CONTENTS
4. A valuable inheritance!
In this 21st century, navigable inland waterways are
attractive and unique lateral theme parks. In England,
Scotland and Wales there are some 3000 miles (3218km)
and on the island of Ireland a further 621 miles (1000km)
11. Investing in the future
European Union money has been vital to the success of many
projects. © Mike Clarke
www.mike.clarke.zen.co.uk/Englishcanals.htm
14. Bringing history to life
The Waterways Trust is a national charity that works
with others to promote greater public enjoyment of
our inland waterways.
17. Preserving the past and
looking after the present!
Today, the history of our waterways is largely forgotten.
20. Cathedral of the waterways
The Anderton Boat Lift has been described as both the‘cathedral of the waterways’ and the Industrial Revolution’s
greatest waterway wonder.
30. Virtual Waterways
Introducing an archive that is now available to all.
32. Once forgotten, now cherished
How British Waterways evaluates the past and
sees the future.
42. The river on which salt was king
There are many rivers, estuaries and creeks throughout the
islands of Britain that were once busy waterways. One such
was the Weaver Navigation.
50. The chosen few
The story of 10 very special narrow boats.
56. Fred Dibnah and the canal tunnel
A unique adventure on the ‘cut’ with the late Fred Dibnah MBE.
62. Canal tunnel fact file
Breakdown assistance for boaters and much more. Meet the
Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs.
66. Up, up and away
The fantastic Falkirk Wheel, centrepiece of Scotland’s
Millennium Project.
70. The collective voice of
Navigation authorities
The Association of Inland Navigation Authorities (AINA) is
the UK industry body for inland navigation authorities.
72. The way it was
Canal millscapes.
74. Diamond jubilee
The Inland Waterways Association, campaigning for 60 years.
82. A unique steam narrow boat
Meet President, owned by the Black Country Living Museum,
and looked after by ‘friends’.
85. Linking Thames to Severn,
via the Cotswolds Canals
Is this Britain’s most ambitious canal restoration project?
93. Ireland’s waterways
The waterways ‘just over the water’
Travelling a selection of Ireland’s waterways.
109. Inland Waterways
Association of Ireland
110. More canals than Venice?
Birmingham – the canal capital of the UK.
112. Telford’s finest works!
Discover the aqueducts of the Llangollen Canal.
115. Scottish Inland
Waterways Association
116. Restoring the Droitwich Canals
Droitwich Spa, where one of the oldest canals meets one of
the youngest.
119. Canal rings
A few facts.
120. Keeping the canals ‘in water’
British Waterways now has Scada, a state-of-the-art water
management system.
122. The Broads
Man-made, but not with pleasure craft in mind.
The fascinating Norfolk & Suffolk Broads.
126. Stay safe on the water
In remembrance of Kevin Scragg.
129. Waterways Ireland contacts
130. British Waterways contacts
A valuable
inheritance!
In this 21st century, navigable inland waterways are attractive and unique lateral theme parks.
They traverse in England, Scotland and Wales some 3000 miles (3218km) and on the island of Ireland a further 621 miles (1000km). The rivers and canals that make up those waterways are individual treasure troves of fascinating rural and urban landscapes just waiting to be explored by boat, on foot or by cycle. In over 50 years of intense activity, the pioneering canal builders opened up the countryside to travel on a scale never before seen.
 While doing so they also improved natural watercourses, many of which were then connected into the new and revolutionary transport system. As the great rivers were interconnected one with the other, so the deep water sea ports were also made more accessible to traders from inland areas. As early as 1556, the Exeter Ship Canal was created and that river improvement,made to allow the easier passage of cargo vessels, is said to have been the first to utilise weirs and locks, albeit with vertically rising gates.
However, the real canal building boom was still 200 years away! Interestingly, the islands of Britain may have seen the building of canals in order to allow navigation by boat long before the so-called industrial era. The Romans are said to have experienced difficulty in making any of the rivers to the west of Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) navigable.
They accordingly built Foss Dyke which, if, as some historians claim, it was built to allow those invaders to sail west to the River Trent, would make it by far and away the earliest artificial navigation constructed within these islands. Furthermore that waterway was said to have been treated to its ‘channel being scoured’ in 1121 during the reign of Henry I in order to improve navigation. So did those contractors to the King, under the guidance of one Bishop Atwater, simply rebuild the original Roman cut or dig a new one? If the answer is, as seems likely, to be the former, then the work is surely the earliest reported instance of canal restoration!
That is, thankfully, nowhere near the end of that story as the Fossdyke & Witham Navigation can still be sailed to this day. In 1759 the third Duke of Bridgwater, Francis Edgerton, returned to the north-west of England having made a trip to France, where he had witnessed first-hand the usefulness to traders of the Canal du Midi. As a consequence of that he decided to enter the canal-building business. That gentleman saw waterway utilisation as the perfect answer to his major logistical problem – transporting coal from his mines in Worsley to his customers in the mills and homes of industrial Manchester. In perfecting a suitable system, he not only halved the price of his coal but made a great deal of money while doing so.
Others with entrepreneurial aspirations witnessed his success and looked enviously at his growing wealth. What followed has been described by many as ‘a scramble’, undoubtedly one kick-started by the Duke of Bridgwater’s success. For the following 50 or so years, many fortunes were made as navigations were dug. Specific areas particularly benefited from the coming of the canals. For example, the potteries of Staffordshire and the industrial areas of the Black Country expanded and prospered in a manner no one could previously have imagined possible before the coming of the cuts!
END OF PREVIEW • Written by Keith Langston • ©2006 Mortons Media Group Ltd |
Past & Present