Eighth revised edition, of the history of the canal in Britain and Ireland, discussing its emergence from the industrial revolution through to its use today for pleasure boating.

The first edition of British Canals was published in 1950 and was much admired as a pioneering work in transport history. Joseph Boughey, with the advice of Charles Hadfield, has previously revised and updated the perennially popular material to reflect more recent changes. For this ninth edition, Joseph Boughey discusses the many new discoveries and advances in the world of canals around Britain, inevitably focussing on the twentieth century to a far greater extent than in any previous edition of this book, while still within the context of Hadfield's original work.

An accessible introduction to Britain's Canals and why they are so important today as a leisure pursuit.

In the early years of the Industrial Revolution, canals formed the arteries of Britain. Most waterways were local concerns, carrying cargoes over short distances and fitted into regional groups with their own boat types linked to the major river estuaries. This new history of Britain's canals starts with the first Roman waterways, moving on to their golden age in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and ends with the present day, describing the rise and fall of canal building and use in the UK. It tells the story of the narrow boats and barges borne by the canals, and the boatmen who navigated them as well as the wider tale of waterway development through the progress of civil engineering. Replete with beautiful photographs, this a complete guide to some of the most accessible and beautiful pieces of Britain's heritage.

This history of the canals of Britain and Ireland is the definitive study of how canals emerged from the surge of energy, enterprise and technology of the eighteenth-century.

A resurgence in canal restoration has seen many English canals reopen in the past three decades, but many are still abandoned, some even vanished under roads, railways and buildings.

Highlighting long term themes in Britain's transport history, this book looks at the dilemmas facing modern society and suggests several possible solutions. It covers all the major forms of transport, from the horse to the aeroplane, setting them in their historical context.