Chronography of Canal and River Transport
Page
last modified 17 March 2022
See Egypt for events relating to Suez Canal
UK
canal map, �https://railmaponline.com/
GB
Canals (See also Road Construction 1819 for loads
feasible on a horse by road and water) See below for
non-GB canals.
British Isles
canal maps
2)
Lancashire, Yorkshire and North Midlands
3)
South Midlands, Severn Valley and South
Wales
5)
Southern England and South West
1948, Britain�s canals were
nationalised. Administration passed to the British Waterways Board.
1945, The Ulverston Canal
closed.
1944, The Hincaster Tunnel, at the northern end of the Lancaster Canal in
Cumbria, closed to goods traffic.
1944, The Newport to Shrewsbury Canal closed.
1929, The Grantham Canal closed.
1921, The last commercial
boat used the Huddersfield
Narrow Canal Tunnel. Maintenance was suspended in 1944, and
thereafter the roof tunnel became prone to rock falls. Restoration plans were
made in the 1990s and the Tunnel reopened in 2001.
31 August 1921,
The Trench Incline,
Telford, linking the Shrewsbury Canal up to the Wombridge Canal, was closed.
1914, The Wiltshire Canal closed.
21 May 1894. The Manchester Ship Canal, which had taken 25 years to build,
was officially opened by Queen Victoria (see 1 January 1894). The Queen
travelled by rain from Windsor, leaving at 11.10 a.m. and travelling on the
Great Western Railway via Reading, Oxford, and
Wolverhampton, which she made by 2pm.Continuing via Stafford and Crewe, Queen
Victoria arrived at London Road Station, Manchester, at about 4 p.m. The Queen
then travelled along the canal by boat.
1 January 1894. The Manchester Ship Canal opened, 56 km.� Its official opening by Queen Victoria was on 21 May 1894.
1893, The Thames and Severn
Canal closed east of Stroud, made uneconomic by railway competition.
A Trust was formed to rescue the Canal, and ssucceeded in reopening it in March
1899; after necessary repairs, the Canal was used to deliver coal to
Cirencester in 1904. However the Canal remained uneconomic, most of its
employees were laid off in 1912, and the waterway gradually decayed.
1891, Most of the Bude Canal closed, except for a short stretch near Bude
itself.
11 November 1887, The first sod of the Manchester Ship Canal
was cut.
1877, In The UK the Canal Boat Act now enabled local
authorities to register canal boats and record who was living on them and ther
relkationship to each other, and on their sanitary cinditions, In practice, the
number of boats to be inspected often overwhelmed local authorities, and the
boat owners were hostile to the inspectors.
1855, The Hertford Union Canal
(or Ducketts Cut), 1 � miles long, was opened to provide a link between the
Regents Canal and the River Lea.
1853, The Droitwich Junction
Canal opened.
1850, The River Tyne
Improvement Act was passed. The river was widened and deepened by dredging,
which facilitated a rise in coal exports from the Tyne docks from 496,402 tons
in 1859 to� 5,273,588 tons in 1869.
1847, The Par Canal
opened.
1842, The Chard Canal
opened.
1845, The Gloucester and
Hereford Canal reached Hereford; construction had begun from
Gloucester in 1791.
1840, The Canal Police Act now enabled canal companies to create their own
police force, to be stationed around locks and canal keeper�s cottages (these
being targets of crime) and along the towpaths and canalside inns.
1839, The Manchester and Salford
Canal was opened.
1 September 1835, The link canal (Middlewich Branch)
between Hurleston Junction (Chester Canal) and the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich, authorised 1827, finally
opened (see 1779).
2 March 1835, The Birmingham and Liverpool Canal
was completed. Authorised in 1826, it is now known as the Shropshire Union Canal.
Opening had been delayed due to numerous embankment failures, because they had
been built with too steep slopes.
1834, Straightening work was
completed on the Oxfordshire Canal (work began 1829),
shortening it from 91 to 77.5 miles.
