White Bridge and the funeral shrouds It has been said the bridge was so named because of the many funeral shrouds placed over its parapets following a tragic packet boat accident on the canal when a large number of people were drowned. Packet boats operated on the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal providing a service between the principal towns until the coming of the railway in 1838. Accounts of the tragedy differ, one source says it was near Prestolee and another at Withins near Bury. Even the dates cannot be agreed, although it seems probable that it occurred in June 1818.
` ... a party of drunken men overawed the quieter portion on board and persisted for amusement and to frighten the women, in swaying the boat, heavily laden and overcrowded, from side to side, until the window-sills of the cabin below the deck were almost on a level with the water of the canal. The brutal wretches, maddened with drunkenness and riot, paid no heed whatever to the remonstrances of the captain and persisted until the boat gave one fatal dip below the water-line .... and rose no more.'