Why is there NO Canal Network in southern UK? (The Itchen Navigation)
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This week we venture to the south Coast and ask the question "Why are there very few Canals in the South of England?" We walk along the 10.4 mile Itchen Navigation searching for its abandoned locks, bridges and lost architecture.
The seem to be so many abandoned attempts here in the south at building a canal network, but the vast majority never seemed to last the test of time. Perhaps the exception was the Kennet and Avon, one of the only surviving examples still thriving today.
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What I have always found amazing was that in just one hundred years Britain went from canals to railroads to the automotive age and people call each period a "golden age". Yet compared to the preceding 10,000 years they all passed in a blink of an eye.
The Roman roads are more significant than the canals. Hobby traffic through people's back yards is superficial. As these campers get bored of staring at a community's gardens, then they rally to open another ditch.
Hello there from Germany! Thank you so much for your programme, I realy enjoy it. Very interesting industrial history-storys that you tell. I grew up in the ruhr-area, called the Ruhrgebiet, it used to be a highly industrialized part of western Germany. I wished there would be more people like you around here that mention our industrial heritage. For me this is also a rememberance of the roots of our wealth, our wel-beeing as rich countries of the northern hemisphere. The traces should not be deleted, that part of history is so much closer to working-class people like me. All the best and keep on going!
Oliver from Mülheim an der Ruhr
Just imagine that in the late 1600s in France,they were building the Canal du Midi with 30m long locks and the amazing Fonserannes staircase locks in Béziers. So far ahead of it's time, that they only started to upgrade the locks in the 1980s, when all commercial traffic had ended.
The Freycinet gauge from1880 defines boats of 38,5 m by 5,05 m
@@2adamast Amazingly,, the fact that the original Midi locks were only 30M long, but have oval walls, means that they can pass 4 pleasure craft, 2 side by side, instead of 3 in a Freycinet lock. I've done it several times on the Midi. However,, I've also twice gone through Freycinet locks with 4 boats, once last year at the 15M Réchicourt lock.
The map with your location is really useful for getting your bearings
Thanks Finn. We aim to keep this feature in.
An area close to my heart, lived in kingsworthy and fished the itchen in abbots worthy funnily enough with Jack Dee about 30-35 years ago . We used to ride our dirt bikes on the old line between alresford and Winchester, when I was a teen I was the manager of kwikfit in Winchester and used to hang out the back fishing over the wall into the itchen river running down the back. That same old kwikfit building was where they manufactured the wings for the spitfire during the war and my grandfather painted them.
The Grand Western Canal, The Bridgwater & Taunton Canal and The Chard Canal all conected with the Tone Navigation at Taunton; forming the beginnings of a network that was planned to head much further north. Time was against them though. The construction got overtaken by the coming of the railways.
Bridgwater and Taunton was proposed to connect with a canal to Willand.it was never built but they did build the boat lift though ! This canal would have joined the Tiverton canal. After this the sparse info dries up, but it wouldn’t have been beyond them to somehow build a further canal onto Exeter harbour, and then using the existing Exeter ship canal onto the sea at Turf Locks.
The Bridgwater and Taunton canal also had a proposed extension from Bridgwater to Stolford to minimise the effect of the tides on traffic.
If it had happened it would have been a coast to coast connection.
The Chard canal which joined the Bridgwater and Taunton canal was proposed on more than one occasion to have an extension to Seaton on the South Devon coast.
And there's even the 'folly' canal at Fyne Court in the Quantocks. These townies, ha.
Having lived in Canada for eighteen years I really miss walking around the UK countryside, so your videos are very welcome indeed. Thank you so much. :-)
One of the earliest canals in the Country was the Exeter Canal, opened in the 1560s, with the first pond locks in the UK. It was built to bypass a weir that had been built on the river Exe to prevent ships reaching Exeter, and use Topsham instead
Andrew Radgick Don't you mean "pound" locks?
@@charleswatson1093 no he meant what he said.... Pond is water body where the rate of flow slows down as it widens. Pounds is either a weight or currency..... And neither has been discussed in this vlog
@@Jarmezrocks The Exeter Canal had three locks with vertical gates - the first pound locks to be built in Britain.