1833, The Glastonbury Canal
opened. This link was made possible by an amalgamation of the Chester Canal
company and the Trent and Mersey canal company�
in 1813.
12 January 1832, The Norbury Junction to Wellington via
Newport (Shropshire) canal opened. It had been authorised in 1827.
1831, The Liskeard and Looe
Canal, and the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal
opened.
9 November 1831, The Macclesfield Canal
opened.
1830, The Hereford Canal
opened.
12 August 1828, The Kensington Canal opened,
from the Thames up to Earls Court where it connected with a railway to the
north-west. It closed in 1860 and was converted to a railway which used its
former course, then crossed the Thames to link to Clapham Junction.
1827, The Gloucester and
Berkeley Canal opened. By 1827 the Birmingham Canal had been
improved by levelling down to remove an old summit at Smethwick, eliminating
locks and resulting in a cutting up to 71 feet deep. The Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal was doubled. The improvement of the River Yare Navigation to Norwich
was authorised. It opened 1833 but was a financial failure.
7/1827, Construction work began on
the Middlewich Branch of the Chester Canal, see 1
September 1835.
1826, The Peckham arm of the Grand Surrey Canal opened, The Lancaster Canal
was completed. The Knottingley to Goole Canal
opened.
1825, The Bude Canal
opened.
14 October 1824, The Higham
and Strood Canal Tunnels opened, completing the Thames and Medway
Canal. From 1845 this canal tunnel was used for rail traffic.
5/1823, The Portsmouth and Arundel
Canal opened in full (the Portsmouth secion had opened 9/1822). By
1824 local people were complaining that the canal had caused contamination of
their wells with seawater.
1822, The
Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal opened.
29 October 1822, The Caledonian Canal, Scotland, opened (construction began 1803).
1820,
The Regents Canal, north London, opened. Construction began in
1812; the canal ran from Paddington to join the Thames at Limehouse. The Leigh Branch Canal opened, linking the Leeds and Liverpool
canal to the Bridgewater Canal.
1819,
The North Wiltshire and Sheffield Canals
were completed. The Bude Canal was
authorised, from Bude to Thornton and Launceston, It was intended for carrying
sea sand inland for use as fertiliser.
1817,
The Edinbiurgh and Glasgow Union Canal was
authorised, 30 miles long, to connect Edinburgh with the Forth and Clyde Canal at
Falkirk.
25 December 1817, The Hincaster
Tunnel, at the northern end of the Lancaster Canal
in Cumbria, opened.
24 June 1817, The Tavistock Canal, linking Tavistock to the port at Morwelham,
opened; construction had begun in 1803. However the boom in copper prices
caused by the Napoleonic Wars had given way to a slump in prices, so the Devon
copper mines this canal served were now less economic.
1816, The Leeds to Liverpool
canal opened.
1815, The Northampton branch
canal (off Grand Union) opened. It replaced a plateway that had
opened in 1805.
1814, The Grand Union Canal
opened in full. The Grand Western Canal
(Loudwell to Tiverton) opened. Plans for extending it down to Exeter (see 1796) had been
abandoned.
1 July 1813, The Ellesmere and Chester Canals were merged under
one company, the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company.
1813, The Aylesbury Branch Canal
(off Grand Union) was completed. The Wey and Arun Canal was
authorised.
1812, The Aberdare Canal
opened, from Aberdare to Glamorgan.
4 April 1811, The Huddersfield Narrow Canal
Pennines (authorised by Act of Parliament April 1794), opened to traffic
(construction began 1794). The Glamorganshire Canal, S
Wales, (authorised 1790) opened, also the branch from Abercynon to Aberdare.
1810, The Kennet and Avon Canal
opened (authorised 1794). The stretch from Newbury to Hungerford opened in
1798. It could take half a day to traverse the lock ladder, 2 miles, near
Devizes, and it took 36 hours to transport cotton by canal from Liverpool to
Manchester. When the Liverpool to Manchester railway opened in 1830, canal
transport rates were reduced from 15 to 10 shillings per ton. This canal closed
in the 1950s but was reopened in 1990.
