Droitwich Canal
Encyclopedia
The Droitwich Canal is a synthesis of two canals in Worcestershire
, England
; the Droitwich Barge Canal and the Droitwich Junction Canal. The Barge Canal is a broad canal which opened in 1771 linking Droitwich Spa
to the River Severn
at Hawford Mill, Claines
. The Droitwich Junction Canal is a narrow canal, opened in 1854, which linked Droitwich to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal
. Both were built to carry salt, and were abandoned in 1939. They have been the subject of a restoration plan since 1973, and the Barge Canal was officially opened in 2010, while the Junction Canal opened in July 2011.
, obtained from natural brine
springs, since before Roman
times. In order to get the product to market, an Act of Parliament
was obtained in 1662 to authorise improvements to the River Salwarpe, but the work was not completed, being abandoned in 1675. The improvements involved six locks on the river, of which five had been built when the scheme failed. Another Act of Parliament, obtained in the 1670s, authorised improvements to the Salwarpe and the River Stour
, and although the promoters spent £4,000 on the scheme, another bill
was put before Parliament in 1693, and a fourth attempt was made in 1703, but this was opposed by owners of the salt works. In 1747, Simon Wood again proposed making the river navigable, and in 1755 there was a scheme to construct a pipeline to carry the brine to Hawford on the River Severn, but both schemes foundered.
With salt production increasing, Droitwich Council asked James Brindley
the canal engineer responsible for the Bridgewater Canal
to survey a route from the town to the River Severn. This he did in 1767, and the following year an Act of Parliament was obtained to authorise the construction. This created The Company of Proprietors of the Droitwich Canal Navigation, who had powers to raise £33,400 by issuing shares, and an additional £20,000 if required. Although Brindley was officially "Inspector of the Works", he was busy building the Trent and Mersey Canal
at the time, and so the contractor responsible for building the locks was sent by John Priddey, the resident engineer, to work with and be taught by Brindley. A working capital of £13,400 was raised by issuing 134 shares, mostly bought by local people, and construction started on 27 June 1768. As work proceeded, a further 66 shares were issued, raising another £6,600, and a loan of £3,500 was taken out, making the total cost of the project £23,500.
The canal was constructed as a broad canal, capable of taking Severn Trows
which were 14.5 feet (4.4 m) wide and 64 feet (19.5 m) long. Like most of Brindley's canals, it was a contour canal, following the contours as much as possible, to reduce the number of embankments and cuttings required, although there was an awkward bend near Salwarpe church, as the obvious route to the north of the building was specifically excluded by the Act. The canal was 5.7 miles (9.2 km) long, and included eight locks, with a total fall of 56.5 feet (17.2 m). Because of the presence of brine springs, the water was salty, and did not support populations of fresh-water fish.
The official opening was on 12 March 1771, and the canal was a commercial success. The first dividend was paid in 1775 and by 1777 the £100 shares were trading at £160. A proposal in 1784 to link to the Stourbridge Canal
caused disagreement among the shareholders, but the bill to construct the new canal and amalgamate the two companies failed. After the event, the company changed its rules on proxy voting, since it felt that some of those who had voted for amalgamation had not been shareholders, and therefore had not upheld the interests of the canal.
causing the profitability of the canal to suffer, the company negotiated a clause in the enabling Act for the new enterprise, that would guarantee a 5 per cent dividend on Droitwich shares. The agreement was made in March 1790, and as dividends had never been as high as 5 per cent, they started to claim the difference immediately, even though the new canal was not yet built. A claim was made every year, although the Worcester and Birmingham eventually declined to make payments, on the basis that the Droitwich was not encouraging trade sufficiently. The case went to court in 1808, and they had to pay. By November 1810, the Worcester and Birmingham took over the management of the canal, although little seems to have changed, for after an amalgamation attempt in 1821, which was abandoned when the landowner, Lord Somers, objected, the Droitwich company noted that the Worcester and Birmingham had often attempted to meddle in the management of the canal. The repeal of a tax on salt in 1822 and 1825 resulted in the company being able to pay 5 per cent dividends from the late 1820s out of revenue, and only a few claims to honour the guarantee were made subsequently.
