In Europe and then in the young United States, inland canals preceded the development of railroads during the earliest phase of the Industrial Revolution; some canals were later drained and used as railroad rights-of-way. Navigable canals reached into previously isolated areas and brought them in touch with the world economy. The Erie Canal, for instance, opened up a connection from the populated Northeast to the fertile Great Plains. Competition from the railroad network made many canals obsolete for comme ...

See also:

Canal, Canal - Ancient canals, Canal - Cities on water, Canal - Industrial revolution, Canal - Modern uses, Canal - Miscellaneous, Canal - Famous canals and lists

Read more here: » Canal: Encyclopedia II - Canal - Industrial revolution

See also:

Canal, Canal - Ancient canals, Canal - Cities on water, Canal - Industrial revolution, Canal - Modern uses, Canal - Miscellaneous, Canal - Famous canals and lists

Read more here: » Canal: Encyclopedia II - Canal - Industrial revolution

However, the modern canal system was largely a product of the 18th century and early 19th century. The modern British canal network came into being because the Industrial Revolution (which began in Britain during the mid-18th century) demanded an economic and reliable way to transport goods and commodities in large quantities. The transport system which existed before the canals were built consisted of either coastal shipping, or horses and carts struggling along mostly un-surfaced mud roads, (although there were some surfaced Turnpike roa ...

See also:

History of the British canal system, History of the British canal system - Early history, History of the British canal system - Industrial Revolution, History of the British canal system - Geography of the canal network, History of the British canal system - Operation of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - Gradual decline of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - The canals today

Read more here: » History of the British canal system: Encyclopedia II - History of the British canal system - Industrial Revolution

A movement that began in Britain and France to use the picturesque early industrial canals for pleasure boats has spurred rehabilitation of stretches of historic canals. Canals have found another use in the 21st century, as wayleaves for fibre optic telecommunications networks. ...

See also:

Canal, Canal - Ancient canals, Canal - Cities on water, Canal - Industrial revolution, Canal - Modern uses, Canal - Miscellaneous, Canal - Famous canals and lists

Read more here: » Canal: Encyclopedia II - Canal - Modern uses

Canals are man-made waterways, usually connecting existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. There are two main types of canal: irrigation canals for the delivery of water; transportation canals for passage of goods or people. Some rivers have also been 'canalised' to make them navigable. This article is about transportation canals. Smaller transportation canals may carry barges or narrowboats and usually serve inland destinations, while ship canals can accommodate sea-going ships and may connect one ocean to another. ...

Including:

Canal - Ancient canals Canal - Cities on water Canal - Industrial revolution Canal - Modern uses Canal - Miscellaneous Canal - Famous canals and lists

Read more here: » Canal: Encyclopedia - Canal

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Most barges are not self-propelled and need to be moved by tugboats towing or pushing them. Barges on canals (towed by draft animals on an adjacent towpath) contended with the railway in the early industrial revolution but were outcompeted in the carriage of high value items due to the higher speed, falling costs, and route flexibility of rail transport. Barges are still used today for low value bulk items, as the ...

Including:

Barge - Etymology

Read more here: » Barge: Encyclopedia - Barge

Canals are so deeply identified with Venice that many canal cities have been nicknamed "the Venice of..." The city is built on marshy islands, with wooden piles supporting the buildings, so that here it is not so much the waterways which are man-made, as the land. The islands have a long history of settlement, and by the 12th century Venice was a powerful city state. Amsterdam was built in a similar way, with buildings on wooden piles. The pace of draining of fenland and polder in the Low Countries quickened in the 14th century and canalization made the village of Amster ...

See also:

Canal, Canal - Ancient canals, Canal - Cities on water, Canal - Industrial revolution, Canal - Modern uses, Canal - Miscellaneous, Canal - Famous canals and lists

Read more here: » Canal: Encyclopedia II - Canal - Cities on water

Evidence suggests that the first British canals were built in Roman times, often as irrigation canals or short connecting spurs between navigable rivers, such as Foss Dyke. See Roman Britain. A few canals were constructed over the following centuries, such as the Exeter Canal which opened in the 16th century. ...

