The Manchester Ship Canal was a hugely important trade route. The Manchester Ship Canal connected the fast-growing Victorian city of Manchester to the world. Manchester factories could obtain raw materials cheaply. Manchester was also able to export goods directly around the world. This learning resource has been developed to engage learners with the Archives+ collection. It presents an introduction, contextual information, a timeline and and three lesson plans. The lessons use original resource material including historic photographs and document facsimiles. To see these sources, open the three source documents below. You can download all the resources as pdf files.