Set up in 1977, the North West Film Archive preserves moving images made in or about Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Cumbria and offers a variety of access services to users in the public, academic and commercial sectors.
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The hydraulic northern powerhouse - how water kept the rainy city going.
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Overview
From winding up the Town Hall clock to hoisting bales of cloth in Manchester's many warehouses, hydraulic power had a vital role to play. The engineers of Victorian and Edwardian Manchester harnessed water to power their city, and this informative short film shows how it was done, with three magnificent pumping stations, and a network of hydraulic pipes lying beneath the city's busy streets.
Only one of Manchester's three hydraulic power station buildings survives. The Water Street station, which opened in 1909, is now a Grade II listed structure and forms part of the People's History Museum complex.
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