Canals

Canals

With the coming of industrialisation, a transportation network linking the coalfields, the supply chain and the distribution routes to the factories needed to be established. This could be by horse and cart, but this was only really practical for shorter distances. The country’s rivers (and coastal routes) were traditionally used as a means of transportation, and these waterways were made navigable, by straightening, clearing of obstructions and the construction of locks, all of which required the passing of legislation (with the inevitable local opposition) before work could begin. 

Ironically, it was the industrial areas of Lancashire and the Midlands which were least served by the river network. The answer was to bring the rivers to them with the construction of man-made water channels, known as canals. One of the first of these new canals was the Sankey Brook Navigation which opened in 1757, linking the coalfields of Lancashire to the city of Liverpool and the River Mersey. It was originally intended to straighten the existing brook; however it proved much more practical to build a man-made cut running beside it.

The construction of more canals followed, particularly as the coal supplied through them undercut the opposition. The Bridgewater Canal, linking Runcorn, Leigh and Manchester was completed in 1761. This involved the construction of a viaduct over the River Irwell – the first of its kind.

The age of the canal had truly arrived, and the closing decades of the 18th century saw the canal network expanding, so that cities, industrial areas and ports were linked through a system of waterways, serving the demands of the new industrialised nation. 

By 1830 the country had over 4000 miles of navigable waterways, and this together with the road network, provided the backbone of the inland transportation system. However both were soon to have stiff competition with the coming of the railways.

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