Canals and Canal Carriers

Blisworth Boatyard

The History of the Canal Network

The canal network started to appear in the 18th century, in the days before the railways the canals were used to carry goods, people and documents around the country. The network continued to expand and linked the major industrial areas of the country together.

As the forerunner to the railways and motorways of recent times, the canals provided employment for many people, the men who built the canals (called navvies, as the canals were referred to as navigations) would often find employment on the canal when construction was complete. Whole families would live and work on canal boats and raise several generations whilst living afloat. Many children were born on the boats so don't be suprised to see a boat name on a birth certificate.

By the 1850's the railways started to take more and more business from the canal companies, the ability to move goods and people far more quickly allowed the railways to expand at the expense of the canal owners. The situation continued until in the 1940's water carrying became nationalised, British Waterways took responsibility for operating boats and set about changing the appearance of boats forever. Gone were the highly decorated boats of yesteryear to be replaced by the blue and yellow livery of BW. The 1970's saw what was in effect the end of canal transport, the canals (now in need of major investment) could not compete with road and rail competitors and commercial water transport had all but stopped.

Useful Links for Boats, Historic Records and Genealogy Forums

Historic Narrow Boat Owners Club contains a gallery of pictures and information about surviving boats, with detailed information about each boat the site is well worth a visit.

Virtual Waterways is the online catalogue of the British Waterways Archives, many historic records are held throughout the country and the site can help find the location of records.

Rootsweb Canal Pages links people with geneaology questions and information, not the busiest rootsweb page but worth a visit.

Jim Shead Waterways Site (Recommended) a HUGE site with photo galleries, glossary of terms, maps and useful book listings. Descriptions of the types of narrowboat is a very comprehensive guide.

The People of The Canals is an interesting description of life afloat.

UK Canal History describes the heyday of the canal network and the industry of the country.

Canals of England

Canals of England is a comprehensive list of the canals (in excess of 100 past and present waterways) throughout England.

Boatpeople of the Wolverhampton Canal System

Blisworth Images

Canals of Wales

Canals of Wales giving information for the Welsh canal navigations and links to some of the major engineering feats needed to allow canals to be built throughout Wales

Canals of Scotland

Canals of Scotland gives detailed information about the Scottish canal network.
Canal Company Records lists the records held by the National Archives of Scotland.

Canal Carrying Companies

Many of the carriers were quite large companies with large fleets of boats, although online information about many of the companies and boats is sparse these links can prove useful to researchers;