Talk:Manchester Ship Canal

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Was Sir John Aird associated with the Ship Canal as a shareholder or member of the board of directors? The association in the article seems to arise from a text dump (I found the same text in a piece in the Bucks Free Press) about a house in Beaconsfield. Aird was a Victoria, London-based contractor and, while his firm would undoubtedly have had the capacity to work on the Ship Canal, my research suggests most of the work was undertaken by contractor Thomas Walker. However, Walker died before the project finished, and it is possible that Aird's firm may have stepped in to complete the scheme. Can anyone confirm whether Aird's firm was involved, and if Aird himself joined the Ship Canal Company's board of directors? Paul W 14:40, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

A bit of progress, but still not sure if he was a board member. I now believe Aird's firm completed the Ship Canal after Walker died.Paul W 13:35, 4 August 2005 (UTC)


Question: My mother was born in Ellesmere Port in 1917 and remembers a hill called Manistey's Mount that was reputedly made of the spoil from digging out the canal. Does anyone know if this is true? If so then why 'Manistey's'? (I may have the spelling wrong).

See http://www.canalarchive.org.uk/Tpages/html/T1572.html. This says Mount Manisty (note spelling) was "a mound of earth created from extracted soil from the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal. Its name came from the contractor's agent on the Eastham section, Mr Manisty, who was well liked by the navvies due to the entertainments he and his wife provided for the workers." Paul W 13:07, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Big ship sails on the alley alley oh

  • The children's song "The Big ship sails on the alley alley oh" is said to come from the opening of the MSC[1]
-- I removed this, since the website is not a source for this assertion, just the lyrics. Its probably a bit of folk etymology. --mervyn 13:11, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

THE BIG SHIP SAILS ON THE ALLEY-ALLEY-OH

The big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh, the alley-alley-oh, the alley-alley-oh, Oh, the big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh, on the last day of September.

The captain said it will never, never do, never, never do, never, never do, The captain said it will never, never do, on the last day of September.

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea, The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea, on the last day of September.

We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea, We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea, on the last day of September

I can remember this as a child. My dad was a fireman on the Ship Canal railway. I think the song has many versions through out the UK. Ozdaren 16:17, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Big Ditch

Having been born in Warrington, as was my father (Warrington is roughly in the middle of the Ship Canal) and with one set of grandparents from Warrington and the other from Merseyside (one end of the canal), then having moved to Manchester (the other end of the canal), I was surprised at the 'Big Ditch' term. I'd never heard it until I saw it here! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.201.98.3 (talk) 15:43, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Table of features

The recent triple-reversion has removed not only coordinates, but links to named features and the distances between them. There is no consensus for this removal, and there have been no other objections to t their inclusion. Andy Mabbett 14:20, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

I do not object to the prescence of the coordinate table. That moves the concensus in favour of Pigsonthewing. Martin Cordon 15:25, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
A large table of coordinates disfigures the article. Ridge Route doesn't need one to be a featured article. Why can't they be put in the prose? Regan123 22:29, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
I think it is useful to have the information contained in the table retained in the article. The table could be moved to the bottom of the page to be less intrusive or you can have a go at providing the same information in prose. Also an attempt to combine coordinates with route diagrams is under discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject UK Waterways. If successful this may provide the tabulated information in a more pleasing form to the eye. Martin Cordon 22:39, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
"Ridge Route doesn't need one", but then that's apples, and this is pears. Andy Mabbett 22:48, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
There was no concensus for keep either, and no triple revert. Two in favour, two against. L.J.Skinnerwot|I did 23:17, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
1 (13:00, 17 April 2007), 2 (13:18, 17 April 2007), 3 (14:52, 17 April 2007). As for consensus to keep: [2] Andy Mabbett 23:47, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
Are you blind? I alerady told you, the first of those is not a revert. I also fail to see how your link shows concensus to keep. It was merely a user pointing out that what is right for one article may not be right for another. L.J.Skinnerwot|I did 23:54, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
No, I'm not blind; nor do I use rhetorical questions about possible disability as a debating tool; it's uncivil. I know very well what you alerady (sic) told me; and like a lot of the claims you've made over the last few days, it's untrue. Andy Mabbett 00:09, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
Sorry, I just wondered whether you had missed this reply, or you were deliberately ignoring it in an attempt to make others on this page falsely believe I violated 3RR. L.J.Skinnerwot|I did 01:41, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

