Sankey Canal
The Sankey Canal in North West England used to be an industrial canal. It was called the Sankey Brook Navigation and later the St Helens Canal. Sankey Canal opened in 1757. It was the first modern canal. Earlier canals were all to make river navigation possible.  The  Act of Parliament  passed in 1757 was to make Sankey Brook navigable.  But the brook was too shallow and twisting to be of practical use, so they constructed a completely separate canal alongside the brook.  It connected St Helens to the River Mersey at Spike Island in Widnes.