See also:

History of the British canal system, History of the British canal system - Early history, History of the British canal system - Industrial Revolution, History of the British canal system - Geography of the canal network, History of the British canal system - Operation of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - Gradual decline of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - The canals today

Read more here: » History of the British canal system: Encyclopedia II - History of the British canal system - Early history

From the 1830s, railways began to present a threat to canals, as they could not only carry more than the canals but could transport people and goods far more quickly than the walking pace of the canal boats. Most of the investment that had previously gone into canal building was diverted into railway building. Canal companies were unable to compete against the speed of the new railways, and in order to survive they had to slash their prices. This put an end to the huge profits that canal companies had enjoyed before the coming ...

See also:

History of the British canal system, History of the British canal system - Early history, History of the British canal system - Industrial Revolution, History of the British canal system - Geography of the canal network, History of the British canal system - Operation of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - Gradual decline of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - The canals today

Read more here: » History of the British canal system: Encyclopedia II - History of the British canal system - Gradual decline of the British canal network

On the majority of British canals the canal owners did not own or run the boats on them. Instead they charged various outside companies and intervals tolls to use the canal. From these tolls they would try with varying degrees of success to maintain the canal and payback initial loans. Day-to-day operation of the canals was done by lock keepers and the men responsible for collecting tolls. In winter special icebreaker boats with reinforced hulls would be used to break the ice. The boats used on canals were a mixed bunch including flye ...

See also:

History of the British canal system, History of the British canal system - Early history, History of the British canal system - Industrial Revolution, History of the British canal system - Geography of the canal network, History of the British canal system - Operation of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - Gradual decline of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - The canals today

Read more here: » History of the British canal system: Encyclopedia II - History of the British canal system - Operation of the British canal network

Fortunately during the 1960s the canals found a new use as a leisure facility (championed by the Inland Waterways Association and pioneers such as L. T. C. Rolt), with a new industry of holiday boating growing rapidly. This ensured the survival of the canal system to this day. Since the 1960s many hundreds of miles of abandoned canal have been restored. In recent years due to concerns about congestion and pollution, interest in the canals for freight carrying has been ...

See also:

History of the British canal system, History of the British canal system - Early history, History of the British canal system - Industrial Revolution, History of the British canal system - Geography of the canal network, History of the British canal system - Operation of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - Gradual decline of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - The canals today

Read more here: » History of the British canal system: Encyclopedia II - History of the British canal system - The canals today

Brindley had believed it would be possible to use canals to link the four great rivers of England: the Mersey, Trent, Severn and Thames. The Trent and Mersey Canal was the first part of this ambitious network, but although he and his assistants surveyed the whole potential system, he would not live to see it completed (coal was finally transported from the Midlands to the Thames at Oxford in January 1790 - 18 years after Brindley's death). Development of the network, therefore, had to be left to other engineers, such as T ...

See also:

History of the British canal system, History of the British canal system - Early history, History of the British canal system - Industrial Revolution, History of the British canal system - Geography of the canal network, History of the British canal system - Operation of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - Gradual decline of the British canal network, History of the British canal system - The canals today

Read more here: » History of the British canal system: Encyclopedia II - History of the British canal system - Geography of the canal network

Tamworth has existed since Saxon times, it was sacked by Danes in the 9th century. Defences in the form of a castle were constructed against Danish invaders by Ethelfleda Queen of the kingdom of Mercia. In the 11th century, a Norman castle was built on the site of the Saxon one, which still exists to this day. The town grew rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries during the Industrial Revolution, due largely to the surrounding coal mines. It also became a hub of the canal network, with the Coventry Canal and the Birmingham and F ...

