The Coventry

摘要

Early canal engineer James Brindley's vision was of a Grand Cross of waterways that linked the rivers Trent, Mersey, Severn and Thames. The Coventry Canal was at the heart of the scheme, connecting the Trent & Mersey at Fradley to the Oxford Canal at Hawkesbury, then continuing into the centre of Coventry. Its junctions with these other canals and its route through the North Warwickshire coalfield made it a very successful waterway. With only 13 locks in its 38-mile length, all but two of them bunched together in one flight, no tunnels and just one aqueduct, maintenance costs must have been kept to a minimum in its working heyday. Small wonder that it was a prosperous concern.