Total length of network

[jaime66]

Was just thinking at the hight of the canal heyday what was the total length of the network ???

[Higgs]

1 hour ago, jaime66 said:

Was just thinking at the hight of the canal heyday what was the total length of the network ???

 

I have vague recollections of 2,000 miles, but I really couldn't say for sure. 

 

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, jaime66 said:

Was just thinking at the hight of the canal heyday what was the total length of the network ???

Interesting question.

 

Thing is it was always growing but then other bits contracted/closed sometimes while other bits opened.

 

As Higgs suggests 2000 miles is often quoted but I think that  might be now.

Edited January 3, 2021 by The Happy Nomad

[GUMPY]

Longer than it is now 

I believe the 2000miles is as it is today.

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Canal_System_of_England/The_Canal_System_of_England

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by ditchcrawler

[GUMPY]

 

29 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

What happened in the beginning of the 1990s 

 

 

Its behind a sign on so I dont know!

[Badger B]

There's a nice tiime-lapse map here

https://canalrivertrust.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=bc85e84c7069427ca87174490b03a08d

 

[ditchcrawler]

13 minutes ago, Loddon said:

 

 

 

Its behind a sign on so I dont know!

Same here now so I removed the link

[booke23]

59 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Canal_System_of_England/The_Canal_System_of_England

 

^^This.

 

When reading about canal history, the standard figure that always crops up is about 4000 miles........roughly double the current navigable network.

[Richard Fairhurst]

This is probably the best study I've seen:

 

https://www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/transport/onlineatlas/

and in particular

https://www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/transport/onlineatlas/waterways.pdf

 

It says 4000 miles by 1835 (i.e. B&LJ main line open). That's for England & Wales, not Scotland. Later on it cites 4060 miles for 1906 (from parliamentary papers). There'd been a few openings in the intervening period (MSC, New Junction, Slough Arm, Droitwich Junction) but numerous closures, too. Ultimately it's an imperfect art - how much of an unimproved river do you declare as "navigable" if, say, there was some local punt traffic?

Edited January 3, 2021 by Richard Fairhurst

[doratheexplorer]

12 hours ago, Badger B said:

There's a nice tiime-lapse map here

https://canalrivertrust.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=bc85e84c7069427ca87174490b03a08d

 

I had a quick glance at this and it's completely wrong.  It's showing the Shroppie as complete by 1769.  None of it was open by then and it wasn't finished until 1835.  So I doubt the accuracy of the rest of it.

[Pluto]

How much detail do you need. I did a report for BW in 2000 to look at the overall length of the canal system from 1700, with the possible length post 2000 as proposed restorations came on-line. The overview graph is below, together with an outline of the length at 10 year intervals.  

[TheBiscuits]

8 hours ago, Pluto said:

the possible length post 2000 as proposed restorations came on-line.

 

Do you have more detail on the projected increase of nearly 1000 miles post 1999, Mike?

 

Apologies if you don't have the figures handy, but that seems to be quite a lot of canal to me.

 

Do you know how many of the projected 500+ miles opened between 2000 and 2019?

 

 

 

 

[Pluto]

This is the list I used, with possible dates for completion. There was much more money floating around then for canal restoration!

[Heartland]

It will be of interest to seen how the Bradley Canal restoration in the West Midlands proceeds.

[ditchcrawler]

9 minutes ago, Heartland said:

It will be of interest to seen how the Bradley Canal restoration in the West Midlands proceeds.

This is their web site if anyone is interested in supporting it  https://www.bradleycanal.co.uk/