A pound lock has a chamber with gates at both ends that control the level of water in the pound. Modern locks are built using this principal. The previous "flash lock" had only a single gate, and was a form of weir.
@@charleswatson1093 you told him
@@-M0LE Thank you!
As an American, what I find fascinating is wandering around a bit of river, and pointing at bits of wood here and there and blithely recounting that it was built by some random king a thousand years ago. We pave over our history here, and ignore it into terrible submission.
That's what HS2 is doing now in the UK.
@@qwertyTRiG No it isn't, it's not even started
Have you visited Philadelphia? or Boston? The history is everywhere and well preserved. You also need to take in to account that Brittan had thousands of years of history and much larger population while the colonies were but a small fragment. The colonies only started to build and gain size and infrastructure in the 1700s and then quickly went through war and struggle for independence and war of 1812 which destroyed so much and later the civil war all over again, so constantly changing environment. The USA only really finally reached stability after the end of the civil war in 1865 and that is pretty recent on the grand scale of time. It was simply the reality of the USA. Still, history is everywhere, even here in Seattle one of the last areas of the USA settled you can take a tour of many great preserved areas of the city including the wonderful Seattle underground, where the entire original part of the city is preserved after the great Seattle flooding and fire leading to the city streets being raised but the old underground (originally the street level) is preserved for future generations.
@@zaftra I'm pretty sure I heard HS2 were causing problems for the Chesterfield Canal a couple of years ago. All the canal restorers needed to know was how high a bridge would be in order to plan the height of one of the restored pounds, but HS2 wouldn't even answer their mail. The issue seems to be settled now, (or at least not mentioned,) but it illustrates that "not even started" has no bearing on whether a project causes problems.
@@eekee6034 I live 6 miles from chesterfield, thought it was goign Birmingham way first
Basingstoke canal goes straight past the ruin of King John's castle at Odiham. St Catherine hill at Winchester was a leper colony. Have fun everyone
I never heard that St Catherine's Hill was a leper colony - although The Plague Pits are in the valley beside it. Going up St Catherine's hill is really good - an Iron Age fort with the remains of the Norman chapel on top (that gave the hill its name). It also has one of only nine remaining (in the UK) cut-turf mazes on the top. A site of SSI too!
I walked the Itchen navigation from Eastleigh to Winchester with my Dad about 30 years ago. He was born in 1913 and walked it with his Grandad who called it the “Barge River”. Great to see it again. Thank you.
Along the railway route, Redbridge to Salisbury, one of my old bosses who was assessing me on the routes, told me about the canals that had been filled in. He was a bit of a canal enthusiast as well as a railway one.
I read that the Avon used to be navigable from Christchurch to Salisbury as well by shallow draft boats.
Lots of that old route still left to see... th-cam.com/video/AJbFzClPjzA/w-d-xo.html
Was pretty lucky as a archaeologist to have worked on a number of sites around the South where the interpretation was Roman extensions of natural water sources. Canals were certainly not a new revolutionary idea but as with the Romans in a infrastructure perspective in industry made a lot of sense in volume of product cost effectiveness. Totally agree about the coming of the railways but as far back as the Bronze Age even the Neolithic period it is not unknown for waterways being the hub of industry. Great vid again.
we work just south of your finishing point. the Nav runs through our country park an nature reserve and finishes down in Mansbridge where the old canal reservoir is now a fishing lake.
OK now you need to plan a series about Cornwall's canals. You have already mentioned one that was replaced by the Liskeard-Looe railway. But then there is the Bude which used inclined planes and connected with the Tamar canals and navigations
This sounds very very interesting.
It is amazing in the short time I first discovered Martin then You folks and narrow boats, wide beams and river cruisers. Time travelers also showed up and their amazing three day excavations.
Thanks to you both, an interesting video. There is some history which explains the apparent lack of other canals or navigations in this area. Others have responded on the major canals which are still evident in places. The Kennet & Avon was built to connect Bristol and London gaining little traffic from the places it passed in Wiltshire. Similarly the Wey and Arum navigations were an attempt to improve connections between London and South Coast rather than benefits to the local area en route.