1809, The Croydon Canal
opened. A branch canal opened to Market Harborough. Work began on the Grand Western Canal (authorised 1796). Work began on the
Tiverton Branch first, to tap into an expected �10,000 per annum stone traffic
from the Burlescombe quarries � in fact traffic here never exceeded �1,000 oer
year. It would have been better to start at the Topsham or Taunton end, whoch
would have generated a coal traffic as soon as a few miles were operational.
Attempts to lower the Holcombe Rogus summit by 16 feet to save on loclss also
resulted in much extra expenditure.
1805, The Shropshire Union Canal opened. The Llangollen Canal
opened. The Royal Military Canal, 39 km long, opened.
1804, The Rochdale Canal (authorised 1794) was completed. The Barnsley Canal opened. The Dearne and Dove Canal
opened.
1802, The Nottingham Canal was opened.
1802, The Stratfotd on Avon Canal opened. This took further London-bound
coal trade from the Netherton mines and nearby ironworks away from the
Birmingham Canal, see Dudley Canal Tunnel 1785.
1801, The Crinan Canal was completed; construction had begun in 1793.
1801, The Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal opened.
1801, The Grand Surrey Canal was authorised; intended to run from the
Thames at Rotherhithe to Mitcham via Peckham, Camberwell and Kennington.
Branches to Epsom and Croydon were also proposed. In fact it never opened
further than Camberwell, which was reached in 1809. A later branch to Peckham
was also built.
1800, The Grand Union (Grand
Junction) Canal was opened through west London, to Uxbridge and on to
Buckingham, except for a tunnel at Blisworth which had failed during
construction. This tunnel was finally completed in 1805; until then a tramway
connected the two parts of the canal. This was joined to the main Birmingham Canal in 1805. On 10/ July 1801 a branch from Bulls
Bridge was made into Paddington. In 1820 this branch was connected by the Regents Canal (authorised 1812) through to Limehouse. It
facilitated good shipments from the industrial north and midlands to London
just at a time when French pirates were making insurance rates heavy for
coastal shipping along the south coast.
1800, The Peak Forest Canal
opened.
1799, The Lancaster Canal
(authorised 1792) opened. The Barnsley Canal opened.
1798, The Huddersfield,
Ashton to Stalybridge, and Gloucester Canals
were completed.
1797, The Ashton and Shrewsbury Canals opened. The Leicestershire and
Northamptonshore Union Canal, proposed to link Leicester with the
River Nene at Northampton, 44 miles, was completed from Leicester to Dendale
Wharf, 17 miles.
1796, The LuneAqueduct
opened. The Grand Western Canal, intended to run
through from Topsham near Exeter to Taunton in Somerset, was authorised.
However work was delayed until 1809 because of uncertainties arising from the Napoleonic
Wars. The Dorset and Domerset Canal was authorised, which
would have run from Bath to the River Stour in Dorset. However the owners
started work on the middle of the canal, building a section from Frome to the
collieries at Nettlebridge. A start at either end would have been better. By
1803 money had been exhausted and 1.75 miles remained to be built; the canal
could not raise any more funds, and it was abandoned. Further proposals for a
canal across the south-west peninsula of England also failed, and the railways were soon to come.
1796, A canal branch from
Pontcysyllte to Chester was authorised, but just 2.3 miles of branch canal near
Wrexham was all that was ever built. By 1800 collieries had opened near Chester
which obviated any nead to bring coal from the Pontcysyllte area. Instead the Ellesmere Canal was opened in 1805 (see 1 July 1795) from Framkton to
Hurleston Junction on the Chester Canal.
11/1796, The Ulverston Canal
opened.
1795, Cabins began to appear on
British canal boats as journeys lengthened. Previously, crews had slept ashore
at inns, with the horses stabled also at the inn or at local houses.
