Britain's industrial revolution depended on canals for the cheap movement of materials & goods
- until the coming of the railways. Canal companies struggled to compete & went into a long decline but much of the canal network is still with us today & interest in the history & heritage of canals
- & those who worked on them
- is strong. That is why Sue Wilkes's well researched & highly readable handbook on the subject is so valuable. She concentrates on the people who lived & worked on the waterways
- the canal boatmen their families & their way of life
- & those who depended on the canal trade for a living
- the lock-keepers toll collectors & canal company clerks. She provides a thorough practical guide to the sources
- the archives books websites societies
- available for researchers if they are studying our inland waterways or trying to find out about an ancestor who worked on the canals or was connected with them. Her book is essential reading for anyone interested in this aspect of the industrial past.