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1 - History of English Canals

This is a Chapter from 'The Canal System of England'

Its growth and present condition, with particular reference to the cheap carriage of goods - 1904 - by H. Gordon Thompson

Early canals

From the writings of Herodotus, Aristotle, Pliny, and other ancient historians, we learn that canals existed in Egypt before the Christian era, and there is reason to believe that at the same early period, artificial inland navigation had also been introduced into China. Hardly anything, however, save their existence has been recorded of these early works. We know that the Greeks, and afterwards, three of the Roman Emperors, attempted to join the Ionian Sea and the Archipelago by a canal, but failed ; and Pliny mentions that Drusus, commanding under Augustus an army which was to march into Germany, had a canal made from the now-known Rhine, to the Issel, for the sole purpose of conveying his army upon it. * (* Priestly. Navigable Rivers.)

Introduction of canals into Europe.

Canals appear to have been introduced into Europe with the advent of the Christian era, but for many centuries their employment was very gradual.

Introduction of canals into England.

Their first introduction into this country was by the Romans when Britain, for a period of 400 years, was a province of the Roman Empire. The canals which the Romans constructed were designed for irrigation and water supply rather than for purposes of navigation. Such was one of the most notable of their canals, the "Foss Dyke," extending from Lincoln to the Trent, a distance of eleven miles, concerning which Cambden states in his "Brittania" that it was made by the Romans "probably for water-supply or drainage," adding that in 1121 it was deepened and rendered in some measure navigable by Henry I. Another very notable canal constructed by the Romans during this epoch was the "Caerdike," connecting the River Nyne (Nene) or Nen with the River Witham. The length of this work stupendous for the period was no less than forty miles, extending from the vicinity of Peterborough to three miles below Lincoln.

The progress of our waterways generally, was however, as before stated, very gradual. This was no doubt greatly owing to the need of the canal lock, the crowning improvement necessary to adapt them for routes having great alterations of level. It has been truly remarked that "To us, living in an age of steam-engines and photography, it might appear strange that an invention so simple in itself as the canal lock, and founded on properties of fluids little recondite, should have escaped the acuteness of Egypt, Greece and Rome." * (* Quarterly Review. No. CXLVI. " Navigable Canals " by Paul Frisi.)

The invention had, however, escaped the notice of the ancients, and great doubts exist as to the person, and even the nation, by whom canal locks were first introduced, the discovery being claimed by both the Italians and the Dutch,* (* Canal and River Engineering - Stevenson.) It is true that in some of the early canals of Europe, inclined planes, up which a vessel placed upon a cradle could be hauled, were in use, but this contrivance in its primitive form was very inadequate, and could only be employed to a limited extent.

The lock, as now used, was hot invented until the 14th century. By its introduction the construction of canals for inland navigation received a fresh impetus, and it is, in fact, only at this time that the history of modern canals may be said to have commenced.

The recognised need in these early times was that river-navigation should be rendered more efficient, and thus we find that the improvement of the navigation of the Thames was undertaken in 1423, that of the Lea in 1425, the Ouse in 1462, the Severn in 1503, the Stour in 1504, the Humber in 1531, and in 1571, the Welland.

In 1572 the first Ship Canal was constructed in England the "Exeter" a comparatively short waterway which had received Royal Assent in 1539, and from this date canal schemes were entered upon more extensively.

During the 17th century many canalisation schemes were undertaken, thus between the years 1623 and 1699, the Rivers Colne, Itchin, Wye, Avon, Medway, Wey, Bure, Witham, Fal and Vale, Aire and Calder, and Trent were all more or less canalised.

In the next century similar projects for river and canal navigation proceeded apace. The following examples will serve to show the nature of the canal extension during this period. Projects were entered upon for improving and canalising the following rivers :

From 1700 to 1720, The Avon and Frome, Dee, Lark, Derwent, Trent, Stour, Weir, Kennett, Wear, Weaver, Mersey and Irwell.

In 1720 the "Leeds and Liverpool," and in 1730 the "Stroudwater" Canals were begun.

