Canals in a Changing Britain

Book excerpt: Canals in a Changing Britain: Construction, Culture, and Environment, 1760–1968 assesses canals as a major technological system re-shaping Britons’ relationship with their landscape and environment for over 200 years. It offers a sustained narrative addressing: canal construction in the late eighteenth century, living and working communities alongside canals in the nineteenth century, canals’ relationship to concerns regarding de-industrialization in the early twentieth century and canals as sites for the experience of nature and rural life in the postwar era between 1945 and 1968. This book makes use of a variety of archival and published material on canals and references academic publications on histories of technology and the environment, as well as scholarship related specifically to canals. It argues contemporary conversations regarding the current and future use of canals as multi-faceted sites of recreation, leisure, heritage, and experience of the natural environment in Britain must be seen in the context of an arc of historical experience between 1760 and 1968.