The Anatomy of Canals – Decline and Renewal
£9.95
This book is out of print. The copies available are second hand, in near-as-new or very good condition.
The final volume in the Anatomy of Canals series brings the story right up to date. Canal Mania hit Britain in the 1790s; when it subsided canal construction still carried on, but under the shadow of a new threat, as the first locomotives puffed their way onto the transport scene. Engineers rose to the challenge by building ever more direct routes, with deep cuttings and high embankments. This was also an age of experiment, with devices such as boat lifts, culminating in the famous Anderton Boat Lift, now restored to working order.
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Competition from railways, and later roads, forced many canals into closure, and a large section of the old system seemed doomed to crumble away into terminal decay. Then came a new industry: the canal leisure industry, and with it the birth of the restoration movement.
This volume looks at what has been achieved and how the new companies compare with the old. Cities such as Birmingham, which formerly seemed to regard canals as supermarket trolley parks, have now been won over and have made the old canals part of the lively rejuvenation programme, while a new generation of engineers has produced such marvels as the Falkirk Wheel.
Author: Anthony Burton
Binding: Softback
Published: August 2003
Pages: 160
Size: 248 x 175 mm
ISBN: 0752428101
Publisher’s Price (in 2006): £16.99
