Waterways H-L

by David Bick.

Throughout the length and breadth of England, no major navigation is so lost in obscurity as the Hereford & Gloucester Canal. Unlike its famous neighbour, the Thames & Severn, with which comparisons may be drawn, all links with living memory have inevitably broken and apart from a brief account here and there, its story has never been told.

Promoted on a doubtful footing during the Canal Mania of the 1790s, the canal has an absorbing history and industrial archaeology, and it is hoped these pages will provide a useful introduction to a subject studied for over 30 years.

Soft back. 112 pages. 14.8cms x 21.1cms approx. Illustrated with black & white photos and drawings. 3rd edition, 2003.

by Gerry Fanning.

An account of the Hollinwood Branch of the Manchester and Ashton-under-Lyne Canal from its construction in 1792 to 2000.

Soft back. 63 pages. 20.4cms x 29.7cms approx. Numerous b/w photographs and maps.

by J.N. Clarke.

At the end of the eighteenth century, the market town of Horncastle could only trade with villages within a 6-8 mile radius. Within 10 years the situation had changed completely with the construction of the canal linking Horncastle with the River Witham at Tattershall.

This is an account of its construction and working.

Soft back. 96 pages. 14.8cms x 21.1cms approx. Illustrated with black & white photos and drawings.

by Keith Gibson & David Finnis.

Two hundred years in the life of a Pennine waterway. A thorough history of the building, use, decline and restoration of the canal, well illustrated with many contemporary photographs, some rare.

Soft back. 112 pages. 16.5cms x 24cms approx. Black & white photos and drawings.

by Keith Gibson.

This is the story of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and two Pennine dreams. The first part, telling how and why the canal was built, the operating years and its decline, is set in the context of what was happening in the outside world away from the canal.

The second part, that of the restoration of the canal, shows how the enthusiasts achieved respectability and were taken seriously by tackling the politics of restoring the canal, raising the money, and actually doing the work.

Softback. 160 pages. 17.2cms x 24.8cms approx. Black and white photographs.

by Mike Lovatt.

This book is a record of how, over the last thousand years, a small country river has been put to use by the local communities. The most common use of the river has been for watermills, with twenty two sites identified, but many other diverse uses have also been found, from swimming pools to tanning, and from ducking stools to 300 foot high fountains.

Little has been written about the mills of northern Gloucestershire and southern Worcestershire. Mike provides details of the mills and the other uses on one river in the area.

Soft back. 126 pages. 16.5cms x 23.4cms approx. Colour and black & white photos and diagrams.

by Clive & Helen Hackford.

A safe route from London to Bristol was long a dream of traders and ship owners and was first proposed in 1788. Construction began in 1794 and 14 years later was opened. Attempts to close the canal in the 1940s were unsuccessful and the 1950s saw the formation of what was to become the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust.

Over a long period, members of the trust, with support from British Waterways, rebuilt the neglected waterway and it was officially re-opened by HM the Queen in 1990.

Soft back. 128 pages. 16.5cms x 23.5cms approx. Illustrated with over 200 black & white images.

by Kirsten Elliott.

The Kennet & Avon Canal was the wonder of its age, a broad waterway built across southern England as a trade route between the country's two biggest ports - London and Bristol. 30 years after it was completed, Brunel's Great Western Railway opened, robbing it of much of its traffic.

Two hundred years after the first cargoes sailed along it, and twenty years on from its grand reopening, this book pays tribute to the canal that refused to die.

Soft back. 203 pages. 24cms x 20.7cms approx. Colour and black & white photos throughout.

by Peter Lindley-Jones.

It was after the end of the Second World War that a few people realised that the remnants of Britain's canal network were, without drastic and immediate action, about to be lost to future generations. From these few enthusiasts grew a series of preservation organisations, of which the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust was one.

The Trust had the unprecedented task of restoring over seventy miles of primarily rural canal with the added difficulties of massive engineering challenges to overcome. Although the canal re-opened in 1990, it took another ten years and £30 million to ensure its survival.

This is the story of the work and dedication of literally thousands of volunteers over five decades and of the canal they restored.

Soft back. 160 pages. 17.3cms x 24.8cms approx. Colour & black and white photos.

by Warren Berry.

The Kennet & Avon navigation was built to link Bristol and Bath with London, via Reading and the river Thames.

This chronological and thematic narrative assesses the financial, technical and political difficulties that had to be overcome before the two river navigations could be linked, through to its decline, and then eventually restored.

Hard back. 134 pages. 17.6cms x 25.5cms approx. Illustrated with black and white photos and drawings.

by Clive Hackford.

The fascinating selection of more than 180 photographs in this book take the reader on a trip from Bristol Harbour to Reading as they seek to document a variety of changes both rural and urban.

Early black & white photos and modern colour ones of the same place.

Soft back. 96 pages. 16.5 cms x 23.5 cms approx.

by Dr Gary Firth.

The Leeds & Liverpool Canal is the longest single canal in Britain. From its completion in 1774 to the last commercial delivery, it served for nearly 200 years as a main artery of trade across northern England.

Dr Gary Firth has collected over 200 photographsof the canal's eastern section from Leeds to Barnoldswick and accompanied them with an evocative commentary.

Soft back. 128 pages. 16.5cms x 23.4cms approx.

by Mike Clarke.

Mike Clarke has spent over 30 years researching the history of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

This book was first published almost 15 years ago as part of the Maritime Museum's series on Port History. Mike has added further historical information and illustrations, bringing the story up-to-date with details of the new canal across Pier Head, linking the north and south docks.

Soft back. 95 pages. 17.4cms x 24.6cms approx. Illustrated with black and white photos and diagrams.