Why?

This site is intended to help those who are interested in our past, the people of the industrial revolution on whose shoulders we stand, and the forgotten waterways on which they plied their trade. Many of our canals and waterways still exist and are used today by boaters, walkers and those who live on the water. Many, however, do not. They have been discarded, abandoned and consigned to history. Their traces remain though, sometimes obvious, sometimes hidden.

This site attempts to show those abandoned waterways against a modern backdrop and with modern technology: to make the past more accessible to 21st century viewers and, hopefully, increase the knowledge of our watery past.

There are many groups of people trying to preserve or restore their local heritage. I wish them well. They are given full respect on this site. I hope that this site might assist them in engaging those who could help.

I started this journey as a result of cruising the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) over 40 years ago. I was fascinated by the abandoned wharves, blind bridges and spurs going off hither and yon. I wanted to know what was behind the walls. 40 years later I returned, and although central Birmingham, for example, has changed beyond recognition, the rest of the network remained a mystery. I had copies of the maps produced by various historians of the network (credits in the ‘Explanatory Notes’ page) but I wanted to see it with modern technology, as I am sure many do. No such thing existed, so this started as my attempt to fill the gap. It turns out that the BCN was a taster for what was to come. I have now mapped over 65 abandoned canals, from the south (Portsmouth and Tavistock) to the north (Kendal), and there are still some gaps to fill. Work continues…

How?

As described in the Explanatory Notes section, the basic process for canals that can be found on the ‘1900’ map is to digitise them from that map and adjust them to Google Earth. Well and good. However, what about those canals that don’t appear on the ‘1900’ map?

I have been asked how this was done. How indeed can you be sure that I haven’t simply made it up? After all, many of the canals covered here had already essentially disappeared before the ‘1900’ map was produced. This section attempts to answer that question.

To explain the process with reference to an actual example I have chosen a part of what I have termed ‘The Oxford Canal Loops’, that is the sections of the Oxford Canal abandoned when it was straightened in the 1830s. In particular a section just south of Braunston Junction.

Step 1

This shows the ‘1900’ map with the existing canal superimposed (the blue lines).

Point A is Braunston Junction, point B is at the western end of Braunston Marina, where the original line met what is now known as the Grand Union (then the Grand Junction), marked by a distinctive bridge.

So how do we find the lost line?

We can see the line of the original canal, helpfully labelled ‘Old canal’ between points B & C. We can also see a line of another possible loop between points D & E.

There is no canal line shown between points E & C, although there are field boundary lines that form a possible alignment for the missing section which might be helpful.

Step 2

We know that the original canal was a contour canal, so let’s have a look at the contours. The brown line shows the modern 100m contour from the Ordnance Survey.

Being a modern line the contour follows features later than the canal, such as the railway embankment between points D & E. However the contour does vaguely follow the field boundaries on the ‘1900’ map.

Step 3

So we’re getting a rough idea of where the original canal was. Let’s look at Google satellite imagery to see if we can get any more clues.

We can see features that match those that we have already tentatively identified as on the original line. Examples are between points D & E, and E & F.

At point F we see a distinct line of lighter shade that might indicate the canal line, although the amount and depth of ploughing may make this misleading.

Between points C & B we see features that definitely match the ‘1900’ map.

Step 4

Since this example is in a mostly rural setting, without much development in the last century, we can now see if LIDAR can help. And it can.

We can see a clear line along points D,E,F,C and B.

We can also see a lot more, which can be confusing, so we need to take care.

Step 5

Pulling all of this evidence together we can produce a line with some confidence.

This is the line used in the maps on this site. Using my usual convention it is shown as a dashed ‘possible’ line.

Needless to say this is not always (or indeed ever) a linear process. Depending on the terrain, the amount of development within the landscape etc etc, judgement is often required to arrive at a convincing line. Nevertheless I think it stands up, and I hope you agree.

Technical Details

The maps were digitised from the OS 6" '1900' map and then where possible re-registered / adjusted to match Google Earth (see the 'Accuracy' section on the ‘Explanatory Notes’ page). Other data sources are Google, Open Street Map, Canal & River Trust and the UK Environment Agency. The software used is Linux Mint/QGIS/Google Maps, Earth & Drive/AWS Cloudfront/Openshot/Inkscape/SquareSpace. See the Legal page for copyright information.