In the history of canals, Britain was not a pioneer. The Chinese can
claim that the Grand Canal of China was one of the first, in the tenth century,
although even earlier examples existed in that country. The earliest canals
were connected with natural rivers, either as short extensions or improvements
to them. The difference between a natural river, and a wholly man-made canal is
clear, but in between are many variations of river improvement and extension so
it is therefore difficult to be precise about which navigation can claim to be
the first canal! The familiar pound lock which is in use today in Britain is
said to have been invented by Chhiao Wei-Yo, in the year 983, in China,
although the mitre gate, an important part of the canal lock today, is credited
to Leonardo Da Vinci.n (1452 - 1519)
In Britain the Romans built the Fossdyke from
Lincoln to the River Trent , for drainage and for navigation and also the Caer
Dyke around AD 50. A notable waterway completed in 1566 was the Exeter Canal
which bypassed part of a river to make navigation easier. This had the first
pound locks in Britain, equipped with lifting, vertical gates. The mitre gate,
which has V shaped gates held together by the water pressure, was introduced in
this country on the River Lee, at Waltham Abbey. Some other early British
canals are an improved section of the River Welland in Lincolnshire, built in
1670, and the Stroudwater Navigation, in Gloucestershire, built 1775 - 1779 and
the Sankey Canal in Lancashire, opened in stages, 1757 - 1773.
The great age of canal building started with the construction of the
Bridgewater Canal. This pioneering waterway is nowhere near the town of
Bridgwater but was the initiative of the third Duke of Bridgewater, pictured
left (image coutesy of The National
Trust). A well educated young man, the Duke had visited a great early
French navigation, the Canal du Midi, 150 miles long, which had been completed
in 1681. The Duke owned coal mines at Worsley, north west of Manchester, a big
city with an appetite for coal. The Duke made plans together with John Gilbert,
one of his estate managers, and they brought in the engineer James Brindley
(1716 - 1772) who had previously built a reputation working on mills, water
wheels etc. The enabling Act was passed in 1759 and there were further Acts of
Parliament to amend and extend the scheme. Completed in 1776 the Bridgewater
Canal was the catalyst that started half a century of canal building. Brindley
had built an aqueduct which was regarded as a remarkable achievement, and there
were tunnels right into the mines at Worsley where the coal was loaded. The
price of coal in Manchester fell as the new means of transport made cheap
deliveries possible.
Next there followed a number of long distance navigations, with
Brindley as the leading canal engineer of his time. He largely built the
so-called "Grand Cross" of canals which linked the four great river basins of
Britain, the Severn, Mersey, Humber, and the Thames, the latter being reached
from 1790 via the Oxford Canal, lengthy route to London from the north. There
were two concentrated periods of canal building, from 1759 to the early 1770's
and from 1789 to almost the end of the eighteenth century. The American War of
Independence separated the two periods. London and the south east did not
feature much in the first period. Canals were built to serve the heavy industry
of the north and midlands and whilst London had industry and the country's
major port, it did not have coal mines and the surrounding south east of
England was mainly agricultural.
It was not until 1793 that an Act was passed to authorise the Grand
Junction Canal from Braunston on the Oxford Canal, to Brentford on the river
Thames west of London. London was not joined directly to the national canal
network until 1801 with the opening of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Junction
Canal.
Some Useful Links for Further Reading
- Leonardo Da Vinci
National Museum of Science and Technology, Milan for more about Da Vinci
and his invention of the type of lock known in the UK as a mitre lock.
- A
Brief History of English Canals by Mike Clarke. More detailed than the
above summary.
- The
Great Duke of Bridgewater, by Espinasse (1874) Edited by Coakley
- Duke of
Bridgewater's Underground Canal at Worsley, - Hidden Manchester
London Canals Online Bookshop