You have yet again ignored the parts of my reply which you do not like. I say again - I fail to see how your link shows concensus to keep. Please explain for me where the concensus is. L.J.Skinnerwot|I did 00:16, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Would you like me to provide you with a list of all the questions I have put to you, and which you have ignored? Andy Mabbett 00:22, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
We are (I believe) on the Manchester Ship Canal talk page, so would you like to answer my question on the Manchester Ship Canal's talk page? L.J.Skinnerwot|I did 00:33, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
Do you have an answer for me Pigsonthewing? L.J.Skinnerwot|I did 01:43, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Export points of interest as KML; see them on Google Maps

Pages marked with {{coord}}, such as this one, can be exported as KML (for use in Google Earth, for example) via Brian Suda's site, in this format:

http://suda.co.uk/projects/microformats/geo/get-geo.php?type=kml&uri=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Ship_Canal

The same URL can be pasted into Google Maps as a search, and will show the locations, as push-pins on a map

Unfortunately, my addition of these links to the article have been reverted, twice, each time with a spurious reason in the edit summery (the first referred to a single, disputed comment by the reverter, on WP:VPT; the other to a currently impossible scenario). Andy Mabbett | Talk to Andy Mabbett 14:11, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Like I wrote in the edit summary, links to global geographical information services belong to Template:GeoTemplate, not inside articles. The suggestion at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Export_points_of_interest_as_KML.3B_see_them_on_Google_Maps to add the link to GeoHack is not impossible at all; all we have to do is make the coordinate templates pass the name of the article to GeoHack. Coincidentally there's a proposal at Template talk:Coord#Moving_microformat_markup_from_articles_to_coord to do just that. --Para 14:19, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
As I've said to you elsewhere, when you can show how such links might be possible, and understandable, for collections of points-of-interest such as these, you may have a point. Evidence of a proposal is not evidence that something can be done, and understandably so, now. Until what you are suggesting is actually possible, kindly restore the links. Andy Mabbett | Talk to Andy Mabbett 14:42, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] features table redux

Do we really need a list of table of over 15 items long? Can these not go into prose? It also seems unnecessary to link each one to a coordinate, perhaps a map would be better? L.J.Skinnerwot|I did 02:01, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Hey guys, any chance someone can fix the table at the top? It's pushing the text down and looks untidy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.31.22.62 (talk) 12:57, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Ah, that seems to have worked whomever did it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.31.22.62 (talk) 18:37, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
the page is looking messy again guys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.47.203.106 (talk) 15:05, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 14:18, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Big hill

Near the Thelwall Viaduct M6, theres a huge ruddy great hill that pokes out of the ground. Is this a natural feature, or removed earth from the canal excavation? Here: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.396944,-2.485442&spn=0.019217,0.057335&t=h&z=15&om=1 - its not too clear there, but the area between the A57 and the canal is a big hill Parrot of Doom (talk) 01:07, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Taxi service

Apparently a boat taxi service is to be installed along with a few hundred metres of canal, near the Trafford Centre outside Manchester. Anyone know anything about this to add to the article? Parrot of Doom (talk) 18:30, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

It's mentioned in the Trafford Centre article, here, with a link to an MEN report, but I'm not sure if it's still going ahead. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 19:18, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] too many links?

Is it really necessary to offer a link to the reader that informs them of what things like 'wind' and 'water' are? Methinks there are far too many hyperlinks in this article, they detract from the more important terminology of shipping and canals. Parrot of Doom (talk) 11:07, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Add to that businessmen, town, politician, west and drought. Yes, there are not only too many links, but many that are irrelevant to this article. Does someone want to take the baton so that we don't get too many cooks. Also there are many redlinks. Could someone with some specific knowledge please list those links that are not notable and are unlikely to have article written for them. List them here and get some consensus on unlinking. Bleakcomb (talk) 11:45, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
I've already been through and removed all of those absurd links. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 12:16, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
Good job chap Parrot of Doom (talk) 17:05, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Owen?

Can someone give a proper citation for the "Owen" book we cite in this article? --P3d0 (talk) 17:54, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

It is properly cited, in the Bibliography section. Or am I misunderstanding your question? --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 18:32, 21 May 2008 (UTC)