Brindley, James (1716–1772)

English canal builder. He was the first to employ tunnels and aqueducts extensively, in order to reduce the number of locks on a direct-route canal. His 580 km/360 mi of canals included the Bridgewater Canal (Manchester–Liverpool) and Grand Union Canal (Manchester–Potteries).

Brindley was born near Buxton, Derbyshire. He set up a machine shop in Staffordshire and began constructing flint and silk mills. He was virtually illiterate and made all calculations in his head.

In 1759 Brindley was engaged by the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater to construct a canal to transport coal to Manchester from the duke's mines at Worsley. Brindley's revolutionary scheme for this included a subterranean channel and an aqueduct over the River Irwell. He constructed impervious banks and canal bottoms by using puddled clay, and the canal simultaneously acted as a mine drain. The success of this project established him as the leading canal builder in the UK, and many subsequent canal-builders copied his methods. In 1766 Brindley began construction of the Grand Trunk Canal; the need for the 2 km/3 mi Harecastle tunnel, west of Stoke-onTrent, led him to invent the technique of ‘legging’ barges through tunnels.