Canals

Example screen from the Interactive Canal Journey

The Romans had them.  The Chinese had them.  The Egyptians had one that linked the Nile to the Red Sea - Canals.  The famous Languedoc Canal, which linked the Atlantic with the Mediterranean across the south of France was commenced in 1666. The Exeter Canal in England had been built 100 years earlier in 1566.  It was the combination of canals with the Industrial Revolution though that transformed the economy of Britain and set the whole world along the path to consumerism and globalisation.

The silver threads that gleamed across the landscape of industrial Lancashire and Yorkshire brought coal and building materials to the burgeoning textile industries and carried finished goods out to Liverpool and Hull and the world beyond. The men and women who worked the canals developed a distinctive culture and way of life of their own. Step aboard a typical canal boat of the time and catch a glimpse of a way of life now gone for ever.

Click here to jump on board!

Please Note: The file is large in size and could take a short amount of time to load.

In order for you to use this interactive journey, it may be necessary to install some software onto your computer but this will be done automatically and should only take a few seconds.

Alternatively click here to view the non-interactive version of the canal journey.

Example screens from the Interactive Canal Journey