Canal Builders: How Britain’s Canal Network Evolved - Hardcover

Burton, Anthony; Kriegstein, Arnold; Kriegstein, Henry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1473843723 ISBN 13: 9781473843721

Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport, 2016

Synopsis

Canal Builders is a classic history book for anyone interested in the development of Britain’s canal system. The book, which was first published in the 1970s, is now republished here in a new fifth edition. It takes the reader from the middle of the eighteenth century, to the start of the railway age in the early nineteenth century.

Anthony Burton has revised and improved the original text, using new material that he has found in archives since it was first published, and has added many extra illustrations.

This is the remarkable story of the many groups of people who were responsible for building Britain’s canal system. There were industrialists such as Josiah Wedgwood, who promoted canals to help his own industry, and speculators, financed the projects in the hope of a good return. The work was planned by engineers, some of whom, such as James Brindley and Thomas Telford, have become famous, while others have remained virtually unknown but still did magnificent work. This is also the story of the great, anonymous army of men who actually did the work – the navies.

This was the first book ever to study the lives of these laborers in detail. Altogether it is an epic story of how the transport route that made the industrial revolution possible was built.

'Well planned and well written ...There is no better introduction to the early canal age.' The Economist

About this title

About the Author

Anthony Burton is a freelance author and broadcaster, who has specialized in industrial and transport history. He has been involved in around a hundred TV documentaries on these subjects, appearing on all the major networks. He has written biographies of some of the leading characters of the early industrial age: Thomas Telford, Richard Trevithick, Joseph Locke and Matthew Boulton, the latter with Jennifer Tann

Edition details

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1473843723
• ISBN 13: 9781473843721
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192