See also:

Tamworth, Tamworth - History, Tamworth - Culture, Tamworth - Housing Estates

Read more here: » Tamworth: Encyclopedia II - Tamworth - History

Bradford was long a centre of the West Riding wool industry. The name is derived from the "Broad Ford" at Church Bank by the site of Bradford Cathedral, around which the a settlement had begun to appear before the time of the Norman Conquest. The stream, called Bradford Beck, now passes (partly underground) to the River Aire near Shipley. Bradford was one of the many English towns which became prosperous during the Industrial Revolution. Bradford's textile industry dates back as far as the thirteenth century, but it was not until the ...

See also:

Bradford, Bradford - History, Bradford - Political history, Bradford - Institutions galleries parks and museums, Bradford - Sport, Bradford - Famous Bradfordians, Bradford - Geography, Bradford - Transport, Bradford - Roads, Bradford - Buses and trams, Bradford - Canal, Bradford - Railways, Bradford - Air

Read more here: » Bradford: Encyclopedia II - Bradford - History

Today, Runcorn consists of the 'old town' which began expansion on farmland during the Industrial Revolution brought by the Bridgewater Canal; and the 'new town' which was built from the 1960s onwards to house overspill population from Liverpool. Runcorn new town was the first to pioneer the use of bus-only roads over a large scale. The town also retains ruins of the 12th-century castle and the remains of the priory. Large chemical works are found at the furthest edge of the western part of the old town. This is offset by the v ...

See also:

Runcorn, Runcorn - History, Runcorn - Runcorn today, Runcorn - Transport, Runcorn - Recognition

Read more here: » Runcorn: Encyclopedia II - Runcorn - Runcorn today

In the early 20th century Manchester's economy diversified into engineering chemical and electrical industries. The stimulus of the Ship Canal saw the establishment of Trafford Park, the world's first industrial park, in 1910 and the arrival of the Ford Motor Company and Westinghouse Electric Corporation from the USA. The influence is still visible in Westinghouse Road and the grid layout of numbered streets and avenues. In the Second World War Manchester played a key role as an industrial manufacturing city, including the Avro aircraft factory. As a consequence of its war effor ...

See also:

History of Manchester, History of Manchester - Early settlements: prehistoric and Roman, History of Manchester - Medieval growth, History of Manchester - Growth of the textile trade, History of Manchester - The Industrial Revolution, History of Manchester - Reform, History of Manchester - Industrial and cultural growth, History of Manchester - Further expansion, History of Manchester - Twentieth century reds and blues, History of Manchester - Fin de siecle, History of Manchester - Greater Manchester, History of Manchester - Textiles, History of Manchester - Railway history, History of Manchester - Universities, History of Manchester - Manchester's famous scientists, History of Manchester - Manchester's famous engineers, History of Manchester - Bibliography

Read more here: » History of Manchester: Encyclopedia II - History of Manchester - Twentieth century reds and blues

The name is thought to be of Anglo-Saxon origin meaning "clearing by the road", spellings in early documents include Weylegh and Weyley. In the fourteenth century, it housed the residence of William Jauderell and his descendents. The town expanded greatly in the Industrial Revolution. Although there had been coal mines from earlier times, by 1871 cotton mills had become the dominant industry. The Whaley Bridge Branch of the Peak Forest Canal, approved by Act of Parliament in 1794, terminates here, constructed to carry limestone ...

See also:

Whaley Bridge, Whaley Bridge - History, Whaley Bridge - Cromford and High Peak Railway, Whaley Bridge - Present day, Whaley Bridge - Festivals and traditions

Read more here: » Whaley Bridge: Encyclopedia II - Whaley Bridge - History

Railroads allowed goods to be transported farther into the country. Unlike canals that would freeze over during the cold winter months, railroads could be allowed to run year round. Railroads also made it much easier to go up hills and mountains. Railroads in the long run would increase the economic growth of the country greatly and it still has an affect today. The railroad very much affected the Gilded Age. By the early twentieth century, American manufacturing production had surpassed the combined total of Great Britain, Germany, a ...

