The Anatomy of Canals – Decline & Renewal

The earlier volumes charted the rise of Britain’s canal network as it grew feverishly in accompaniment of the Industrial Revolution and looked at the canals as they were originally built, reflecting on the work of engineers and architects more than two centuries ago.

Decline & Renewal begins with the building of the final generation of canals after the frenzy had peaked, which coincided with the first considerations of the need to restore earlier works to the 19th Century’s higher standards. This final tranche of building and restoration works was being undertaken as the entire system was being undermined by the simultaneous arrival of the steam locomotive.

An even more severe blow for commercial activity on the canals was delivered by the arrival of the internal combustion engine and the subsequent 20th Century explosion of the roads network. Commercial carrying on the canals never died completely but by the middle of the last century it was only a small fraction of what it had been at its peak. Canals fell into disrepair and some sections were closed as much of the commercial activity along their banks died away or moved elsewhere.

All was not lost, however, as the second half of the last century has seen a massive resurgence in canal traffic by way of leisure usage, a process that has led to major changes in the visual environment of the canals. Those who travel for pleasure often do so because they appreciate the historical context and take pleasure in the very special nature of waterways designed to meet the transport needs of the Industrial Revolution.

This book explores the challenge set by the need to make a system built for 18th Century trade work for a 21st Century leisure industry which the great canal builders such as Brindley, Jessop and Telford could not have imagined.

Anthony Burton’s text brings the reader right up to date with the arrival of the first new canals in over 100 years and photographer Derek Pratt contributes an abundance of evocative and sometimes striking photographs, most notably in a colour section where images such as the futuristic Falkirk Wheel are juxtaposed with those of technological remnants from the earlier golden age.

The Anatomy of Canals – Decline & Renewal
By Anthony Burton & Derek Pratt
Published by Tempus Publishing
ISBN 0 7524 2810 1.
Paperback, 159 pages.
Price £16.99