Navigations
Over 200 years ago materials like coal, wood and cotton were transported from place to place on horse drawn wagons. This was slow and expensive and the horse was not able to carry very much, about 2 tonnes and as industry grew people needed better transport.
Water had been used for hundreds of years to carry goods and people, but the rivers were unreliable and suffered from flooding and drought. To overcome this problem navigations, stretches of water which were wide, deep or safe enough to travel through, were produced. Rivers were straightened and deepened, walls were constructed and canals built by men digging out large tunnels and lining them with clay. A network of canals was completed all over the country connecting many cities and towns and improving transport for industry so that large loads could be carried over long distances. From 1760 - 1870 there were 4,250 miles of waterways carrying goods around Britain.
Between 1750 - 1850 goods were carried around on long, thin boats, called narrowboats, which were pulled by horses. Horses could tow laden boats at about 3 km/hour pulling up to 25 tonnes. Goods could be now be taken between London and Birmingham in one week. By mid 1800s steam engines were invented and boats could work longer hours and move faster, travelling from London to Birmingham would only take two days and two hours! From the 1900s diesel engines were introduced and the narrowboats could pull behind them a second boat that had no engine called a 'butty'.
The boatmen and boat companies were very successful until the 1840s when a new form of transport was invented, the railways. These brought competition to the boatmen because they were faster and more reliable. This competition forced the boatmen to take a cut in their wages which meant they could no longer afford to own houses on the land. The boatmen were forced to bring their families to live and work on the boats. The canal families lived in a small skilfully built cabin on the narrowboat. This small space became their kitchen, bedroom and living room. The cabin was filled with lace and highly decorated with beautiful and colourful designs, called roses and castles, these were used to cover their boat and belongings. The boat people became a community with their own clothes, traditions and way of life which continued into the 1960s, but eventually competition from road transport; new motorways and harsh winters, causing boats to be grounded by ice, caused many of the families to give up.
Today few people, unless they enjoy the life, carry goods by canal. The canals are mainly used for leisure e.g. walking and fishing, trips or holidays and many narrowboats have been converted into living space for holidays or as homes.
Canals are also very important places for wildlife, providing many different habitats for a wide variety of plants and animals. On a 50km stretch of canal there can be found up to 100 birds, over400 types of flowering plants and an assortment of minibeasts including 20 types of butterfly. The canals can often provide a safe environment in rural and urban areas and are very important in conservation being home to a variety of rare or endangered species e.g. bats.
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