History of The British Canal System - Geography

Geography

Brindley 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 did not live to see it completed - coal was finally transported from the Midlands to the Thames at Oxford in January 1790, eighteen years after his death. Development of the network was left to other engineers, such as Thomas Telford, whose Ellesmere Canal helped link the Severn and the Mersey.

The bulk of the canal system was built in the industrial Midlands and the north of England, where navigable rivers most needed extending and connecting, and heavy cargoes of manufactured goods, raw materials or coal most needed carrying. Most of the traffic on the canal network was internal. However the network linked with coastal port cities such as London, Liverpool, and Bristol, where cargo could be exchanged with sea going ships for import and export.