Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
From industrial revolution's lifelines to spaces of leisure
JOHN GREEN looks at the Britain’s canal network, its historical arteries
Pontcysyllte in Wales was constructed using cast iron water troughs [Adrian Pingstone/CC]

ENGLAND has one of the largest canal networks in the world. Wales and Scotland also have canals but only a few. Today, our 2,000 miles of canals and rivers flow through cities, past homes, alongside offices and into the countryside, bringing leisure opportunities to millions.

From boating, fishing, walking and cycling, they offer a range of activities. Their history, however, reveals a very different function.

Most of our canals were built 200 years ago, but their history dates back to the Romans who built our oldest canal, the Fossdyke Navigation.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Erhai lake
Climate Crisis / 9 October 2025
9 October 2025

One of the major criticisms of China’s breakneck development in recent decades has been the impact on nature — returning after 15 years away, BEN CHACKO assessed whether the government’s recent turn to environmentalism has yielded results

Locomotion
Features / 27 September 2025
27 September 2025

Two-hundred years ago, on September 27 1825, the world’s first passenger railway line was opened between Stockton and Darlington. MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, reflects on the history – and the future – of Britain’s railway industry

MORE THAN A WATERWAY: The Agua Clara (Clear Water) locks on
Science and Society / 12 March 2025
12 March 2025
Man-made canals like Panama and Suez face unprecedented challenges from extreme weather patterns and geopolitical tensions that reveal the fragility of our global trade networks, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
People walk along the Basingstoke Canal near to Dogmersfield
Britain / 5 January 2025
5 January 2025