1795, The Wiltshire Canal,
from Semington on the River Kennet toAbingdon on the River Thames by way if
Swindon (s small town , pre-railways) was authorised.
1 July 1795, The first section of the Ellesmere Canal,
from Chester to Netherpool (now called El;lesmere Port) opened, see 1796.
1794, The Basingstoke Canal
opened (authorised 1778).
It was useful for exporting the agricultiural produce of the area but the canal
was never a success financially. The company had paid interest on loans out of
capital before the canal opened, so it was always trying to catch up with debt
and never issued a dividend on its shares. Hopes of extending the canal
westwards were thwarted by the opening of the Kennet and Svon Canal; the
proposed canal link from Basingstoke to the Kennet never materialised; and the
end of the Napoleonic Wars meant goods from Portsmouth for London could safely
use the coastal route round by Kent. The advent of the railways finally
precipitated its closure.
1794, The Glamorgan Canal
opened from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. The Charnwood Canal, north
Leictesrershire, opened. The Ashby de la Zouch Canal
was authorised; it was intended as a 43 mile canal, with branches to the limeworks
at Tickhill and Cloudhill. In the end, it ran for just 30 miles toMoira. The Swansea Canal and the Rochdale Canal were
authorised.
1794, Work began on the Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal, starting from Gloucester.
However by 1799 only some 5.5 miles had been cut as far as Hardwicke,and money
had run out. The project was revived with the start of construction of Berkeley
Docks on 15 July 1818. This was one
canal that benefitted from the advent of the railways, as that meant more
traffic coming toi Gloucester, and more international goods traffic from
Berkeley.
1793, The Grantham Canal,
Grantham to Nottingham, opened. Proposed canals from Brecon to Hay on Wye and
Whitney, and from Abergevenny to Hereford, were dropped. A plan for a canal
from the Leominster Canal via Ludlow and Bishops Castle to the Montgomeryshire
Canal near Welshpool was also cancelled, due to cost of construction. The Dearne and Dove Canal was authorised. The Barnsley Canal
was authorised.
1793, The Ellesmere Canal
was authorised. The idea was to link the rivers Severn, Dee and Mersey. There
was a branch to Weston, to which lime would be carried from the quarries at
Llanymynech; from here the lime, as fertiliser, couold be carried by road to
Shrewsbury, and a canal branch extension from Weston to Shrewsbury was
eventually planned. The Grand Junction Canal was
authorised, running from the Oxford canal at Braunston to thre River Thames at
Brentford, 93.5 miles.
23 August 1793, Construction work began on the Ulverston Canal, Lancashire, a short 1.25 mile canal to link
the town to the sea, which had receded from the town.
1792, The Ashton under Lyne
Canal was authorised. The Wyrley and Essington Canal
was authorised.
1791, The Gloucester to Hereford
Canal and the Kington and Leominster to Stourport
Canal were authorised. The Neath Canal and the Manchesterk, Bolton
and Bury Canal were authorised. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal was
authorised
1790, The Oxford Canal
opened in full, down to Oxford (see 1778).
28 July 1790, The Forth and Clyde Canal
opened (construction began 1768).
1789, The Cromford Canal
was authorised.
4/1789, The Sapperton Canal Tunnel
�linking Stroud to the Thames,
opened; construction had begun in 1784 (authorised 1783). The Thames and Severn Canal was now fully open. It had the major
disadvantage of significant water losses through the oolite limestone country,
in an area short of water supplies anyway.
1785, The Dudley canal tunnel was
authorised, to connect the Dudley Canal with the Birmingam Canal at Tipton. However the owners of the
Birmingham Canal saw this connection as a means of divertuing Severn-bound
traffic from their route, which went up to Autherley (Aldersley) Junction at
Wolverhampton, and managed to get a clause in the Worcester and Birmingham
Canal Act that (ostensibly to conserve water) no connection was to be made; the
�Worcester Bar� was not pierced until 1815. The proprietors of the Dudley Canal now applied for authorisation to connect with the
Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Selly Oak, by-passing Birmingham altogether
via the Lappal
Tunnel. Coal from the Netehrton mines would be able to reach points
south east and north east of Birmingham without using the Birmingham Canal at
all. The Lappal
Tunnel opened in 1798. See also Stratford on Avon Canal, 1802.
