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This photograph was taken during a survey in the 1960s. Construction started during the 1760s on the underground level, or 'Navigable Level', an extension of the Duke of Bridgewater's surface Canal.

This underground canal network ran for some 46 miles into the hillside at Worsley Delph, where entrances to the canal are still visible today. The scheme was devised by John Gilbert as a way to deal with

several issues at once. The underground canal allowed coal to be removed directly from the mine and its construction helped counter the problems of flooding, the water feeding the canal system. Coal

was extracted from seams on four levels and was transferred to boats. The boats then left the underground canal and continued to their destinations on the 'surface' canal. This sluice gate was used to

control the water level in the Canal and to flush boats along the underground system.
Circa 1963
Salford City Archive / The Frank Mullineux Collection
British Coal Corporation