The first canals in Britain were the Fossdyke canal (still in use) and the Ceardyke canal built by the Romans during their occupation of Britain.

The 20th century saw a renewed interest in canals as ever-increasing numbers of people took to canals for their holidays. The idea of moving heavy goods by canal rather than on the increasingly congested road system has also been suggested. This has led to many schemes to restore decayed canals.

The original canal builders employed massive engineering to overcome the problems they encountered and this has been repeated in the 20th century as in the Falkirk Wheel boat lift which reconnects the Forth & Clyde and Union (Edinburgh & Glasgow Union) Canals replacing a number of locks, the site of which is now occupied by housing. Sited in a natural open amphitheatre at Rough Castle near Falkirk, the Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift in the world. For efficiency, a counterbalancing system is employed which lowers one caisson as it raises another. The Falkirk Wheel was constructed as part of the £78-million Millennium Canal Link project and has allowed coast-to-coast navigation of Scotland by canal to be re-established for the first time in over 40 years.

Usually local rivers and streams are used as water supplies to canals but may also be served by large reserviors such as Rudyard Lake supplying the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Only sufficient water is allowed to enter the canal as is needed to maintain the water level - canals therefore bear more resemblance to ponds or shallow lakes than they do to natural water courses.

The rapid growth of towns during the industrial revolution led to chronic problems of water supply. With London's population growing rapidly (doubling between 1800 and 1850), the owners of the Grand Junction Canal realised that their waterway could also be used as a water conduit and built a pumping station at Paddington Basin to supply water to London. The canal water proved to be too polluted and the company closed it in the 1820s, building another pumping station at Chelsea. The Chelsea works could not cope with London's need for clean water so the company built a new pumping station upstream at Kew in 1838 using a Bolton & Watt steam engine with a 1.6-metre cylinder to raise 590 litresof water with each stroke. This again proved inadeqate and, high pressure steam engines not yet being available, another engine was built utilising a 2.4-metre cylinder. see also:   Water Supply in the UK

Narrowboats are the most practical craft for journeys involving many canals, some of which might only be 3� feet wide. Where possible, wider craft were used.

Competition with the railways brought down both the freight rates and the boatmens' wages. The Bargees brought their families on board the boats to save money paid in rent.

Many canals are havens for wildlife, especially along disused stretches.

Left unattended, canals fill with a black, foul-smelling, sludge. Reeds soon grow right across the canal and by both trapping silt-bearing water and leaving the accumulated products of their own annual decay, build up a rich organic soil invaded by brambles, alder, birch, hawthorn and willow.

The canal builder has much tighter constraints to work to than road or railway builders.

Locks and other means may be used to change levels, but these add expense and slow the canal traffic, aqueducts may be required to span depressions or tunnels cut through eminances.

The canal must be kept water-tight and its banks must be protected from the wash of passing craft.

Size is dictated by the size of the vessels using the canal and sharp bends must be avoided.

A good depth must be provided as must a good ratio between the canal's cross-sectional area and that of the wetted hull otherwise excessive bank erosion will ensue.

The "navigators", the labourers who excavated the canals by hand dug, on avarage, an astonishing 36 cubic yards per day. That is a trench three feet deep, three feet wide and thirty-six feet long.

WATER RETENTION
The water must be retained in the canal, this may not be a problem in canals such as the Corinth Canal cut in stone, but where the ground is porous, especially on embankments, puddle clay, concrete or other linings must be used.

Examples

BRITAIN
Basingstoke Canal, Bridgewater Canal, Bridgwater & Taunton Canal, Caerdyke Canal, Fossdyke Canal, Grand Union Canal, Manchester Ship Canal, Royal Military Canal, Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, Trent & Mersey Canal and the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

WORLD-WIDE
Panama Canal, Pharaoh Necho IIs Canal and the Suez Canal.

Links to Other Pages on this Site British Waterways Board National Trust Waterways COMMUNICATION   HISTORY

Links to Other Sites . . . . . the inclusion of these links to other sites is for the interest and convenience of visitors to this site only and does not imply any endorsement of the products or services offered by the individuals or organisations involved nor the accuracy of the information contained therein . . . . .