The fortunes of the canal started to decline after 1830, when a source of brine was discovered at Stoke Prior, a village to the north east of Droitwich. Much of this was carried overland to the Worcester and Birmingham, where it was taken northwards, but tolls for its carriage on the River Severn were also negotiated so that the price of the product in Gloucester and Bristol was competitive with that using the Droitwich Canal. The coming of the railways took further trade away, although it particularly affected salt from Stoke Prior, and in order to eliminate the overland carriage of both salt and coal, an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1852 for the construction of the Droitwich Junction Canal, to connect the barge canal to Hanbury Wharf on the Worcester and Birmingham. The company who built it was in theory independent, but the intent was that the Worcester and Birmingham would lease it once it was finished, at a rate which would pay a 5 per cent dividend. They also leased the barge canal from 1853 for 21 years.
In order to make it easier to compete with the railways, the locks on the barge canal were lengthened, so that coal could be carried up the River Severn and through both canals without having to be transhipped to shorter boats. This work was completed by mid-1854, and the Junction Canal was opened in late 1854. Built as a narrow canal, suitable for boats which were 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, it was one of the last canals to be built in the Canal Mania
era. It was 1.75 miles (2.8 km) long and included another six locks, the final one of which connected the canal to the River Salwarpe. After 160 yards (146.3 m) on the river, the original sluice through which the barge canal was supplied with water had been converted to a wide lock, which enabled boats from the barge canal to use the river to reach a salt works situated below Chapel Bridge. The Barge Lock was 75 by, and had four sets of gates, so that it could be used whatever the level of the river. Subsidence beneath it was a problem, as it had to be rebuilt in 1875/6 and 1903, the first time to raise it by 9 feet (2.7 m) and the second to raise it another 5 feet (1.5 m). The main cargo on both canals was always salt
.
The problem of what to do with the canals was regularly debated by Droitwich Borough Council in 1963, and a campaign for their restoration was started by M. Sinclair, who suggested that restoration could be completed in under two years. The council realised the potential amenity value of the canal, and the concept was aired in the Worcester Evening News, which carried an illustracted article on 14 June 1966. A restoration group was formed in 1969, as part of a national drive by the Inland Waterways Association
called Safeguarding Britain's Waterways, which led to the formation in 1973 of the Droitwich Canals Trust
, a limited company with local authority support, which began to work towards the restoration of the canal. In 1975, the canal was one of thirteen to benefit from the Job Creation Scheme
, set up by the Manpower Services Commission
, which provided paid workers to work on restoration and maintenance.
Funding came from various sources. These included £200,000 from Wychavon District Council in 1980, which funded work in Vines Park, including a mooring basin, while a new swing bridge was funded by an award from Shell
. The following year, the Manpower Services Commission provided 15 workers with a budget of £19,000 for materials. The section of the barge canal through Vines Park was opened in October 1986, enabling the Trust's trip-boat to provide longer trips. An engineering feasibility study was carried out in 1994, which concluded that restoration was certainly possible, and would bring with it economic benefits to the region. It was presented to a packed meeting in Worcester Town Hall, at which the problems of passing beneath the A449 at Hawford and of ensuring an adequate water supply were identified. The scheme had the support of the local authorities, who were keen to identify sources of funding, without which the restoration was unlikely to be completed.
In 2002, British Waterways held their Unlocked and Unlimited conference, which identified that completion of the Droitwich scheme would require some £9.5 million. Two years later, the Heritage Lottery Fund
awarded £
4.6 million for the project, with other funding provided by Advantage West Midlands and the local councils. As part of this, British Waterways took over the lease of the canals from the Canal Trust. A Planning Application for the restoration was submitted by British Waterways on behalf of the Droitwich Canals Restoration Partnership in May 2007, by which time a total of £10.5 million had been promised, some of which was dependent on match funding, and the Restoration Partnership needed to raise £1 million in order to release the other funding.
The project was planned to take two years, with both of the Droitwich Canals completely restored and re-opened in 2009. Although the majority of the 7 miles (11.3 km) length of the canals was still in existence, a 550 yards (502.9 m) stretch between the M5 motorway
and Hanbury Locks had to be completely rebuilt. The existing culvert for the Body Brook has been used to allow the canal to pass under the motorway.
