Why the need to emphasise it?
Just what is or was the problem?
We must first ask the simple question.
What is a canal?
Dictionary definition: canal
an artificial waterway constructed to allow the passage of boats inland.
A canal is a man-made waterway that allows boats to pass from one body of water to another.
The word "canal" derives from the Old French word chanel, which means “channel.”
The oldest known canals are aqueducts built in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago.
Since then, canals have played an important role in connecting cultures and facilitating commerce.
They were widely used in the far east from 600 AD and in Europe from the 13th century.
In post-Roman Britain, the first early modern period canal built appears to have been the Exeter Canal, which was surveyed in 1563, and opened in 1566.
A single lock helped keep the tide in, upriver to unload boats, and then release them on the next high tide.
In every respect this was an artificial way of making the river navigable - a ‘navigation’ rather than a canal.
According to their website, the Bridgewater Canal is sometimes described as England’s first canal.
Opened on 17th July 1761, they say that Bridgewater Canal has a special place in history as the first canal in Britain to be built without following an existing watercourse, and so became a model for those that followed it.
Then that the Bridgewater Canal revolutionised transport in this country and marked the beginning of the golden canal era which followed from 1760 to 1830.
Named after its owner, the Duke of Bridgewater who built the Canal to transport coal from his mines at Worsley to the industrial areas of Manchester, the Bridgewater Canal [they say] was the forerunner of canal networks.
So - from 1566 to 1761 no mention of any other canals being built!
But Stamford Canal was built in the 1660’s - almost exactly 100 years before the Bridgewater canal!
Hence the outrage at this piece of our local history being totally ignored.
And hopefully, your role in now publicising the facts for posterity!
The earliest proper canal in England !
The Stamford Canal << The earliest proper canal in England? <<
