The Seven Wonders of the Waterways is a list of landmarks on the navigable waterways of the United Kingdom. The list was originally compiled in 1946 [1] by Robert Aickman, co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), at a time when the waterways network was largely derelict. [2] Today, the Canal & River Trust—formerly British Waterways—has jurisdiction over (and responsibility for) all of the sites except for the Barton Swing Aqueduct, which is owned and operated by the Bridgewater Canal Company. [3]
In 1946, the Inland Waterways Association was formed to campaign for the conservation of navigable waterways in the United Kingdom. [4] Robert Aickman, one of the co-founders of the association, proposed the list in his book Know Your Waterways as a method of highlighting significant feats of engineering on the canal network, as well as bringing attention to those at risk of becoming derelict. [5] [6] At the time of the list's publication, six of the locations were navigable. The London Midland and Scottish Railway Company Act of 1944 formally closed the Llangollen Canal, although the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct remained in use as a water feeder for the wider Shropshire Union Canal network. Aickman successfully passed through the Standedge Tunnel in Yorkshire with L. T. C. Rolt in 1948, at a time when it was closed to all other traffic and awaiting restoration from its state of disrepair. [7] The Caen Hill Locks in Wiltshire became derelict shortly after the list's publication, with the last boat passage before restoration occurring in 1948. [8] The Anderton Boat Lift only became inoperational for a sixteen-year period beginning in the 1980s, [9] and the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the Bingley Five Rise Locks, and the Burnley Embankment have always—except for general maintenance—been navigable.
The original list comprises two aqueducts, two lock systems, one tunnel, one boat lift and one embankment. All but two of the sites date from around the Canal Mania period:
A number of other canal locations have been proposed to expand or amend the list. In 2002, British Waterways published an alternative list based on the results of a poll, which removed the Burnley Embankment and the Barton Swing Aqueduct. This list saw the first inclusion of a Scottish location, the Falkirk Wheel: [23]
Name | Type | Waterway | Principal engineer(s) | Location | Opened | Heritage | Coordinates | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Falkirk Wheel | Boat lift | Forth and Clyde Canal/Union Canal | Tony Kettle (design) BWB/Arup/Butterley/RMJM | Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland | 24 May 2002 | 56°00′01″N3°50′30″W / 56.000278°N 3.841667°W | ||
Sapperton Tunnel | Canal tunnel | Thames and Severn Canal | Robert Whitworth Josiah Clowes | Sapperton, Gloucestershire, England | 20 April 1789 | Grade II listed (north portal) [24] Grade II* listed (south portal) [25] | 51°42′58″N2°04′00″W / 51.7162°N 2.0666°W |
A list published by canal multimedia production company Videoactive proposed the "New Seven Wonders of the Waterways", replacing the Caen Hill Locks, Standedge Tunnel and Burnley Embankment and introducing the only non-navigable location: [1] [23]
Name | Type | Waterway | Principal engineer(s) | Location | Opened | Heritage | Coordinates | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Foxton Inclined Plane | Inclined plane | Grand Union Canal | Gordon Cale Thomas (design) | Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England | 1900 | Scheduled Monument [26] | 52°29′59″N0°58′59″W / 52.4998°N 0.983°W | |
Harecastle Tunnel | Canal tunnel | Trent and Mersey Canal | Thomas Telford | Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England | 30 April 1827 | Grade II listed (both portals) [27] [28] | 53°04′27″N2°14′11″W / 53.074167°N 2.236389°W | |
Crofton Pumping Station | Pumping station | Kennet and Avon Canal | John Rennie | Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England | 1809 | Grade I listed [29] | 51°21′30″N1°37′30″W / 51.35827°N 1.62511°W |
In 2015, the Canal & River Trust ran a competition to establish the Lost Wonders of the Waterways World. [30] The resultant list highlighted three locations where navigation has been impossible for decades: [31]
Name | Type | Waterway | Principal engineer(s) | Location | Derelict | Heritage | Coordinates | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Horse Park Bridge | Accommodation bridge and canal bed | Lancaster Canal | John Rennie | Sedgwick, Cumbria, England | 1944 | Grade II listed [32] | 54°16′53″N2°44′48″W / 54.281285°N 2.746755°W | |
Combe Hay Locks | Lock flight | Somerset Coal Canal | William Bennet | Combe Hay, Somerset, England | 1898 | Grade II listed [33] | 51°20′38″N2°22′08″W / 51.343878°N 2.368865°W | |
Walbut Lock | Lock | Pocklington Canal | George Leather | Thornton, East Riding of Yorkshire, England | 1932 | Grade II listed [34] | 53°53′17″N0°49′39″W / 53.888043°N 0.827573°W |
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of 87 miles (140 km), made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section. From Bristol to Bath the waterway follows the natural course of the River Avon before the canal links it to the River Kennet at Newbury, and from there to Reading on the River Thames. In all, the waterway incorporates 105 locks.