Wiltshire and West Hants was a rural area with no coal deposits which were the normal drivers for creating canals. Plans for canals from Southampton (Redbridge) to Andover and Salisbury in the early 19th Century were developed but the canal to Salisbury was only partially completed; the route to Andover was completed but was never successful and as with the Salisbury Canal, was used subsequently as the basis for the railway line. Southampton was a small spa/seaside resort in the early 19th Century; the railway arrived in 1840. It did not become a significant port until the time the railways arrived; the major port development took place in the 1890s when it was bought by the L&SWR. An act was passed in 1664 for a river navigation from Christchurch to Salisbury but this was never completed. So the navigable waterways ar every much a reflection of the rural nature of the area at that time.
Thanks Peter, yes, very much so. We will cover the Wey Soon.
One of the problems with canal construction in southern England is crossing the chalk hills of the North & South Downs. To have operating locks you need a lot of water at the summit level and on the chalk hills there are no rivers or lakes to provide the water supply.
Very good point. Didn't really consider the porous chalk that we find ourselves drinking quite a lot of
What I also love about your videos, the content is amazing by the way, are the comments that follow afterwards.
It's how they stir up peoples' memories and then give you ideas of where to go to next.
Alot of canals in the south being mentioned that I hadn't heard of, so thank you Paul & Rebecca, but thank you also to everyone that contributes via the comments section.
You guys are amazing! I love this channel because you actually have information to impart and share. Keep going you two.
Here's 3 canals in the SW that are often overlooked: Tavistock Canal - navigable by canoe (there's a challenge!), Tamar Manure Canal (ran out of money after two miles - but in lovely country) and the Bude Canal - the longest at 35 miles rising 433 feet with only 2 locks. There are also 5 inclined planes and 2 branches smaller to explore - this was also built as a 'Manure Canal'. All of them well worth looking at and a great way to spend a 'staycation' in the beautiful Tamar Valley.
Also in the SW are The Grand Western, The Rolle, the Stover and the Exeter Ship canals which spring to mind having walked all or part of each.
Also Par Canal in Cornwall
Watched a few navigations,absolutely top notch,well produced,edited, researched,presented,thank you for the education.
I love your videos, I also learn a heck of a lot from them, really interesting! Love your relaxed and friendly style too, makes you feel like you are out on one of your brilliant walks with you!!
Everywhere you two go seems like a picturesque autumn afternoon from my youth. So much of that is wiped away now. I enjoy your videos for their content and their extra memory triggers they bring. Be safe.. see you next week.
Thanks very much. You'll love next Sundays in that case!!
I am glad you enjoyed the "Navigation" walk. I grew up near Winchester and the walk from Shawford to Winchester along the Navigation is one of my favourite walks.
The 2nd oldest known canal in England (from 1611) is in Titchfield (beside Fareham - between Southampton and Portsmouth), it has been mostly silted up and not used as an official canal for a few hundred years since the height of Titchfield's growth where the Earls of Southampton lived and entertained Shakespeare etc, at the river today (the Meon) you can walk a footpath beside all the way from Titchfield's Church to the sea there still
Awesome vid, Love the old locks and watching the water run through. You've captured a lot here and it's fab!
Lovely video - thank you. We live in Eastleigh, and walk the (4-5 hours relaxed pace) length of the Navigation at least once a year or so. Easy train up from Eastleigh to Winchester, then a lovely walk through the old parts of the city, through the cathedral grounds to the "start" of the river walk at that bridge. Many beautiful sights along the way - best of all The Bridge pub half way and The Steamtown Brewhouse at the end (on the way back to the train station).
The banging you heard is probably to do with the rail welding yard (the yellow structures behind you at the end). I can see those from home and hear the same noise on a regular basis. Lovely walk along there though and I didn't realise the bridges were so low! You'd never get a modern day narrowboat under them!
Hey great episode, check out the Wey and Arun canal , it also has alost railway. Great walks as well.
Thanks for sharing it's apriciated.
Absolutely fabulous thanks. Love the canals and all that fabulous history. Hope you do more of these. Thanks so much for taking me along. Please stay safe and take care
Thanks Linda
Thank you for this video. I really enjoyed it.
Thanks for watching Andrew
That was really informative! Thank you.