The Barge Canal and the Junction Canal have been connected together by canalising a 600 yards (548.6 m) stretch of the River Salwarpe through the centre of Droitwich. The course of the river has been made wider and deeper, and a weir has been constructed adjacent to the new lock 7, to maintain the water levels. In order to minimise the mixing of canal water with river water, a pipeline has been built under the towpath, running from just above lock 7 to just below the Barge Lock. The river improvements were to be partially funded by a Section 106 agreement, as part of a housing development along the river bank, but the withdrawal of the developer from the scheme resulted in delays, which put back the full opening of the canal. The Droitwich Barge Canal opened officially on 11 September 2010, and the whole canal was completed by mid-2011, with the official opening scheduled for 1 July.
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
; the Droitwich Barge Canal and the Droitwich Junction Canal. The Barge Canal is a broad canal which opened in 1771 linking Droitwich Spa
Droitwich Spa
Droitwich Spa is a town in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe.The town is situated on massive deposits of salt, and salt has been extracted there since ancient times. The natural Droitwich brine contains 2½ lbs...
to the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
at Hawford Mill, Claines
Claines
Claines is a small village just to the north of Worcester, England, on the left bank of the River Severn. Claines is situated in the heart of Worcestershire on the A449 between Worcester and Kidderminster. It has a church which dates from the 10th Century....
. The Droitwich Junction Canal is a narrow canal, opened in 1854, which linked Droitwich to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal
Worcester and Birmingham Canal
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long....
. Both were built to carry salt, and were abandoned in 1939. They have been the subject of a restoration plan since 1973, and the Barge Canal was officially opened in 2010, while the Junction Canal opened in July 2011.
History
Droitwich has been an important centre for the production of saltSalt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
, obtained from natural brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
springs, since before Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
times. In order to get the product to market, an Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
was obtained in 1662 to authorise improvements to the River Salwarpe, but the work was not completed, being abandoned in 1675. The improvements involved six locks on the river, of which five had been built when the scheme failed. Another Act of Parliament, obtained in the 1670s, authorised improvements to the Salwarpe and the River Stour
River Stour, Worcestershire
The Stour is a river flowing through the counties of Worcestershire, the West Midlands and Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England. The Stour is a major tributary of the River Severn, and it is about in length...
, and although the promoters spent £4,000 on the scheme, another bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
was put before Parliament in 1693, and a fourth attempt was made in 1703, but this was opposed by owners of the salt works. In 1747, Simon Wood again proposed making the river navigable, and in 1755 there was a scheme to construct a pipeline to carry the brine to Hawford on the River Severn, but both schemes foundered.
With salt production increasing, Droitwich Council asked James Brindley
James Brindley
James Brindley was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century.-Early life:...
the canal engineer responsible for the Bridgewater Canal
Bridgewater Canal
The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester...
to survey a route from the town to the River Severn. This he did in 1767, and the following year an Act of Parliament was obtained to authorise the construction. This created The Company of Proprietors of the Droitwich Canal Navigation, who had powers to raise £33,400 by issuing shares, and an additional £20,000 if required. Although Brindley was officially "Inspector of the Works", he was busy building the Trent and Mersey Canal
Trent and Mersey Canal
The Trent and Mersey Canal is a in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and North West of England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities—east of Burton upon Trent and west of Middlewich—it is a wide canal....
at the time, and so the contractor responsible for building the locks was sent by John Priddey, the resident engineer, to work with and be taught by Brindley. A working capital of £13,400 was raised by issuing 134 shares, mostly bought by local people, and construction started on 27 June 1768. As work proceeded, a further 66 shares were issued, raising another £6,600, and a loan of £3,500 was taken out, making the total cost of the project £23,500.
The canal was constructed as a broad canal, capable of taking Severn Trows
Trow
A trow was a type of cargo boat found in the past on the rivers Severn and Wye in Great Britain and used to transport goods. The mast could be taken down so that the trow could go under bridges, such as the bridge at Worcester and the many bridges up and downstream. The mast was stepped in a three...
which were 14.5 feet (4.4 m) wide and 64 feet (19.5 m) long. Like most of Brindley's canals, it was a contour canal, following the contours as much as possible, to reduce the number of embankments and cuttings required, although there was an awkward bend near Salwarpe church, as the obvious route to the north of the building was specifically excluded by the Act. The canal was 5.7 miles (9.2 km) long, and included eight locks, with a total fall of 56.5 feet (17.2 m). Because of the presence of brine springs, the water was salty, and did not support populations of fresh-water fish.