The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a canal route from Bristol to London. At its eastern end, it connects to the River Thames at Inglesham Lock near Lechlade, while at its western end, it connects to the Stroudwater Navigation at Wallbridge near Stroud, and thence to the River Severn. It has one short arm (branch), from Siddington to the town of Cirencester. It includes Sapperton Tunnel, which when built was the longest canal tunnel in Britain, and remains the second-longest complete tunnel. There were always problems with water supply, as no reservoirs were built, while the summit section near the tunnel ran through porous limestone, and there were constant difficulties with leakage. Competition from the railways took much of the canal's traffic by the end of the 19th century, and most of the canal was abandoned in 1927, the remainder in 1941.
The Trent and Mersey Canal is a 93+1⁄2-mile (150 km) canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middlewich, it is a wide canal.
The canal network of the United Kingdom played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution. The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network which, at its peak, expanded to nearly 4,000 miles in length. The canals allowed raw materials to be transported to a place of manufacture, and finished goods to be transported to consumers, more quickly and cheaply than by a land based route. The canal network was extensive and included feats of civil engineering such as the Anderton Boat Lift, the Manchester Ship Canal, the Worsley Navigable Levels and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
The Llangollen Canal is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire. The name, which was coined in the 1980s, is a modern designation for parts of the historic Ellesmere Canal and the Llangollen navigable feeder, both of which became part of the Shropshire Union Canals in 1846.
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales.
Horseshoe Falls is a weir on the River Dee near Llantysilio Hall in Denbighshire, Wales, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) north-west of the town of Llangollen.
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is an inland waterway in northern England. It runs just under 20 miles (32 km) from Lock 1E at the rear of the University of Huddersfield campus, near Aspley Basin in Huddersfield, to the junction with the Ashton Canal at Whitelands Basin in Ashton-under-Lyne. It crosses the Pennines by means of 74 locks and the Standedge Tunnel.
The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role of recreational boating. Despite a period of abandonment, today the canal system in the United Kingdom is again increasing in use, with abandoned and derelict canals being reopened, and the construction of some new routes. Canals in England and Wales are maintained by navigation authorities. The biggest navigation authorities are the Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency, but other canals are managed by companies, local authorities or charitable trusts.
The Huddersfield Broad Canal or Sir John Ramsden's Canal, is a wide-locked navigable canal in West Yorkshire in northern England. The waterway is 3.75 miles (6 km) long and has 9 wide locks. It follows the valley of the River Colne and connects the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Cooper Bridge junction with the Huddersfield Narrow Canal near Aspley Basin in Huddersfield.
The Shrewsbury Canal was a canal in Shropshire, England. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 1835, when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal built the Newport Branch from Norbury Junction to a new junction with the Shrewsbury Canal at Wappenshall. After ownership passed to a series of railway companies, the canal was officially abandoned in 1944; many sections have disappeared, though some bridges and other structures can still be found. There is an active campaign to preserve the remnants of the canal and to restore the Norbury to Shrewsbury line to navigation.
The Foulridge Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Foulridge, Lancashire. Also known as the Mile Tunnel, Foulridge is 1,630 yards long and was built by Samuel Fletcher, following Robert Whitworth's 1789 survey. The tunnel is the longest in the country to allow passage of canoes and kayaks.
Navigable aqueducts are bridge structures that carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railways or roads. They are primarily distinguished by their size, carrying a larger cross-section of water than most water-supply aqueducts. Roman aqueducts were used to transport water and were created in Ancient Rome. The 662-metre (2,172 ft) long steel Briare aqueduct carrying the Canal latéral à la Loire over the River Loire was built in 1896. It was ranked as the longest navigable aqueduct in the world for more than a century, until the Magdeburg Water Bridge in Germany took the title in the early 21st century.
The Sapperton Canal Tunnel is a tunnel on the Thames and Severn Canal near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. With a length of 3,817 yards (3,490 m), it was the longest tunnel of any kind in England from 1789 to 1811.
Caen Hill Locks are a flight of 29 locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal, between Rowde and Devizes in Wiltshire, England.
Dukinfield Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Peak Forest Canal, the Ashton Canal and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal meet near Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. The area has been designated by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council as a conservation area.
A canal tunnel is a tunnel for a canal. The building of a canal tunnel is crucial to help a waterway that is normally used for shipping cross a difficult section of terrain. They are also constructed to reduce the dependency on canal locks.
The Cotswold Canals Trust is a British registered charity that aims to protect and restore the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal. Formed in 1972, the organisation has a goal to restore navigability on the two waterways between Saul Junction to the River Thames. Since then, it has overseen restoration of the waterways, with many bridges, locks, and cuttings being rebuilt and reinstated.
The Burnley Embankment is an embankment carrying the Leeds and Liverpool Canal across the Calder and Brun valleys in Burnley, Lancashire. Also known as the Straight Mile, the embankment is 1,256 yards long and the canal runs up to 60 feet (18 m) above the valley floor. The structure was chosen as one of the original Seven Wonders of the Waterways, and has been awarded a Red Wheel by the Transport Trust.