Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal

The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, North West England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 miles 1 furlong (24.3 km) long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. Seventeen locks were required to climb to the summit as it passed through Pendleton, heading northwest to Prestolee before it split northwest to Bolton and northeast to Bury. The canal was commissioned in 1791 by local landowners and businessmen and built between 1791 and 1808, during the Golden Age of canal building, at a cost of £127,700. Originally designed for narrow gauge boats, the canal was altered during its construction into a broad gauge canal to allow an ultimately unrealised connection with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The majority of the freight carried was coal from local collieries but, as the mines reached the end of their working lives, sections of the canal fell into disuse and disrepair and it was officially abandoned in 1961. In 1987, a society was formed with the aim of restoring the canal for leisure use and, in 2006, restoration began in the area around the junction with the River Irwell in Salford. The canal is currently navigable as far as East Ordsall Lane, in Salford. (more...)

Surtsey

Surtsey is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland, the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres (426 ft) below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. The eruption may have started a few days earlier and lasted until 5 June 1967, when the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km2 (1.0 sq mi). Since then, wind and wave erosion has caused the island to steadily diminish in size: as of 2002, its surface area was 1.4 km2 (0.54 sq mi). The new island was named after the fire giant Surtr from Norse mythology, and was intensively studied by volcanologists during its creation and, since the end of the eruption, has been of great interest to botanists and biologists as life has gradually colonised the originally barren island. The undersea vents that produced Surtsey are part of the Vestmannaeyjar (Westmann Isles) submarine volcanic system, part of the fissure of the sea floor called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Vestmannaeyjar also produced the famous eruption of Eldfell on the island of Heimaey in 1973. The eruption that created Surtsey also created a few other small islands along this volcanic chain, such as Jólnir and other unnamed peaks. Most of these eroded away fairly quickly. (more...)

Heliamphora nutans

... that the insectivorous plant Heliamphora nutans (pictured) was re-discovered in British Guiana in 1881 and successfully introduced to England by David Burke?
... that Charles Taylor was the first of thirteen Welsh international rugby players to die in action during World War I?
... that Almoloya del Río, a Mexican small town with the population of 7,992, hosts an international biker rally every year?
... that Hurricane Lisa of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season attained forward motion of over 58 mph (93 km/h) on October 9?
... that The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers has been in charge of publishing Finland's ethical guidelines on engineering for over 40 years?
... that the first submarine boat and self-propelled torpedo, and the engines for the ironclad warship USS Monitor were all built at the foundry operated by Cornelius DeLameter?
... that the Ropar Wetland, in addition to being home to several endangered and threatened species, was the site of the signing of an 1831 treaty between the English and the Sikhs?
... that Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Massachusetts features over 7 miles (11 km) of underground piping which heats the race track on cold and wet days?