The canal network of the United Kingdom played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution. The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network which, at its peak, expanded to nearly in length. The canals allowed raw materials to be transported to a place of manufacture, and finished goods to be transported to consumers, more quickly and cheaply than by a land based route. The canal network was extensive and included feats of civil engineering such as the Anderton Boat Lift, the Manchester Ship Canal, the Worsley Navigable Levels and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

In the post-medieval period, some rivers were canalised for boat traffic. The Exeter Ship Canal was completed in 1567. The Sankey Canal was the first British canal of the Industrial Revolution, opening in 1757. The Bridgewater Canal followed in 1761 and proved to be highly profitable. The majority of the network was built in the "Golden Age" of canals, between the 1770s and the 1830s. From 1840, the canals began to decline, because the growing railway network was a more efficient means of transporting goods. From the beginning of the 20th century, the road network became progressively more important; canals became uneconomic and were abandoned. In 1948, much of the network was nationalised. Since then, canals have been increasingly used for recreation and tourism.

Different types of boats used the canals: the most common was the traditional narrowboat. At the outset the boats were towed by horses, but later they were driven by diesel engines. Some closed canals have been restored, and canal museums have opened.

History Pre-Industrial Revolution transport systems

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, some natural waterways were "canalised" or improved for boat traffic in the 16th century. The first act of Parliament was obtained by the City of Canterbury in 1515, Deepening River at Canterbury Act 1514 (6 Hen. 8. c. 17), to extend navigation on the River Stour in Kent, followed by the River Exe, with the River Exe Act 1539 (31 Hen. 8. c. 4), which led to the construction in 1566 of a new channel, the Exeter Canal.Rolt, Inland WaterwaysBurton, (1995). Chapter 2: The River Navigations Simple flash locks were provided to regulate the flow of water and allow loaded boats to pass through shallow waters by admitting a rush of water, but these were not purpose-built canals as we understand them today.

The transport system that existed before the canals were built consisted of coastal shipping and horses and carts struggling along mostly unsurfaced mud roads (although there were some surfaced turnpike roads). There was also a small amount of traffic carried along navigable rivers. In the 17th century, as early industry started to expand, this transport situation was highly unsatisfactory. The restrictions of coastal shipping and river transport were obvious, and horses and carts could only carry one or two tons of cargo at a time. The poor state of most of the roads meant that they could often become unusable after heavy rain. Because of the small loads that could be carried, supplies of essential commodities such as coal and iron ore were limited, and this kept prices high and restricted economic growth. One horse-drawn canal barge could carry about thirty tonnes at a time, faster than road transport and at half the cost.

Some 29 river navigation improvements took place in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1605, the government of King James I established the Oxford-Burcot Commission, which began to improve the system of locks and weirs on the River Thames, which were opened between Oxford and Abingdon by 1635.Fred. S. Thacker The Thames Highway: Volume I General History 1920 - republished 1968 David & Charles In 1635 Sir Richard Weston was appointed to develop the River Wey Navigation, making Guildford accessible by 1653.Dictionary of National Biography - Sir Richard Weston In 1670 the Stamford Canal opened, indistinguishable from 18th century examples with a dedicated cut and double-door locks. In 1699 legislation was passed to permit the Aire and Calder Navigation which was opened 1703, and the Trent Navigation which was built by George Hayne and opened in 1712.History of Burton from 'British History Online' Subsequently, the Kennet built by John Hore opened in 1723, the Mersey and Irwell opened in 1725, and the Bristol Avon in 1727. John Smeaton was the engineer of the Calder and Hebble which opened in 1758, and a series of eight pound locks was built to replace flash locks on the River Thames between Maidenhead and Reading, beginning in 1772.Fred. S. Thacker The Thames Highway: Volume II Locks and Weirs 1920 - republished 1968 David & Charles The net effect of these was to bring most of England, with the notable exceptions of Birmingham and Staffordshire, within of a waterway.

By the early 18th century, river navigations such as the Aire and Calder Navigation were becoming quite sophisticated, with pound locks and longer and longer "cuts" (some with intermediate locks) to avoid circuitous or difficult stretches of rivers. Eventually, the experience of building long multi-level cuts with their own locks gave rise to the idea of building a "pure" canal, a waterway designed on the basis of where goods needed to go, not where a river happened to be.

