Opened in 1894, the Manchester Ship Canal linked Manchester to the Irish Sea near Liverpool. After six years of work and construction, the 36-mile canal made Manchester’s docks the third-largest in the country, despite the fact the city is 40 miles inland. The canal remained in industrial use for almost 100 years until 1984 when the docks closed, as container ships and other industrial vessels became too large for the canal. Even 30 years after its closure, the concrete “islands” that held the structures along the canal remained. It was…