1779, The Stroudwater Canal,
linking Stroud, Gloucestershire, to the River Severn, opened, see 1730.
1779, The Chester Canal
(authorised 1772) reached Nantwich. However the connection to Middlewich was
not made for another fifty years (see 1 September 1835) because the Trent and Mersey Canal did not want an alternative route to
the sea via the Rivers Dee or Weaver.
1778, The Oxford Canal
opened from Banbury to Coventry. The Basingstoke Canal was
authorised, although work was delayed by economic problems in the UK resulting
from the American War of Independence.
1777, The Trent and Mersey Canal
opened. Construction had begun near Burslem on 26 July 1766.
1777, The Chesterfield Canal
opened.
1774, The Bradford Canal
completed.
1772, The Staffordshire and
Worcestershire Canal opened. The Bridgewater Canal
extended to the Mersey at Runcorn. The Bridgewater Canal halved the price of
coal in Manchester, from 7d per hundredweight to 3 � d, and also made uneconomic
pits worthwhile. The Chester Canal was
authorised.
30 September 1772, James Brindley, who built the Bridgewater, Grand Trunk (Grand Union), and Manchester Canals,
died at Turnhurst in Staffordshire. The
Grand Trunk Canal reduced freight rates between Manchester and Lichfield from
�4 per ton to �1 per ton; canal toll and carrier�s charges amounted to
around 2.5 d per ton-mile (�1.25 per ton-mile in 2015 prices)..
6 November 1769, The Birmingham Canal (authorised
1768) was completed, from Wednesbury to Birmingham. This caused the price of
coal in Wednesbury to drop from 13 shillings a ton to 7 shillings a ton.
17 July 1761, The Bridgewater Canal, from Worsley to Manchester, built by James Brindley,
was opened (construction began 1758). It was built to carry coal
to Manchester, but by 1778 it also operated a passenger service, fares were as
follows (single fares; day return was 1.5x the single). This canal ceased to
transpot coal in 1887.
|
|
Runcorn to Worsley |
Worsley to Mancehster |
|
Front seats |
42d (17.5p) |
12d (5p) |
|
Rear seats |
27d (11p) |
6d (2.5p) |
Prices in 2015 were approximately 110 x
the level of 1778.
The tunnelers who dug the underground canal to the
coal mines were paid 1s 8d (9p) a day. Wages in 2015 were approximately 1,750x
those of 1759.
There was also a network of underground canals to
transport coal from the mine, and an underground inclined plane (built 9/1795 �
1797, disused from 1822.
1757, The
first stage of the
Sankey Canal completed
(begun 1755) from St Helens to carry coal to the Mersey.
Final stage completed 1763). See 1694.
1734, The River Irwell was made navigable up as far as Manchester, with
8 locks between Manchester and Warrington (Act of Parliament 1720).
1733, The River Weaver was made navigable up to the Northwich salt fields
(Act of Parliament 1720).
21 May 1736, The Duke of Bridgewater, canal pioneer, was born.
1730, The Stroudwater Canal, from the River Severn to Stroud, was
authorised. This was the first stage in connecting the Thames with the Severn.
However it met strong opposition from the miilowners (who feared that water
lost as noats passed through locks would take away theor source of power) that
a stipulation was made that no boats were to pass between 14 August and 15
October without the mill owners� consent. In fact no construction began and a
second Act for this canal was passed in 1759. To placate the millowners, no
locks were to be used; rather a crane would be employed at eac change of water
level to transfer cargo between boats. The canal work began but an injunction
stopped work and a third SAct had to be obtained in 1776. The Stroudwater Canal finally opened in 1779.
