The Story of the Canals PartⅠ: Narrow Canals

摘要

Derek Pratt looks at the waterways that started the Canal Restoration in this country, and are still in use today,whose common feature is locks that were designed for boats that were 7ft wide Narrow Canals are among the most popular of today's cruising waterways. Many of them follow gentle winding courses across the landscape and are among the country's oldest canals. Their origins go back to the mid 18th Century when Britain changed from an agricultural based economy to an industrialised one. At that time waterborne transport was confined to those major rivers that served ports, but industry was developing in areas such as Birmingham and Stoke. In these places, raw materials, usually required in bulk, could only be brought in by packhorse over appalling roads that often had not improved since Roman times.