F C Mather collected a large amount of notes, etc when researching for his book After the Canal Duke: a study of the industrial estates administered by the Trustees of the Third Duke of Bridgewater in the age of railway building, 1825-1872 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970). The book describes what happened, in the age of railway expansion, to the waterways, docks and colleries which the Duke of Bridgewater bequeathed. Mather consulted many original sources including the archive held at Mertoun House and belonging to the Dukes of Sutherland.(Part of this archive is now at the University of Salford). In 1872 the Bridgewater Trust sold its canal interests. Its collery interests were eventually taken over by Bridgewater Estates in 1923.
From the guide to the Mather Papers, 1960s (including many transcripts of 19th and 20th century originals), (University of Salford, Information Services Division)