The official opening was on 12 March 1771, and the canal was a commercial success. The first dividend was paid in 1775 and by 1777 the £100 shares were trading at £160. A proposal in 1784 to link to the Stourbridge Canal
Stourbridge Canal
The Stourbridge Canal is a canal in the West Midlands of England. It links the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal with the Dudley Canal, and hence, via the Birmingham Canal Navigations, to Birmingham and the Black Country.-History:The Stourbridge and Dudley canals were originally proposed as a...
caused disagreement among the shareholders, but the bill to construct the new canal and amalgamate the two companies failed. After the event, the company changed its rules on proxy voting, since it felt that some of those who had voted for amalgamation had not been shareholders, and therefore had not upheld the interests of the canal.
Operation
With the prospect of the Worcester and Birmingham CanalWorcester and Birmingham Canal
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long....
causing the profitability of the canal to suffer, the company negotiated a clause in the enabling Act for the new enterprise, that would guarantee a 5 per cent dividend on Droitwich shares. The agreement was made in March 1790, and as dividends had never been as high as 5 per cent, they started to claim the difference immediately, even though the new canal was not yet built. A claim was made every year, although the Worcester and Birmingham eventually declined to make payments, on the basis that the Droitwich was not encouraging trade sufficiently. The case went to court in 1808, and they had to pay. By November 1810, the Worcester and Birmingham took over the management of the canal, although little seems to have changed, for after an amalgamation attempt in 1821, which was abandoned when the landowner, Lord Somers, objected, the Droitwich company noted that the Worcester and Birmingham had often attempted to meddle in the management of the canal. The repeal of a tax on salt in 1822 and 1825 resulted in the company being able to pay 5 per cent dividends from the late 1820s out of revenue, and only a few claims to honour the guarantee were made subsequently.
The fortunes of the canal started to decline after 1830, when a source of brine was discovered at Stoke Prior, a village to the north east of Droitwich. Much of this was carried overland to the Worcester and Birmingham, where it was taken northwards, but tolls for its carriage on the River Severn were also negotiated so that the price of the product in Gloucester and Bristol was competitive with that using the Droitwich Canal. The coming of the railways took further trade away, although it particularly affected salt from Stoke Prior, and in order to eliminate the overland carriage of both salt and coal, an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1852 for the construction of the Droitwich Junction Canal, to connect the barge canal to Hanbury Wharf on the Worcester and Birmingham. The company who built it was in theory independent, but the intent was that the Worcester and Birmingham would lease it once it was finished, at a rate which would pay a 5 per cent dividend. They also leased the barge canal from 1853 for 21 years.
In order to make it easier to compete with the railways, the locks on the barge canal were lengthened, so that coal could be carried up the River Severn and through both canals without having to be transhipped to shorter boats. This work was completed by mid-1854, and the Junction Canal was opened in late 1854. Built as a narrow canal, suitable for boats which were 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, it was one of the last canals to be built in the Canal Mania
Canal Mania
Canal Mania is a term used to describe an intense period of canal building in England and Wales between the 1790s and 1810s, and the speculative frenzy that accompanied it in the early 1790s.-Background:...
era. It was 1.75 miles (2.8 km) long and included another six locks, the final one of which connected the canal to the River Salwarpe. After 160 yards (146.3 m) on the river, the original sluice through which the barge canal was supplied with water had been converted to a wide lock, which enabled boats from the barge canal to use the river to reach a salt works situated below Chapel Bridge. The Barge Lock was 75 by, and had four sets of gates, so that it could be used whatever the level of the river. Subsidence beneath it was a problem, as it had to be rebuilt in 1875/6 and 1903, the first time to raise it by 9 feet (2.7 m) and the second to raise it another 5 feet (1.5 m). The main cargo on both canals was always salt
Edible salt
Salt, also known as table salt, or rock salt, is a mineral that is composed primarily of sodium chloride , a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of ionic salts. It is essential for animal life in small quantities, but is harmful to animals and plants in excess...
.