The Industrial Revolution

The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network. The canals caused a great change in the economy of Britain. They supported the industries that allowed the country to become the world's first industrial power and supported the economic powerhouse that was the British Empire in the Victorian Era.the-canal-age canalrivertrust.org.uk The canals were built because they offered the most economic and reliable way to transport goods and commodities in large quantities. The navigable water network grew rapidly at first and became an almost completely connected transport network. In addition to the building of new canals, older canals were improved. They were given new embankments, tunnels, aqueducts and cuttings. However, there was often fierce opposition to the building.

The Sankey Canal was the first British canal of the Industrial Revolution, opening in 1757. It connected St Helens with Spike Island in Widnes. The canal fuelled the growth of the chemical industry in Widnes, which subsequently became the centre of the industry in England. In the mid-18th century the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater built the Bridgewater Canal. Its purpose was to transport coal from his mines to the industrialising city of Manchester. He commissioned the engineer James Brindley to build the canal; the design included an aqueduct carrying the canal over the River Irwell. The aqueduct was an engineering wonder which attracted tourists.Burton, (1995). Chapter 3: Building the Canals Its construction was funded entirely by the Duke. It opened in 1761 and was the longest canal constructed in Britain to that date. Canal boats could carry thirty tons at a time; one horse could tow more than ten times the amount of cargo that was possible with a cart. The Bridgewater Canal reduced the price of coal in Manchester by nearly two-thirds within a year of its opening. The canal was a huge financial success and repaid the cost of its construction within just a few years.

The 19th century saw some major new canals such as the Caledonian Canal and the Manchester Ship Canal. The new canals proved highly successful. The boats on the canals were horse-drawn with a towpath alongside the canal for the horse to walk along. This horse-drawn system proved to be highly economical and became standard across the British canal network. Commercial horse-drawn canal boats could be seen on the UK's canals until as late as the 1950s, although by then diesel powered boats, often towing a second unpowered boat, had become standard. During the latter part of the 19th century the boat decoration of Roses and Castles began to appear. In this period, whole families lived aboard the boats.

The Golden Age The period between the 1770s and the 1830s is often referred to as the "Golden Age" of British canals. During this period of canal mania, huge sums were invested in canal building. The canal system expanded to nearly in length.

At the start of this age, canals were built by groups of private individuals with an interest in improving communications. In Staffordshire the potter Josiah Wedgwood saw an opportunity to bring bulky cargoes of clay to his factory doors, and to minimise breakages of his fragile finished goods as they travelled to market. Within just a few years an embryonic national canal network came into being.

Acts of Parliament were necessary to authorise construction. Canal proposals were put forward by financial investors interested in profiting from dividends, as well as industrial businesses that wanted to move their raw materials and finished goods. There was often out-and-out financial speculation. Speculators would try to buy shares in a newly floated company to sell them on for a profit, regardless of whether the canal was ever profitable, or even built. Rival canal companies were formed, and competition was rampant. For many years, a dispute about tolls meant that goods travelling through Birmingham had to be moved from boats in one canal to boats in the other. On the majority of British canals, the canal-owning companies did not own or run a fleet of boats, since the acts of Parliament setting them up usually prohibited this, in order to prevent monopolies developing. Instead, they charged private operators tolls to use the canal. These tolls were regulated by the acts. From the tolls the owners would try, with varying degrees of success, to maintain the canal, pay back initial loans and pay dividends to their shareholders.

Railway competition and decline

From about 1840, the railway network gained greater importance. With the transition from short-distance horse-drawn tramways to increasingly practical, powerful steam locomotives, trains could not only carry more than the canals, but could transport people and goods far more quickly than the walking pace of the canal boats. Most of the investment that had previously gone into canal building was diverted into railway building. By the second half of the 19th century, many canals were owned by railway companies or competing with them, and many were in decline, with decreases in mile-ton charges to try to remain competitive. After this, the less successful canals (particularly narrow-locked canals, whose boats could only carry about thirty tons) failed quickly. Faced with decline, there were at least two attempts by canal owners to convert their canal to a railway. This was vigorously opposed by competing rail interests, and so failed to gain the necessary acts of Parliament.

Canal companies could not compete against the speed of the new railways, and in order to survive, they had to slash their prices. This put an end to the huge profits that canal companies had enjoyed before the coming of the railways, and also had an effect on the boatmen who faced a drop in wages. Flyboat working (see § Boats below) virtually ceased, as it could not compete with the railways on speed and the boatmen found they could only afford to keep their families by taking them with them on the boats. This became standard practice across the canal system, often with families with several children living in tiny boat cabins, creating a considerable community of boat people. Though this community ostensibly had much in common with Gypsies, both communities strongly resisted any such comparison, and surviving boat people feel deeply insulted if described as "water gypsies".