The Wey and Arun Canal is under reconstruction. When completed it will restore a navigable route all the way from the Thames at Weybridge, the Wey Navigation, Guildford and Godalming to the river Arun and the South coast at Littlehampton. South of Weybridge, the Wey Navigation also connects to the Basingstoke canal at Byfleet. There was another link from the Wey Navigation to the Basingstoke canal via the Godalming Navigation, but I don't know the condition of that.
Is London not in the South of England. It has the Grand Union, the Regents Canal, the Lee Navigation, the Hertford Union and the Limehouse Cut. A stretch of the River Roding, North from Barking Creek, has also been made navigable as far as Ilford and may be restored further. The Surrey Docks Canal (aka the Grand Surrey Canal) has now gone, though a few sections remain in water, as does the Greenland Cut. A short stretch of the River Ravensbourne remains navigable at Deptford Creek.
Fascinating video. I knew nothing about the Itchen until you two produced this video.
Thanks Michael.
North Devon and Somerset have the Great Western Canal which was built for broad beam boats but came just too late. It connected Tiverton with the Bristol Channel via Taunton and the river Parrett. The Heathcote wool and lace mill at Tiverton used it. Today, the Taunton section has largely vanished leaving the Tiverton end usable but cut off from the network.
Newton Abbot has a short early canal which will probably never be put back into use, It connected a tramway that carried granite from Dartmoor mines to the port at Teignmouth. It also carried ball (pottery) clay from Newton Abbot quarries. Further west, the Dart is navigable from the sea all the way beyond Totnes making canal cuts less necessary. The Tamar between Devon and Cornwall was also navigable a long way inland.
The Bude canal ran for 35 miles through Cornwall and North Devon, rising from sea level to 433 feet using locks and inclined planes.
Very interesting 🤔. Learned a lot. I love that there are so many relics/remains left on the waterways so we can see tiny bits of history. Can’t wait till you can roam farther afield👍🏻☺️
The new video was very nice .Hope to see more .Take care.
Great place for a walk, lots to look at. I have walked from Eastleigh to Winchester and Eastleigh to Mansbridge along the Itchen Navigation
The little maps add enormously to the enjoyment of the video 😉
Brilliant video and a story I knew nothing of despite living nearby for most of my life. Well done a proper cheeky “canal”
Dear Rebecca and Paul...love to you both...the important question here is :-
'Why was the Broadguage only, mostly in the area without canals?' Blessings to you both and all your lovely subscribers....
I have walked the Winchester end on the navigation many a time. A loverly walk in the summer.
This was a first for us. Very beautiful indeed
Houses next to canals are nearly always amazing. I started a caching walk today at Long Buckby Wharf near Northampton and they were huge!
Fascinating video, the loss of our industrial and indeed social history is stark, your videos at least capture some of this, the country is crossed by these lost waterways, look forward to seeing more from you.
Thanks for the video the both of you. Very interesting and a bit more learned about traffic in the past!!😎🐓🐓🇬🇧
Fascinating video. Thanks.
Hello, that was really interesting. Liked and subbed, thank you for researching and sharing this forgotten history.
Thank you for the video!
Thames & Medway Canal parts of which have been taken over by the railway including the Strood & HIgham Tunnels. Really enjoy your videos!!
Great video as always!
Very interesting. The water at the first lock looked really deep. Very fast running. How sad though that not used any more for barges. Thank you for your informative vlog.
Thanks Shirley. Yup I think St Catherine's lock was huge.
6:28 Chupacabra to the left of screen! :O
Fascinating really good to know the history that is missing to so many other things we see. Thank you. Try Wales and North Wales in particular where there is much by way of history to notice.
As a child I lived not far from the navigation and river so great to see a video about it. I can say that the water was/is always cold even in summer as I believe it to be fed as a chalk stream and therefore did not warm up at all, regularly stayed at 10 degrees C.
Yup, thats too cold for me
No love here for Chichester Canal? Was used for years for shipping from Chichester Harbour into Chichester Canal Basin until blocked off by a road and the Marina. Many attempts have taken place over the years to fully re-open it. Hell, it was made famous in the painting by Turner! There are canal boat tours along it even now and its a beautiful walk.