Decline
With their financial position worsening, the Worcester and Birmingham Canal received an offer from three railway contractors to buy the canal and the Junction Canal, to convert them into railways. The canal company accepted the offer, but when a bill was submitted to Parliament in 1866, it was defeated, as was a second attempt the following year. In September 1873, the Worcester and Birmingham Canal received an offer from the Sharpness New Docks Company to take over the canal and both Droitwich Canals. An Act of Parliament was obtained to authorise the takeover in 1874, and the new company became the Sharpness New Docks & Gloucester & Birmingham Navigation Company. They set to work improving the Worcester and Birmingham route, but soon realised that the canal was not profitable. Despite this, they dredged 73,000 tons of mud from the Droitwich Canals in 1881, and altered the upper cills of the locks in 1888-9, to give a navigable depth of 6 feet (1.8 m). The locks were then 77 by, and could accommodate boats of 115 tons. By 1906, the costs of maintenance on both canals exceeded the income, and they gradually decayed. Finally, an Act of Abandonment was obtained in July 1939. The last boat to use the barge canal had done so in 1916, while the Junction Canal had not seen any traffic since 1928.Restoration
Inland Waterways Association
The Inland Waterways Association was formed in 1946 as a registered charity in the United Kingdom to campaign for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of British Canals and river navigations....
called Safeguarding Britain's Waterways, which led to the formation in 1973 of the Droitwich Canals Trust
Droitwich Canals Trust
In 1973 The Droitwich Canals Trust was formed and began to work towards the restoration of the Droitwich Canal.-See also:*Canals of the United Kingdom*History of the British canal system...
, a limited company with local authority support, which began to work towards the restoration of the canal. In 1975, the canal was one of thirteen to benefit from the Job Creation Scheme
Job creation program
Job Creation Programs are programs or projects undertaken by a government of a nation to assist unemployed members of the population in securing employment. A cornerstone of Keynesian economics, they are especially common during time of high unemployment...
, set up by the Manpower Services Commission
Manpower Services Commission
The Manpower Services Commission was a non-departmental public body of the Department of Employment Group in the United Kingdom created by Edward Heath's Conservative Government in 1973. The MSC had a remit to co-ordinate employment and training services in the UK through a ten-member commission...
, which provided paid workers to work on restoration and maintenance.
Funding came from various sources. These included £200,000 from Wychavon District Council in 1980, which funded work in Vines Park, including a mooring basin, while a new swing bridge was funded by an award from Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
. The following year, the Manpower Services Commission provided 15 workers with a budget of £19,000 for materials. The section of the barge canal through Vines Park was opened in October 1986, enabling the Trust's trip-boat to provide longer trips. An engineering feasibility study was carried out in 1994, which concluded that restoration was certainly possible, and would bring with it economic benefits to the region. It was presented to a packed meeting in Worcester Town Hall, at which the problems of passing beneath the A449 at Hawford and of ensuring an adequate water supply were identified. The scheme had the support of the local authorities, who were keen to identify sources of funding, without which the restoration was unlikely to be completed.
In 2002, British Waterways held their Unlocked and Unlimited conference, which identified that completion of the Droitwich scheme would require some £9.5 million. Two years later, the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
awarded £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
4.6 million for the project, with other funding provided by Advantage West Midlands and the local councils. As part of this, British Waterways took over the lease of the canals from the Canal Trust. A Planning Application for the restoration was submitted by British Waterways on behalf of the Droitwich Canals Restoration Partnership in May 2007, by which time a total of £10.5 million had been promised, some of which was dependent on match funding, and the Restoration Partnership needed to raise £1 million in order to release the other funding.
The project was planned to take two years, with both of the Droitwich Canals completely restored and re-opened in 2009. Although the majority of the 7 miles (11.3 km) length of the canals was still in existence, a 550 yards (502.9 m) stretch between the M5 motorway
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...
and Hanbury Locks had to be completely rebuilt. The existing culvert for the Body Brook has been used to allow the canal to pass under the motorway.
The Barge Canal and the Junction Canal have been connected together by canalising a 600 yards (548.6 m) stretch of the River Salwarpe through the centre of Droitwich. The course of the river has been made wider and deeper, and a weir has been constructed adjacent to the new lock 7, to maintain the water levels. In order to minimise the mixing of canal water with river water, a pipeline has been built under the towpath, running from just above lock 7 to just below the Barge Lock. The river improvements were to be partially funded by a Section 106 agreement, as part of a housing development along the river bank, but the withdrawal of the developer from the scheme resulted in delays, which put back the full opening of the canal. The Droitwich Barge Canal opened officially on 11 September 2010, and the whole canal was completed by mid-2011, with the official opening scheduled for 1 July.
Points of interest
See also
- Canals of the United KingdomCanals of the United KingdomThe canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a colourful history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role for recreational boating...
- History of the British canal systemHistory of the British canal systemThe British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...