But whilst the first half of the 18th century was rich in its completion of schemes for the advancement of inland navigation, its importance in this respect was greatly increased by the construction in Lancashire of the Bridgewater Canal, for which Act of Parliament was obtained in 1759. This work, designed by Francis, Duke of Bridgewater, and Brindley, the engineer, may be said to have inaugurated another era in British Canal Navigation.

From 1730 to 1830 upwards of 90 canals were projected, bringing the total length of the Canal-System in England to 4,700 miles, and the total cost to upwards of £14,000,000.

It is interesting to note that as early as 1792, the premiums of single shares in canal companies had reached such figures as £155 (Leicester), £350 (Grand Trunk and Coventry), and £1170 (Birmingham);* (* Gazette August, 1792.) and in the year 1806 we find the "Times" commenting with admiration on the fact that troops were being transported by canal from London to Liverpool, en route for Ireland, in a period extending over "only seven days." pioneers of the Looking over the history of the development of the Canal System of England up to this time, the foremost of the pioneers of inland navigation in this country were undoubtedly Francis, Duke of Bridgewater, and (James) Brindley and (Thomas) Telford the engineers, but there must also be associated with the growth of canals such names as Smeaton, Watt, Nimmo, and Kennie under whose guidance most of the present barge canals were constructed. The barge canals laid out by Brindley alone, although not in every case executed by him, were as follows :

The Duke's Canal Longford Bridge to Runcorn 24 miles (the present day Bridgewater Canal)

Worsley to Manchester 10 miles

Grand Trunk Wilden Ferry to Preston Brook 88 miles

Wolverhampton 46 miles

Coventry 36 miles

Birmingham 24 miles

Droitwich 5 miles

Oxford 82 miles

Chesterfield 46 miles

Total, 361 miles

It was by such men that apparently insurmountable difficulties were met, and overcome. By their indomitable perseverance and engineering skill, huge aqueducts were constructed, mountains were tunneled, and valleys bridged, and there can be no doubt that these pioneers of the Canal System of England did much for the promotion of the true national economy and commercial prosperity of the nation.

Freightage between Manchester and Liverpool

Before the completion of these great schemes the natural increase of commerce in the middle of the 18th century was greatly hindered by the heavy expense and the lack of adequate means of conveying produce to the ports. Thus, about the year 1750, the cost of goods by road was 40/- per ton, but by the Mersey and Irwell the water rate was only 12/- per ton, and after the opening of the Bridgewater Canal the cost was reduced to 6/- per ton, and a better service was given than that provided by either of the aforementioned routes. Again, the cost of carriage of coal by packhorse from Worsley to Manchester, which had been from 6/- to 8/- per ton, was reduced to 2/6 per ton on the same canal.

The charges for transit from Manchester to Nottingham were over £6 per ton, and to Leicester over £8. These rates were reduced to £2 and £2 6s. 8d. respectively after the opening of the Trent and Mersey Canal, which also reduced the cost of transport from Manchester to Hull to less than £2 per ton owing to the hack carriage secured from that port, together with the tide service of eighty miles up the Humber and the Trent.

To bring more vividly before the mind the way in which an increase of commerce necessitates a reduction of rates of transit, notice may be taken that in the year 1761 it was estimated that the quantity of traffic carried between Liverpool and Manchester, was about 40 tons per week, or 2000 tons per year, and the rate of carriage was 1/- per ton mile. For 1890 three years before the Manchester Ship Canal was opened it was estimated that the traffic was not less than 10,000,000 tons, and the cost of transit from 3/- to 8/- per ton for the whole distance,* (* Jeans Waterways, p. 42.)

Developed Similarly our Export Trade was of a most restricted nature before the development of inland navigation, but with its progress the facilities for transit were greatly improved, and the exports of Great Britain soon increased to much greater proportions. This was noticed in one of the finest orations of Edmund Burke who thus describes the growth of our exports to the Colonies, which had then reached the value of £6,000,000 :-

"When we speak of the [increase of] commerce with our Colonies, fiction lags after truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination cold and barren."* (*Present State of the Nation. Bohn's Series.)

It is true that Canals did not complete this revolution, but they were important factors in its accomplishment, seeing that from the year 1760, when the canal system effectually began, to the year 1838, when this canal period closed with the advent of railways, the export trade of the country advanced in value from £14,000,000 to £50,000,000 per annum.

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