1726, The River Don was made navigable as far up as Tinsley (3 miles
below Sheffield). The project to make the Don navigable had been proposed by
Sheffield cutlery firms back in 1697, but was opposed and delayed for a while
by Bawtry merchants who would lose if trade was diverted away from the River
Idle / River Trent route.
1725, The Grosvenor Canal, a short canal in London, was opened. Most of it is now
buried beneath Victoria railway station.
1705, The improvement
of the River Stour Navigation up to Sudbiury was
autrhorised.
1698, An Act of
Parliament sanctioned the improvement for navigation of the River Aire and River Calder. York
traders feared a diversion of trade from their own river, the River Ouse.
1694, An Act of
Parliament authorised the making of the River Mersey navigable as
far up as Sankey (see 1734, 1757).
1571, An Act of
Parliament sanctioned the City of London to finance the improvement of the River Lea. This enabled more and cheaper food to reach London.
1564, The Exeter Canal, 4 miles, opened; the frst in Britain
to use double locks.
Non-GB
Canals (see below for specific countries)
23 December 2014, Construction work began on a canal across Nicaragua,
173 miles long but designed to take larger ships than the Panama Canal. The US$
50 billion (UK� 32 billion) project would displace 29,000 people and there were
fears that freshwater Lake Managua would be polluted. The Chinese-backed project, headed by
Hong Kong based� HKND, was granted a
renewable 50-year concession to build and operate the canal, in return for a
US$ 10 billion operating fee. President Ortega�s Sandinista administration
promised the project would create thousands of jobs during construction, but
many Nicaraguans perceived the government as corrupt.
15 August 1914, The 40-mile long Panama Canal opened, 82 km; construction
work had begun on 4 July 1914. The first ship to pass through the canal, this
day, was the SS Ancon. Ships passed through three locks 30 metres wide
and 300 metres long, rising to 85 feet above sea level at Lake Gatun, which had
been created by damming a river, before descending through more locks. Since
1914 over one million ships have used the Canal, saving 3,000 miles and eight
days of travel around Cape Horn. In 2013 12,036 vessels, carrying 319 million
tonnes of cargo, transitted the Canal, paying US$ 1,800 million in tolls. 86.7
million tons of this cargo originated from the USA, and 49.8 million tons was
destined for the USA. In 2013 some 3% of world maritime cargo, worth US$ 270
billion (UK� 160 million at 2014 exchange rates). However many 21st
century cargo ships are too big for the Canal, and in 2006 the Panama Canal
Authority announced expansion plans, costed at US$ 3,200 million, due for
completion in 2016.
6 August 1912, U.S. President Taft
asked Congress to fix maximum tolls for the Panama Canal.
1896, The Suez Canal,
Egypt, 172 km, opened. See Egypt for history and events of this Canal.
1893, The Corinth Canal,
Greece,
6.3km, was completed.
19 April 1850, The Clayton-Bulwer
Treaty between the USA and UK was signed. It was an agreement on the terms
for building a canal across central America; under this treaty, neither party
would exercise exclusive control over such a canal or fortify it.
1504, The Republic of Venice
approached the Sultan of Turkey, proposing
the construction of a canal at Suez.
620, The Grand Canal,
China, over 1,900 km, was completed.
520 BCE, Persian Emperor Darius I
dug a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea.
609 BCE, Construction began on a
new canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. Begun by Pharaoh Necho, it was never
completed, but cost the lives of more than 120,000 men.
1380 BCE, A canal was constructed by
Pharaoh
Amenhotep III from the Nile to the Red Sea using slave labour (see
609 BCE).
Belgium
1939, The Albert Canal,
Belgium,
129 km, was completed (construction began 1930), It was built to link
industrial Liege with the port of Antwerp; also as part of Belgium�s defences.
1922, The modernised Brussels to
Rupel Canal Maritime, 30 km, opened (see 1561)
1907, The Bruges to Zeebrugge
Canal opened, 10km.
1832, The Charleroi to Brussels
Canal was completed.
