The Seven Wonders of the Waterways is a list of landmarks on the navigable waterways of the United Kingdom. The list was originally compiled in 1946 by Robert Aickman, co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), at a time when the waterways network was largely derelict. Today, the Canal & River Trust—formerly British Waterways—has jurisdiction over (and responsibility for) all of the sites except for the Barton Swing Aqueduct, which is owned and operated by the Bridgewater Canal Company.
Background In 1946, the Inland Waterways Association was formed to campaign for the conservation of navigable waterways in the United Kingdom. Robert Aickman, one of the co-founders of the association, proposed the list in his book Know Your Waterways as a method of highlighting significant feats of engineering on the canal network, as well as bringing attention to those at risk of becoming derelict. At the time of the list's publication, six of the locations were navigable. The London Midland and Scottish Railway Company Act of 1944 formally closed the Llangollen Canal, although the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct remained in use as a water feeder for the wider Shropshire Union Canal network. Aickman successfully passed through the Standedge Tunnel in Yorkshire with L. T. C. Rolt in 1948, at a time when it was closed to all other traffic and awaiting restoration from its state of disrepair. The Caen Hill Locks in Wiltshire became derelict shortly after the list's publication, with the last boat passage before restoration occurring in 1948. The Anderton Boat Lift only became inoperational for a sixteen-year period beginning in the 1980s, and the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the Bingley Five Rise Locks, and the Burnley Embankment have always—except for general maintenance—been navigable.
List
The original list comprises two aqueducts, two lock systems, one tunnel, one boat lift and one embankment. All but two of the sites date from around the Canal Mania period:
Name Type Description Waterway Principal engineer(s) Location Opened Heritage Coordinates Image Pontcysyllte Aqueduct Navigable aqueduct Longest and highest aqueduct in the United KingdomLlangollen Canal Thomas TelfordWilliam Jessop Froncysyllte, Clwyd, Wales UNESCO World Heritage SiteGrade I listed Standedge Tunnel Canal tunnel The longest, deepest, and highest canal tunnel in the United Kingdom Huddersfield Narrow Canal Benjamin OutramThomas Telford Standedge, West Yorkshire, England Grade II* listed (north portal) Caen Hill Flight Lock flight One of the longest continuous lock flights in the country, with a gradient of 1:44Kennet and Avon Canal John Rennie Devizes, Wiltshire, England Scheduled Monument Barton Swing Aqueduct Navigable aqueduct The world's only swinging aqueduct Bridgewater Canal Edward Leader Williams Barton upon Irwell, Greater Manchester, England Grade II* listed Anderton Boat Lift Boat lift The world's first commercially successful boat lift Trent and Mersey Canal, River Weaver Edward Leader WilliamsEdwin Clark Anderton with Marbury, Cheshire, England Scheduled Monument Bingley Five Rise Locks Staircase locks Early example of staircase lock and steepest flight in the country (1:5)Leeds and Liverpool Canal John Longbotham Bingley, West Yorkshire, England Grade I listed Burnley Embankment Embankment Innovative solution to a canal crossing a wide river valley Leeds and Liverpool Canal Robert Whitworth Burnley, Lancashire, England Grade II (partial)
Additional wonders A number of other canal locations have been proposed to expand or amend the list. In 2002, British Waterways published an alternative list based on the results of a poll, which removed the Burnley Embankment and the Barton Swing Aqueduct. This list saw the first inclusion of a Scottish location, the Falkirk Wheel:
Name Type Waterway Principal engineer(s) Location Opened Heritage Coordinates Image Falkirk Wheel Boat lift Forth and Clyde Canal/Union Canal Tony Kettle (design)BWB/Arup/Butterley/RMJM Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland Sapperton Tunnel Canal tunnel Thames and Severn Canal Robert WhitworthJosiah Clowes Sapperton, Gloucestershire, England Grade II listed (north portal)Grade II* listed (south portal)
A list published by canal multimedia production company Videoactive proposed the "New Seven Wonders of the Waterways", replacing the Caen Hill Locks, Standedge Tunnel and Burnley Embankment and introducing the only non-navigable location:
Name Type Waterway Principal engineer(s) Location Opened Heritage Coordinates Image Foxton Inclined Plane Inclined plane Grand Union Canal Gordon Cale Thomas (design) Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England Scheduled Monument Harecastle Tunnel Canal tunnel Trent and Mersey Canal Thomas Telford Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England Grade II listed (both portals) Crofton Pumping Station Pumping station Kennet and Avon Canal John Rennie Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England Grade I listed
In 2015, the Canal & River Trust ran a competition to establish the Lost Wonders of the Waterways World. The resultant list highlighted three locations where canal restoration schemes are planned or underway: Name Type Waterway Principal engineer(s) Location Derelict Heritage Coordinates Image Horse Park Bridge Accommodation bridge and canal bed Lancaster Canal John Rennie Sedgwick, Cumbria, England Grade II listed Combe Hay Locks Lock flight Somerset Coal Canal William Bennet Combe Hay, Somerset, England Grade II listed Walbut Lock Lock Pocklington Canal George Leather Thornton, East Riding of Yorkshire, England Grade II listed
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