War and Social Upheaval: Industrial Revolution--English Canals


Figure 1.--English canals have been largely displaced as freight movers by the railroads and trucks (lorries). They still exist and are maintained. Increasingly they are being used for pleasure trips. You can rent nicely equipped barges for leisurely trips throughout England as these Cubs are doing in 1989.

Extensive canal construction began in England during the mid-18th century. The Duke Bridgewater at age 22 began the constructiin of canals when he deciuded to connect his coalmines with cotton mills in Manchester 6 miles distant. The canal eventually extended 46 miles. The cost was enormous and the Duke had to sell his estates and borrow momey. He engaged a millwright, James Brindley, to construct his canal. Brindley had no formal education, but was inventive. He reportedly modeled his aqueducts in cheese. His designs set the standard for canals in the English midlands. The Duke's canal accomodated wide river barges. Brindley worked on many other canals, designinging them more narrow to sav money in construction. Narrow canal barges wer bilt which required little water in relation to carrying capacity. Bridgewater finally opened his canal in 1761, making him a fortune and helping to inspire canal building projects throughout the Midlands. Josiash Wedgewood and other 18th century industrialists were impressed. The economic advantages were starteling. Coal delivered by land had cost 65 pence a ton, delivered by canal it only coist 35 pence. Wedgewood proceeded to organize a group of potters to finance a canal to connect their factories with Liverpool wearhouses. Wedgewood and other English potters had a large domestic market, but faced severe difficulties in shipping raw marials to their factories and the finished product to markets. [Hornik, pp. 53-54.]

Chronology

Extensive canal construction began in England during the mid-18th century. The first major project was begun in 1758 by the Duke of Bridgewater. James Brindley constructed the Duke's cananal and was involved in all of the early canal project in the Midlands. There were more than 50 canals under construction by the 1790s. Many rushed to invest resulting in a buble and many failed After Bindley died, several well financed projects created much grander canals with dramatic locks, arched bridges, and impressive soaring aqueducts. The canals were mostly built by hand labor using axes, shovels, and spades, along with gunpowder. By the 1790s, about 50,000 men called "navvies" for canal navigators were working on the canals. [Hornik, p. 54, 57.] Canals by the turn of the 19th century had become a major mode of transportation. By reducing transportation costs, the canals helped to lower production costs and stimulate commerce by opening new markets at a critical stage of the industrial revolution. The development of the railroads in the mid-19th ended canal construction, but the canals continued to be used throughout the 19th century. There were efforts to modernize the canals, but they were unable to effectively compete with the railroads. It was much less expensive to build, operate, and maintain railroads than canals. Today they are being used once again, but for recreation.

Duke of Bridgewater

The Duke Bridgewater in 1758 at age 22 began the construction of canals when he decided to connect his coalmines with cotton mills in Manchester 6 miles distant. The canal eventually extended 46 miles. The cost was enormous and the Duke had to sell his estates and borrow momey. [Hornik, p. 53.] Fortunes were made. The Gower family married into the Bridgewater fortune.

James Brindley

The Duke engaged a millwright, James Brindley, to construct his canal. Brindley had no formal education, but was inventive. He reportedly modeled his aqueducts in cheese. His designs set the standard for canals in the English midlands. The Duke's canal accomodated wide river barges. Brindley worked on many other canals, designinging them more narrow to sav money in construction. Narrow canal barges wer bilt which required little water in relation to carrying capacity. Bridgewater finally opened his canal in 1761, making him a fortune and helping to inspire canal building projects throughout the Midlands. [Hornik, pp. 53-54.]

Josiah Wedgewood

Josiah Wedgewood and other 18th century industrialists were impressed. The economic advantages were starteling. Coal delivered by land had cost 65 pence a ton, delivered by canal it only coist 35 pence. Wedgewood in the 1760s proceeded to organize a group of potters to finance a canal to connect their factories with Liverpool wearhouses. Wedgewood and other English potters had a large domestic market, but faced severe difficulties in shipping raw marials to their factories and the finished product to markets. The raw materials Wedgewood needed were flint, clay, and china stone. They had to be brought by ship from the southern coast to Liverpool, then bardged up the Mersey River, and finally brought by pack horse over primitive roads to the potteries. The cost was astronomical. Transportation for the delicate finished pottery and porcelin was even more of a problem. One contemporary observer described the roads as, "narrow, deep, circuitous, miry, and inconvient." James Briedly also constructed Wedgewood's canal. It took 11 years and evetually reached 93 miles, becoming known as the Trent & Mersey Canal. It was opened in 1777. [Hornik, pp. 53-54.]

Connections

and its success inspired many other canal projects. The English canals were local projects. Tolls houses along the cans collected fees based on tons per mile. There was a variety of gagues on these many local canals which as canal construction continued were gradually connected. Eventually it waspossible to travel throughout the English Midlands by canal.

Canal Boat Life

Life on the canal boats were very differnt than life at sea. The principal difference was that boat operators bought their families with them, both wives and children. The boats became floating homes and the women would decorate them like homes, often complete with rose gardens. Communities developed on the canals separated from "mainland" life. Children as the boats were always on the move could not attend schools. Boys followed their fathers as boat operators. Thus the canal community became a closed isolated one, clinging to dated clothing, language, and values. With the coming of the railroads in the early 19th century, the economic importance of the canals began to decline. Canal boat people began to be viewed by Victorian society as backwatd and ignorant, frougt with drunks and violent people. One estimated suggested that in the mid-19th century over 100,000 people lived on the canals in a state of "wrechetness". [Hornik, p 58.]

Economic Importance

High value items could economically be transported over long distances, even at great cost. What the canals made possible was to transport relatively low value commodities like coal and other raw materials as well as agricultural products like grain. The canals thus stimulated economic activity by opening new markets.

Modern Canals

English canals have been largely displaced as freight movers by the railroads and trucks (lorries). They still exist and are maintained. Increasingly they are being used for pleasure trips. You can rent nicely equipped barges for leisurely trips throughout England as these Cubs are doing in 1989 (figure 1). Canal holidays are very popular in the UK, where the extensive canal network was built during the Industrial Revolution to transport goods from factories to ports. They fell into disuse when the railways became the quicker means of transport. For several years now British Waterways has been opening up the network allowing extensive travel for holiday makers. Along the canals are many engineering feats. Long tunnels where the former boatmen had to lie on their backs and push the barges along with their feet, gainast the tunnel roof. The barges had no power, being pulled by horses along the tow paths. There were no tow paths in the tunnels. In other cases where the ground rose steeply there would be staircases of locks, where the boats had to negotiate as many as eight or nine locks in succession. A reader tells us, "I and my family enjoyed a great trip from Bingley in Yorkshire over the Pennines, the ridge of hills down the spine of England. It was an amazing trip where on occasions we were several hundred feet above the valleys below. We had another trip from near Oxford to Worcester." Pubs are located all along the canal. Many were alredy close, all they had to do was open up a back door. You can go almost anywhere by canal. There is even an important canal spot at Regent's Park where londoners can begin their canal adventures.

Sources

Hornik, Susan. "A float with fly boats & leggers," Smithsonian, June 2000, pp. 50-58.






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Created: June 18, 2003
Last updated: 10:31 PM 1/23/2011