September 2026 Picture of the Month

As part of my Henry Pooley project, I have been exploring Pooley's involvement with the Egerton families, including the Earl of Bridgewater on whose estates and canals there were over 300 weighing machines by Pooley and other makers in the 1850s. On a recent visit to Tatton Farm in Cheshire, also owned by a branch of the Egerton family in the late 19th century, another Pooley machine awaited my investigation, together with a rare survival of a machine by Richard Kitchin of Warrington. This image shows the 18th century Packet House on the Bridgewater Canal at Worsley. This was where passenger would buy their tickets and board ''packet boats' for destiations towards Manchester or elsewhere on the canal. Many of the boats also carried cargo which would need to be weighed before loading  Canon 5D MkIV, 24-105mm lens.