See also:

Gilded Age, Gilded Age - American history: The Gilded Age, Gilded Age - Technology of the Gilded Age, Gilded Age - Media of the Gilded Age, Gilded Age - The American West, Gilded Age - Industrial Revolution, Gilded Age - Urbanization, Gilded Age - Politics during the Gilded Age, Gilded Age - Influential People, Gilded Age - Transportation Revolution, Gilded Age - Immigration, Gilded Age - The Chinese Exclusion, Gilded Age - Labor unions

Read more here: » Gilded Age: Encyclopedia II - Gilded Age - Transportation Revolution

The causes of the Industrial Revolution were complex and remain a topic for debate, with some historians seeing the Revolution as an outgrowth of social and institutional changes wrought by the end of feudalism in Great Britain after the English Civil War in the 17th century. The Enclosure movement and the British Agricultural Revolution made food production more efficient and less labour-intensive, forcing the surplus population who could no longer find employment in agriculture into cottage industry, such as weaving, and in the longer term ...

See also:

Industrial Revolution, Industrial Revolution - Causes, Industrial Revolution - Causes for occurrence in Europe, Industrial Revolution - Innovations, Industrial Revolution - Transmission of innovation, Industrial Revolution - Factories, Industrial Revolution - Machine tools, Industrial Revolution - Textile manufacture, Industrial Revolution - Mining, Industrial Revolution - Metallurgy, Industrial Revolution - Steam power, Industrial Revolution - Transportation, Industrial Revolution - Navigable rivers, Industrial Revolution - Roads, Industrial Revolution - Coastal sail, Industrial Revolution - Canals, Industrial Revolution - Railways, Industrial Revolution - Social problems, Industrial Revolution - Child labour, Industrial Revolution - Housing situation, Industrial Revolution - Luddites, Industrial Revolution - Organisation of labour, Industrial Revolution - Effects, Industrial Revolution - Intellectual paradigms, Industrial Revolution - Capitalist, Industrial Revolution - Criticism, Industrial Revolution - Marxism, Industrial Revolution - Romantic Movement, Industrial Revolution - The Second Industrial Revolution, Industrial Revolution - Notes, Industrial Revolution - Books

Read more here: » Industrial Revolution: Encyclopedia II - Industrial Revolution - Causes

At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, inland transport was by navigable rivers and roads, with coastwise vessels employed to move heavy goods by sea. Railways or waggon ways were used for conveying coal to rivers for further shipment, and canals were beginning to be cut for moving goods between larger towns and cities. During the Industrial Revolution, these different methods were improv ...

See also:

Industrial Revolution, Industrial Revolution - Causes, Industrial Revolution - Causes for occurrence in Europe, Industrial Revolution - Innovations, Industrial Revolution - Transmission of innovation, Industrial Revolution - Factories, Industrial Revolution - Machine tools, Industrial Revolution - Textile manufacture, Industrial Revolution - Mining, Industrial Revolution - Metallurgy, Industrial Revolution - Steam power, Industrial Revolution - Transportation, Industrial Revolution - Navigable rivers, Industrial Revolution - Roads, Industrial Revolution - Coastal sail, Industrial Revolution - Canals, Industrial Revolution - Railways, Industrial Revolution - Social problems, Industrial Revolution - Child labour, Industrial Revolution - Housing situation, Industrial Revolution - Luddites, Industrial Revolution - Organisation of labour, Industrial Revolution - Effects, Industrial Revolution - Intellectual paradigms, Industrial Revolution - Capitalist, Industrial Revolution - Criticism, Industrial Revolution - Marxism, Industrial Revolution - Romantic Movement, Industrial Revolution - The Second Industrial Revolution, Industrial Revolution - Notes, Industrial Revolution - Books

Read more here: » Industrial Revolution: Encyclopedia II - Industrial Revolution - Transportation