Tavistock (West Devon) has a canal which runs from the centre of the town, through a specially constructed tunnel, down to the tidal quay at Morwellham.
Although now disused for boat traffic, it is still used by the National Grid to generate electricity, and you can still walk along the early part of it's length from the town end.
Morwellham Quay itself is open to the public.
Yes yes yes.... I think I went there as a kid... school trip!?... maybe
I'm sure I read somewhere that the very first "lock" was a single gate. If you were going downstream you went with the flow and only used the gate to go upstream. This was hazardous on fast flowing rivers to say the least, so the traditional lock soon replaced these single gates.
I can't imagine that difficulties involved depending on the time of year with a single lock. Madness.
Absolutely. They were known as Flash locks. You literally shot the rapids downhill, but uphill required usually a winch to haul the boat through. One then had to wait for the level to rise before proceeding.
I can think of a few canals I the south west. Tavistock is one and the other is Bude, but for the most part, the vast quaysides were used for transportation of goods such as tin, copper, clay etc. There is also a lovely canal in Mitchet in Hampshire/Surrey, and then there is the one that goes through Aldershot and has something like 16 locks in a very small space.
Thanks again, you two.
Our pleasure!
this is a very nice presentation. thank you
Thanks Keith
An interesting and descriptive video...😃👍👍
I still remember seeing parts of the Surrey Canal in Peckham and what is now Burgess Park (Ex North Camberwell Open Space). It's now a canal walk,
Loved it! Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very interesting, thank you.
Thank you
Portsmouth Canal, which was part of a larger system is now home to part of the Portsmouth Direct Line between Fratton and Portsmouth & Southsea stations
Ypu beat me to this .... Portsmouth and Arundel Canal ...... I live right outside the section
I wonder if this canal (navigation?) is unique in using tidal sea water when it went round the back of Hayling and Portsea Islands?
Of course it didnt round the back of Portsea Island because it went down to Eastney and entered the Portsmouth canal at the end Locksway Road. My mistake.
@@tomstorm41 The creek was made more navigable, but I don't think they really used it. Maybe the Admiralty objected to Portsmouth Harbour being utilised at all? I don't know.
If both harbours and the creek were still fully navigable by small boats, they could provide some relief for the roads, with a little fleet of water buses.
@@tomstorm41 I used to live in Locksway Road. The section of canal that ran through Portsmouth was opened in May 1823, but it was only in use for about 20 years before gradually being abandoned, it never became commercially profitable & one of the reasons it closed was because it was connected to the sea at its eastern end & the salt water was contaminating people's freshwater wells & the canal company were heavily fined for this.
The original canal entrance still remains at Milton Locks, along with a short section of brickwork.
I suppose that explains why the canal alignment into Portsmouth got reused for the alignment of the railway- just not enough demand for commercial canal traffic
As many did unfortunately
Often used to think about the old canal route between fratton and Pompey when driving trains there. Ditto the flight of locks from new cross gate to forest hill. An ex canal and now the railway. There used to be a big clump of bulrushes on the up side near NX gate. The last remnants! And cottage junction in the maze of lines just after East Croydon between selhurst and Norwood jnc is named after the canal cottages that used to be there
Fantastic stuff - there’s very little as you say south of the Thames / Kennet and Avon. Some of the rivers were made navigable - the adur was apparently navigable up to Shipley in the Middle Ages. There’s also the Ouse navigation but these were isolated. The only one that was a ‘proper canal’ was probably the Wey and Arun as at least that connected to the Wey and the Thames and the wider canal network.
There’s also the military canal that cuts of most of Romney marsh but that doesn’t count as a canal used for transport...
Not a lot of coal or ironstone basically in the south of england
Just when I thought I was getting all knowledgeable about canals, you introduce... navigations? I had never heard of such until this delightfully informative video and now I'm fascinated by those, too. What new lost navigation/canal/railway/roadway/aqueduct/roller coaster will you discover next?
So that's what a " navigation" is, thanks, I'd always wondered about that.
A good account in Charles Hadfield's Canals of South East and Southern England. It appears that most of the locks were turf sided pound locks and but a few were water gates or flash type locks flushing the boast through on a head of water.
The Wey and Arun canal is interesting too , maybe worth a video.
