British%20Canal%20Systems

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British Canal Systems

• Holzmann Mummert

http//www.wordiq.com/definition/History_of_the_Br
itish_canal_system
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Übersicht

• 1 Early history
• 2 Industrial Revolution
• 3 Geography of the Canal System
• 4 Gradual decline of the BCS
• 5 The canals today

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1 Early history

• First canals were built in Roman times.

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1 Early history
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1 Early history

• Often as irrigation canals.

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1 Early history

• Often as irrigation canals.

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1 Early history

• Or short connecting spurs between navigable
  rivers, ports, sea...

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1 Early history

• Or short connecting spurs between navigable
  rivers, ports, sea...

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2 Industrial Revolution

• The modern canal system was largely a product of
  the 18th century and early 19th century.

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2 Industrial Revolution

• Economic and reliable way to transport goods and
  commodities in large quantities

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2 Industrial Revolution

• The transport system which existed before the
  canals are only mud roads. (Tollpike)

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2 Industrial Revolution

• 1760s 3rd Earl of Bridgewater

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2 Industrial Revolution

• The boats on the canal were horse drawn with a
  specially constructed "towpath.

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2 Industrial Revolution
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2 Industrial Revolution

• The canal boats could carry 30 tons at a time
  with only one horse pulling

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2 Industrial Revolution

• An embryonic national canal network.

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2 Industrial Revolution

• The early canals were built to a narrow width.

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2 Industrial Revolution

• By the mid 20th century it was no longer possible
  to work a 30 tonne load economically.

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2 Industrial Revolution

• The period between the 1770s and the 1830s is
  often referred to as the "Golden Age" of the BCS.

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3 Geography System

• Brindley had believed it would be possible to use
  canals to link the four great rivers of England
  the Mersey, Trent, Severn and Thames.

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3 Geography System
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3 Geography System

• The bulk of the canal system was built in the
  Midlands and the north of England, with
  relatively few canals being built in southern
  England or London (the Grand Union Canal being an
  exception). This was because the economies of
  cities like Birmingham and Manchester were based
  upon manufacturing, and needed a dense transport
  system, to connect various factories and mines
  etc, Birmingham for example has a greater density
  of canals that Venice. Whereas London was
  primarily a port, and only needed canals to take
  goods in and out from sea going ships, and needed
  little internal transport.

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3 Geography System

• A few self contained canals, which weren't
  connected to the national system were built in
  the South West of England, such as the Bude
  Canal. And the same was true for south Wales.
• No canal was ever built connecting England and
  Scotland. But in Scotland the Forth and Clyde
  Canal and the Union Canal, connected Scotland's
  major cities in the industrial central belt.

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3 Geography System
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4 Gradual decline of the BCS

• The railways for the first time presented a real
  threat to the canals.

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4 Gradual decline of the BCS

• Boat owners taking their families with them on
  the boats to live there.

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4 Gradual decline of the BCS

• Canal vs. railway.

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4 Gradual decline of the BCS

• The railway system had become well established
  and the amount of cargo carried...

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4 Gradual decline of the BCS

• In Europe the canal systems of many countries
  were drastically modernised and widened to take
  much larger boats.

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4 Gradual decline of the BCS

• Most of the canal companies were nationalised in
  1948 and, along with all of Britain's inland
  waterways, became run by British Waterways.

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5 The canals today

• Fortunately during the 1960s the canals found a
  new use.

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5 The canals today

• Locks

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5 The canals today

• Locks

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5 The canals today
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5 The canals today
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5 The canals today
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5 The canals today

• Bridges

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5 The canals today
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5 The canals today
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5 The canals today

• Narrowboats

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5 The canals today
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The end