History
Great Britain's canals network was created in the 18th century and new canals were constantly added until the mid-19th century. The original use of the network was as a transport system. Roads at the time were unsuitable for large volumes of traffic, and road vehicles were unable to transport large amounts of materials quickly. Canal boats proved more than adequate for this task, and so canals were constructed between industries, and between cities and ports, with vast amounts of materials from manufactured goods to coal and lumber being transported. As the industrial revolution took hold, the canals enjoyed great success, thriving in the late 18th and early 19th centuries before railways replaced them as the major goods transportion method. As trains, and later road vehicles, became more advanced, they became more economically viable than canal boats, being faster, cheaper to run, and able to carry much greater cargos. The canal network declined, many canals becoming unusuable, filled with weeds, silt and rubbish.
Present Status
However, in the latter half of the twentieth century, the canals saw a rise in popularity as a industrialists were replaced by holidaymakers, who rented a 'narrowboat' and roamed the canals visiting places they passed through. Canal based holidays became popular due to their relaxing nature, cheap costs, and huge variety of scenery available; from inner-London to the Scottish Highlands. For this reason the canal system was renovated and reopened. Canals have become so popular that new routes are even under construction for the first time in a century, linking navigatable rivers, and existing canals.
The aim of bodies such as British Waterways (which owns about 50% of Britain's inland waterway network) is to fully reopen all abandoned canals. There is now a large waterways network of canals and navigable rivers throughout Great Britain, with most canals being linked to either other canals, navigatable rivers or the sea.
Despite being man made, the Jubilee River was designed to look and act like a natural river, and so is usually counted as such.
Canals in England
- Aire and Calder Navigation
- Andover Canal
- Ashby Canal
- Ashton Canal
- Barnsley Canal
- Basingstoke Canal
- Baybridge Canal
- Birmingham Canal Navigations
- Birmingham and Fazeley Canal
- Blyth Navigation, Suffolk
- Bradford Canal
- Bridgewater Canal
- Bridgwater and Taunton Canal
- Bude Canal
- Caistor Canal, Lincolnshire
- Calder and Hebble Navigation
- Caldon Canal
- Chard Canal
- Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation
- Chester Canal (now part of the Shropshire Union Canal)
- Chesterfield Canal
- Chichester Canal
- Coalport Canal
- Coventry Canal
- Cromford Canal
- Dartford and Cray Navigation, Kent
- Dearne and Dove Canal, South Yorkshire
- Derby Canal
- Dorset and Somerset Canal
- Douglas Navigation, Lancashire
- Droitwich Canal
- Ellesmere Canal (now known as the Llangollen Canal)
- Erewash Canal, Derbyshire
- Fossdyke Navigation
- Glastonbury Canal
- Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, Gloucestershire
- Grand Union Canal
- Grand Western Canal
- Grantham Canal
- Hatherton Canal
- Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal
- Hertford Union Canal, London
- Horncastle Canal, Lincolnshire
- Huddersfield Broad Canal
- Huddersfield Narrow Canal
- Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation, Suffolk
- Kennet and Avon Canal
- Lancaster Canal
- Lea Navigation, London
- Leeds and Liverpool Canal
- Leominster Canal
- Leven Canal
- Lichfield Canal
- Limehouse Cut, London
- Liskeard and Looe Union Canal
- Llangollen Canal
- Louth Navigation
- Macclesfield Canal
- Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal
- Manchester Ship Canal
- Market Weighton Canal
- Melton Mowbray Navigation
- Middle Level Navigations
- Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal
- North Walsham & Dilham Canal, Norfolk
- North Wilts Canal
- Nottingham Canal
- Oakham Canal
- Oxford Canal, Oxfordshire
- Peak Forest Canal
- Pocklington Canal
- Portsmouth and Arundel Canal
- Regent's Canal, London
- Ribble Link
- Ripon Canal
- Rochdale Canal
- Rolle Canal
- Rother Link
- Salisbury and Southampton Canal
- Sankey Canal
- Selby Canal
- Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
- Shrewsbury Canal
- Shropshire Union Canal
- Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal, Birmingham
- Somersetshire Coal Canal
- St. Columb Canal
- Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
- Stainforth and Keadby Canal
- Stort Navigation
- Stourbridge Canal
- Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
- Stroudwater Canal
- Tame Valley Canal
- Tavistock Canal
- Thames and Medway Canal
- Thames and Severn Canal
- Trent and Mersey Canal
- Uttoxeter Canal
- Wednesbury Old Canal, Birmingham
- Wey and Arun Junction Canal
- Wilts and Berks Canal
- Worcester and Birmingham Canal
- Wyrley and Essington Canal
Canals in Scotland
Canals in Wales
Abandoned canals
Proposed new canal routes
Grand Union (Slough Branch)
Extending Slough arm of Grand Union south to River Thames.
York Stream (Maidenhead)
Making the York stream fully navigatable for boats and linking to other nearby canals and navigatable rivers.
Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway
Connection from Grand Union at Milton Keynes to the River Great Ouse at Bedford.
Warwick
Connection from River Arun to Grand Union via Warwick.
Portsmouth-London
Ambitious plan to link Portsmouth with London. Proposed route would run from Portsmouth to River Wey at Godalming. Length of canal route and cost of crossing South Downs are prohibitive.
See also
External Link