1827, The Terneuzen to Ghent
Canal, 18km, opened, linking the city of Ghent to Terneuzen on the
Scheldt Estuary.
1622, A canal from Brussels to Dunkirk,
73 km, was opened.
1561, The original Brussels to River
Rupel Canal opened (see 1922). It had 5 locks to descend 10 metres, and could
take small seagoing vessels.
Canada
10 August 1954, The Saint Lawrence Seaway project
was officially launched. It was cpmpleted in 1959.
1932, The Welland Canal, Canada, 42 km, opened.
1856, The Wabash and Erie Canal opened after 24 years of construction.
Cholera, and money losses to embezzlers, had plagued the project. However after
4 years the section below Terre Haute closed, and the rest was shut down in
1874, was railways made the canals obsolete.
China
65, The Grand Canal of China, which eventually grew to a length of 1,770 km, was started. It was completed in 1327, and connected Beijing to the Yangtze River.
In 983, the
provincial transportation commissioner Chaio Wei-Yo built the first recorded chamber or pound lock in the world, on the Grand
Canal. This was a chamber where the water level can be gradually raised or
lowered; so-called flash locks had been in use for centuries. One side-benefit
of the piund lock was that boats going upstream need no longer be dragged up an
incline; many boats broke up during this process, and crowds would gather, hoping
for this so they could rush in and steal the cargo. Pound locks did not appear
in the West until the 14th century.
France,
1933, The canal between
Marseilles and Arles opened.
1892, The Maritime Loire Canal,
Le Carnet to Martiniere, opened (construction began 1881), enabliing ships to
reach Nantes.
1837, Construction began on the Canal de Marseille, 156 km, completed 1848.
1836, The Oise Canal
was completed.
1832, The Canal Monsieur,
linking the Rhone and the Rhine, was completed.
1818, The French Bourbon
Government, now the post Napoleonic occupation forces had been withdrawn, began
an extensive and systematic public programme of canal building, adding some 900
km to the 1,200lkm of canal already existing in France by 1830. This possibly
held back railway
development in France.
1810, The St Quentin Canal,
between the Somme and the Scheldt, was completed (work had begun in 1803).
1681,
The Canal du Midi, (Languedoc Canal)
France,
was completed, 214 km long, linking the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean.
The project was authorised 10/1666.
1642, Loire � Seine Briare Canal
completed (begun 1604).
Germany
30 October 1938, The Mitteland Canal in Germany, linking the Rhine to the Elbe, was
opened.
1916,
The Weser-Elbe Canal opened.
1915,
The Ems-Weser Canal opened.
1914,
The Rhine-Herne Canal opened.
1900, The Elbe and Trave Canal,
Germany, 70 km, opened.
1899, The Dortmund-Ems Canal
was completed.
19 June 1895. The Kiel Canal between the Baltic and North Sea, 98 km, was opened
by German
Emperor
Wilhelm II. Construction began in 6/1887.
3 June 1887, The foundation stone of the opening lock of the Kiel Canal was laid.
1858, The Berlin-Spandau Ship
Canal opened (work began 1849).
1850, The Landwehr and
Louisenstadt Canal opened (work began 1845).
1838, The Oranienburg Canal
was opened (work began 1831).
1806, The Klodnitz Canal,
linking the Upper Silesian coalfields with the Oder, was completed,
1772, Construction of the Bromberg Canal, linking the Oder and Vistula, began (completed
1775).
1766, The Fehrbellin Canal
was completed,
1742, Construction of the Elbe � Havel canal began.
1668,
Oder � Spree canal completed (begun 1661).
Greece
6 August 1893. The 3 � mile Corinth Canal
opened in Greece. Cut up to 300 feet deep, it took ten years to build.
Ireland,
1939, The Newry Canal
closed.
1931, The Strabane Canal
closed.
1929, The Ulster Canal
closed.
1858, The Ballinamore and
Ballyconnel Canal opened (construction began 1846).
