greater part of the year The scenery round about was very attractive Exercise was a source of health to the mind as well as the body As it was necessary that I should reside as near as possible to the works, I had plenty of opportunities for enjoying the rural scenery of the neighbourhood I had the good fortune to becoe of Barton, in Cheshi+re, at the very e was situated on the banks of the river Irwell, and was only about six minutes' walk from the works at Patricroft It suited e was surrounded by apple orchards and gardens, and situated in the reat treat toand busy day at the foundry, especially in sureen lanes, and pass the es which at that ti kind for the pencil Such quiet su strolls afforded ht

Each day's transactions furnished abundant subjects for consideration

It was a happy period inhad so far prospered with ot coe, e of ht and cheerful disposition she h I had neither the means nor the disposition to see much company, I frequently had visits from some of my kind friends in Manchester I valued them all the more for ht household in Edinburgh, full of cheerfulness, part of which she transferred to e

At the sareat kindness which I received frohbourhood Ast these were the three brothers Grant, Benjamin Hick of Bolton, Edward Lloyd the banker, John Kennedy, and Willia the week days, but occasionally on Sunday afternoons my sister and myself enjoyed their cordial hospitality In this way I was brought into friendly intercourse with the ent and cultivated persons in Lancashi+re The res I spent in their society will ever continue one of the most cherished recollections of my early days in Manchester

I es of the site of my works was its connection with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as with the Bridgewater Canal There was a stone-edged roadway along the latter, where the canal barges ht receive and deliver traffic in the e boundary was the property of the trustees of the Bridgewater Canal, it was necessary to agree with theed for the requisite acco the rent until I had finally settled with Squire Trafford as to the lease of his land, and then, after he supposed he had got ant a rate that I refused to use the wharf upon his terent had involved himself in a Chancery suit with the trustees, which eventually led to his retireed into the hands of Lord Francis Egerton, heir to the Bridgewater Estates The canal was placed under the entleerton, on his next visit to Worsley Hall, called uponus as his near neighbours, and as likely to prove such excellent customers of the canal trustees Because of this latter circumstance, he offered me the use of the wharf free of rent This was quite in accordance with his generous disposition in all ular business-like fored with Mr Loch to pay 5s per annureened by both parties

Lord Francis Egerton was soon after created Earl of Ellesmere