The talk at our next meeting on Monday, 11th April, will be given by guest speaker Shaun Farrelly on the subject of “James Brindley – The Father of British Canal Engineering”.
Born in 1716 to yeoman farmers in Tunstead in the Peak District, James Brindley was apprenticed at 17 to a millwright in Macclesfield before setting up himself as a wheelwright in Leek. He then expanded by renting a premises in Burslem from the Wedgewoods, who were to become lifelong friends. He designed and built an engine to drain coal mines and in 1755 built a machine for a silk mill in Congleton.
His canal building began in 1759 when commissioned by the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater as Consulting Engineer for a canal to carry coal from Worsley to Manchester. He went on to be involved in the building of 365 miles of canals and many watermills including one at Leek, now the Brindley Water Museum.
Congleton Dane Probus Club is a friendly group of retired businessmen and professionals. Monthly talks are invariably very well presented, sometimes humorous, sometimes informative, and always entertaining. Anyone wishing to attend this meeting as a guest can contact the club through the Contact Page of this web-site and will be made very welcome.