The 'Father of British Waterways' , Brindley was
responsible for the construction of over 4,000 miles of canals.
Check out this book
Canal Architecture
Peter L. Smith
0 7478 0169 X (Album 158) 32 pp, 42
ills.
In recent years there has been a growing appreciation
of our long-neglected canals and their architecture. The bridges and buildings
of the navigation companies, the impressive aqueducts and the ingenious
systems of locks are all worthy of study by industrial archaeologists and
waterway enthusiasts alike, for they are both a link with the past and a
part of today's landscape. This book describes and illustrates these permanent
reminders of the canal age and gives details about the different types of
stone and brickworked as well as particular designs, building practices
and finishes. It provides the reader with the basis for a fascinating interest
and will make the exploration of waterways all the more enjoyable.
The late Peter L. Smith was a civil engineer before
he became professionally involved with canals and waterways. He was a founder
member of the Barge and Canal Development Association and was the founder
the first specialist canal museum in the north of England, acclaimed for
its excellence.
The canals of England and Wales are some two hundred
years old. They revolutionised the transport of goods before being largely
superseded by the faster railways. However, the boaters who lived and worked
on the narrowboats of these canals were, like the rest of mankind, people
who tried to make their homes as comfortable and decorative as they could.
The boat cabins were small but were bright with paint, and the 'roses and
castles' decorations of the canal boats are a true English folk art. The
boatwomen, like many other working-class women, were competent at needlework,
embroidery and crochet and used all of these to embellish their families'
clothes and surroundings. This book reflects the author's continuing interest
in the life of the boaters on the canals and includes her researches into
handicrafts of the boatwomen and their families.
0 85263 878 7 (History in Camera 9)
88 pp, 113 ills.
Many of the canals and waterways of Britain that are still navigable
now carry more boats and traffic in the form of pleasure boating than ever
they did in the heyday of commercial trading. This book, illustrated with
archival photographs, traces the history of these artificial waterways,
from their early days through to the decline of commercial traffic in the
1950s. It covers the building of canals, the structures that make them work,
their maintenance and the boats that travelled on them. The cargoes carried
are given prominence, as are the 'people of the cut'. The last chapter shows
the canals in decline, giving some of the reasons for the closure of many
of Britain's waterways, and describing why pleasure boating has now taken
over.
Michael Ware became interested in canals in 1963. With a background of
professional photography and working in a museum, it was almost natural
that this enthusiasm should result in him collecting historic canal photographs,
building up one of the largest private collections in Britain, which has
now been passed on to the Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port. He is the Curator
of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
Discovering Canals
in Britain £4.50
Peter L. Smith
0 7478 0204 1 (Db 257) 112 pp, 59 ills.
This book deals with the history of canals from
the improvement of the early river navigations, the canal age, their decline
of canals, their changing role and current use. Special topics, such as
water supply, are described, with details of engineering achievements including
tunnels, aqueducts and buildings, as well as locks, their use and how to
operate them. The traditional working boats, from sailing barges and decorated
narrowboats to motor barges, are described with particulars of their development.
The commercial scene is brought up to date with details of 'push' tugs and
compartment boats.
The late Peter L. Smith wrote many books and articles about canals and
campaigned to prevent their closure. He also wrote Canal Barges and Narrow
Boats and Canal Architecture for the Shire list.
Discovering Craft
of the Inland Waterways
£3.95
D. J. Smith
0 85263 890 6 (Db 227) 88 pp, 74 ills.
This book is a survey of the many types of craft that have been used
on Britain's canals, rivers, estuaries and lakes from the primitive rafts
and dugouts of early man to the modern compartment boats that can be conveyed
overseas aboard large ships. In between is a rich variety of craft, including
the coracles of Welsh rivers, racing eights, Thames sailing barges and their
counterparts on other rivers, canal narrowboats, the Clyde puffers, ferries,
fishing boats, service and pleasure craft and all manner of boats for manifold
purposes, powered by sail, oar, horse, steam or motor.
Thomas Telford £3.50
Rhoda M. Pearce
0 85263 410 2 (LL 10) 48 pp, 26 ills.
Thomas Telford's genius is reflected in the variety and great technical
skill of his achievements, most of which are still in use today. The 'colossus
of roads', as Southey called him, built or improved hundreds of miles of
durable, fast roads in Scotland, Wales and England. His Menai bridge and
others show tremendous skill, achieving results in design and durability
which are unsurpassed today even with modern construction tools and methods.
It is perhaps Telford's work on canals in Britain which attracts most attention
now: the Ellesmere Canal with its magnificent aqueducts at Pontcysyllte
and Chirk; the Caledonian, cutting its way through the Great Glen in Scotland;
and his last canal, built along more modern lines to try to compete with
the railways, the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction. Telford's appointment
as first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers showed that his
generation recognised him as the real founder of his profession, and perhaps
the naming of Telford New Town after him is an indication that his great
contribution to civil engineering is being recognised in our times.
Rhoda M. Pearce has edited an archive teaching unit on Thomas Telford
and a documentary source book, Canals, for use in schools.