On the Giants' Seat

Picturing the Past: NarrowBoat, Winter 2024

Christopher M Jones

Chris M. Jones looks into the history of a little-known carrier from Manchester

Christopher M. Jones Taken around 1910 and looking south-east from Giant’s Seat Lock 9 at Outwood on the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, this image of Lock 8 shows the adjacent dry dock with a Leeds & Liverpool short boat inside. The wide-boat is Bury, owned by Statter & Co of Manchester, and built shorter than the usual Bridgewater length to fit the maximum dimensions on the MB&BC of 68ft. Many of Statter’s boats were named after Lancashire towns such as Enfield, Church and Bolton. The story of how Statter’s became involved with canal-carrying goes back many years. During the early 1870s, John Pendlebury of Farnworth was trading as a canal-carrier based on the Hulme Locks Branch at Egerton Street, Manchester. In 1876 he died, aged 50, leaving his widow Sarah to carry on the business and support their teenage children. She continued as a canal-carrier until her death in September 1891 aged 67, and the business was bought by Thomas Statter Jnr o…