Irlam was a village at the confluence of the Rivers Irwell and Mersey, and was a staging post on the Liverpool Manchester road (now the A57). The Manchester Ship Canal utilised the course of the River Irwell from the 1890s, and the coming of the canal attracted a number of large factories. Immediately adjacent to Irlam is Cadishead. Each was served by lines of the Cheshire Lines Committee, whose tracks merged with those of the Manchester Ship Canal Co at Glazebrook Junction.