I second this! Having worked on the river Wey between Godalming and Guildford for a number of years, there is a lot of interesting history to this, and of course the Wey is is still a navigable 'navigation', looked after by the National Trust.
Definitely on the cards
My uncle has been involved with the Wey Arun canal trust for years. I am sure he will help you if you want some local contacts for information on the canal history and their current projects in the ultimate goal to recreate a canal route from the Thames Valley to the Channel.
@@tonymaries1652 definitely happy to hear from anyone that would consider chatting on camera
Great information, very interesting. 👍🙂
Thank you.
Another interesting video about something I did not know.
Happy Ester to the pair of you.
Taunton to Exeter canal, and the Bude Canal spring to mind👍👍 Great video as usual👍👍
Where is the Taunton to Exeter canal?
I know Exeter ship canal , Tiverton canal, Bude canal and Tavistock canal, didn't know about Taunton/ Exeter though
@@rickwakelin1725 the bit between Tiverton and 4 miles short of Wellington is still in use. Called the Tiverton Canal. Basically connected Exeter and Bridgwater. The Taunton to Bridgwater bit is also still in use.
Yes Tiverton canal goes from Tiverton to coldharbour mill at Uffculme, never knew it connected to either Taunton or Bridgewater, that's interesting, I'll see what I can find
The Wey and Arun canal in surrey and sussex that used to connect teh river wey and the river Arun some of it has been restored its a work in progress and facinating
Interesting as usual!
Dont forget about the kennet and avon canal and the basingstoke canal etc !!
Both mentioned in the film.
Another fascinating video! Come to Kent and walk along the towpath from Tonbridge to Rochester.
Well that sounds very tempting.
And don't forget the Thames and Medway canal. Also known as the Gravesend and Rochester Canal. Also upstream of Tonbridge The canal and when the Medway was used to take the gunpowder from the Leigh powder mills to Chatham Dockyard. Although there might not be much to see. I haven't been that way for many years and there was a lot of destruction. When the Flood barrier was built, and the river moved.
We are restoring the Wilts and Berks Canal which will recreate the network that existed with the Kennett and Avon and the Thames and Severn. And, of course, the Kennet and Avon was connected to the Somerset Coal Canal. Unfortunately the biggest customer was one Mr Brunel who used it to transport materials to build his railway to Bristol, which is within a couple of miles of the Wilts & Berks between Wantage and Chippenham.
We must take a look at covering that in a video very soon!
Excellent video very interesting. I've started to find the history of the infrastructure in this country surprisingly fascinating especially since I realized that the one of the oldest roads in Britain goes through modern Basingstoke, is still used, and I was using it to travel to work every day. Harrow way really is the route of The Harrow Way.
Cheers Robert, have you seen our video on the Harrow Way?
@@pwhitewicksounds good. ill check it out.thanks. I notice you do videos on disused railway stations, have you done one on Oakley station?
Great to see you in my back yard!
I hope not in a literally sense
No... only generic!
Excellent vid! I learnt a lot about the Navigation, even though I walk it most days.
Another excellent video. Canals are more scarce than I thought down there. But people still need fresh goods in quantity. Perhaps canals weren't quick enough or profitable enough for food, and the towns small enough to still rely on local produce. An interesting point.
BTW if you felt cold making this video, it's going to get right parky tonight. -5 on the centigrade scale.
You could give the Titanic a mention. Everyone else is jumping on the bandwaggon now and in a few days time it will be 109 years since she left Southampton. I'm sure there's many interesting tangents to go off on related to local knowledge your average viewer would have no idea about.
Very interesting, thank you! I've just started walking parts of the Wey Navigation in Surrey - and have my sights set on the Basingstoke Canal hopefully soon (Easing of restrictions, thank you!).
Likewise on both counts Sabine
Sadly, the canals where I come from in Southwark are long gone! The Grand Surrey Canal was filled in in the 70's. A couple of overbridges survive in Peckham as well as a footbridge in the middle of Burgess Park. The Croydon Canal between Bermondsey and Croydon was replaced by a railway, there are still traces at Forest Hill and Anerley. Better luck north of the Thames, we've still got the Regent's Canal and Union Canal.
