To Wigan Pier, travelling from Manchester it is possible to cruise the famous Barton Swing Aqueduct over the Manchester Ship Canal.

Here, in 1761 the Canal Age was born when the Duke of Bridgwater commissioned James Brindley to design a way to transport coal from his mines to the growing city of Manchester. This was of the birth of the Industrial revolution when the canals started a whole new way to transport heavy goods that before was only possible by horse and cart!

Here is not much further to Wigan Pier, the butt of many a Music Hall joke, now home to the award winning living museum “The Way We Were”.