Cheers for posting have you had a look at the canal in Bude.
There’s plenty of canals in the south of England. There may not be as many as in the north, but that’s due to most industry being in the north.
I guess Im kinda randomly asking but does anybody know of a good site to watch newly released tv shows online ?
@Zayd Lane i watch on flixzone. Just google for it =)
The section between Bishopstoke and the M27 has proper lock gate remains. Two of them by the path but with no water flowing through.
I haven't watched the video yet, but as someone from the SW, I'm guessing it's because every major settlement is either near the coast, or on a major navigable river? Therefore, canals weren't needed. Also you can sail around Cornwall to move stuff from the north coast to south.
Geeeeeet watching Sam.
Thanks Sam; as you will have noted, the question as posed is not answered at all. And me, here, (watching in Australia) was perplexed, indeed. Thanks for giving some better insight, I'm sure that all your points are very valid for the area. They make so much sense in the time frame of canals. If y ou don't need one, you don't build one, of course. The were quite effortful and costly to build so your points, being already in place and not requiring infratructure are the best explanation of why there are no canals in SouthUK. Given what you've said and the fact that there were few boats on the navigation, I think the navigation, itself, is a sort of folly.
Hi both, great vid. reminded me of something that some navigations used to get boats up and down rivers. These were called Flash locks. I don't know much about them but I remember reading about them years ago. Apparently they built a head of water up, then took out some boards, and the boats zoomed through. These were tended to be built around mills. That's something you can look up. Hope it helps you out. See you next time.
Great for getting downstream but how did the boats get upstream?
@@henrybest4057 The water was let out, and when level, the boats were manhandled and dragged back through. Don't know if horses were used.
Paul must have good biceps carrying that camera.
Yuuuuuup
There is ithe Wey/Arun canal in Sussex and Surrey
Is that a Canal Network?
My localish one. It runs basically from Guildford to Wisborough Green. Plenty of old railways around the Guildford and Horsham area as well.
@@pwhitewick it was. Linked the Thames to the south coast.
@@pwhitewick yes it links the Thames via the Wey Navigation from Shalford which is the south of Guildford to the River Arun in Sussex, there was a section south of Pulborough too... Plus the Rother navigation to Midhurst and The Portsmouth and Arundel Canal joining it too.
@@pwhitewick Yes, together It's dubbed "London's Lost route to the Sea".
The River Wey is a navigation (I suspect very similar to the Itchen), which is still navigable for its entire original length from Godalming to the Thames. It's looked after by the National Trust.
The Wey and Arun canal joins the Wey just above Broadford Bridge in Shalford at Stonebridge Wharf, and runs south to the River Arun where it joins at Pallingham. Only some small sections of the interlinking canal are navigable currently. The Wey and Arun canal trust are attempting to bring the canal back to full navigation - but this will be a very long project, and I wonder if they will ever manage it. They have been at it for nearly 50 years.
Definitely worth a look.
There is also the disused Cranleigh line where it crosses the river, and some disused railway alignment from 150 years ago between the Portsmouth main line and the Gatwick Line that I was always curious about. This disused railway alignment has a WW2 Pill box on it next to the river. There are a few other pill boxes up the river, so there is definitely a story here!
Day Narrowboat hire is available from Farncombe Boat House if you wanted the experience on the water on the Wey :-)
Nice one.
Top Info Guys
Thanks Rex
Great stuff! Looking forward to some more 'further afield' videos as we get out of lockdown. Good health to you both! ;)
most rivers in the south of England were navigable at the time of the Norman Conquest, and only silted up afterwards. Saxon and Norman longships happily rowed up them. Smuggling and trade continued into the 18th Century. Navigations and canals were needed for heavier loads, or were built where the rivers were not suitable, eg for mines, heavy metal ores and metal parts, and for coal. There was almost no need for anything else.
Hey guys , cool video thanks, you might want to look up the history of Titchfield, Hants.......i think there is an old roman canal that goes from The Haven to Titchfield , an old port.
More interesting stuff! Couldn’t see much evidence of the lock chambers other than the entrance and change in levels, but they might have been turf-sided or even flash locks? More reading required when I have time.
Greetings from Bishopstoke. I see the lock here everyday