1845, The Royal Canal
was bought by the Midland Great Western
Railway; canal traffic began to decline. The canal was closed in the 1950s.
1830, The Longford Branch
of the Royal Canal opened.
1805, The Grand Canal
finally opened. It had initially been authorised in 1715.
1796, The Strabane Canal,
from Strabane to the River Foyle, 4 miles,opened.
1795, work began on the Lower Boyne Canal, from Drogheda to Slane. By 1800 this canal
had reached Navan. One mile of a proposed extension up to Trim was also cut
before being abandoned.
1 January 1794, The Laggan Navigation opened;
it was authorised under an Act of 1753; construction began in 1756. The lower
section up to Lisburn opened in 1765 but work halted, due to flooding risks and
lack of funds. Work recommenced in 1782 and the link up to Lough Neagh was
completed on 1 January 1794.
1759, The Barrow Canal,
partly river navigation, was commenced.
1756, Construction of the Grand Canal began. It opened to Tullamore in 1798 and to
Shannon in 1804. After the railways came in the 18560s the canal declined. The
last cargo boat passed through in 1960 and the canal then decayed. It has been
restored since 1986 as a leisure facility.
3/1742, The Newry Canal,
from Lough Neagh southwards to Newry, 35 miles, opened, facilitating coal
shipments to Dublin,, Construction had begun in 1731.
Netherlands, There were two major
periods of 19th C. canal construction in The Netherlands, from
1815-30, and from 1849 onwards.
1935, The Princess Juliana Canal, Netherlands, 33 km, opened.
1893, The Vaart Rhine Canal opened (construction began 1881). This links
Amsterdam to Utrecht.
1892, The Deurne Canal opened, River Maas to Helenaveen (construction
began 1876)
1888, The Almelo to Noordhorn Canal opened (construction began 1884)
1888, The Overjysel Canal opened (construction began 1884)
1884, The Stieltjes Canal opened (construction began 1880)
1880, The Stadskanaal (State Canal) opened (construction began 1877),
connecting to Drente.
1876, The Rietdeep Canal opened (construction began 1873), linking
Groningen to the Lauwers Zee.
1876, The North Sea Canal opened, linking Amsterdam to the North Sea
(construction began 1865). It cost �3 million equivalent, and utilised the bed
of the River Y, then cut across the sand dunes at Ymuiden.
1876, The Ems Ship Canal opened, Groningen to Delfzyl (construction
began 1866)
1872, The New Waterway Canal opened linking Rotterdam to the North Sea
(construction began 1866). It cost �2.5 million equivalent to build, and
utlilised the Scheur river channel north of Rozenburg, cutting across the Hook
of Holland.
1869, The Apeldoorn to Dieren
Canal opened (construction began 1859)
1866, The South Beveland Canal
opened (construction began 1862)
8 March 1865, Construction of the Amsterdam � North Sea
Canal began (30 km). It opened in 1876.
1862, The North Williams Canal opened, Assen to Groningen (construction
began 1856)
1858, The Almelo Canal opened.
1858, The Orange Canal opened (construction began 1853)
1825, The North Holland Canal,
Amsterdam
to Helder, opened.
Nicaragua
19 April 1850, The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty between the USA
and UK was signed. It was an agreement on the terms for building a canal across
Nicaragua; under this treaty, neither party would exercise exclusive control
over such a canal or fortify it. The US
and the UK each had territorial interests in Central America, and were
suspicious of each other�s activities in the region. Ultimately this Treaty
was superseded by a similar neutralisation policy regarding the Panama Canal under the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1902.
Russia
1964, The Volga-Baltic Ship
Canal opened, linking Leningrad (St Petersburg) to the Caspian.
1937, The Moscow Volga Canal,
129 km, opened.
1933, The Baltic � White Sea
Canal opened. It had been dug under Stalin by convict slave labour.
Sweden.
1942, The Falsterbo Canal,
1.6 km, opened.
1916, The Trollhatte Canal,
87km, opened.
1832, The Gota Canal,
Sweden,
400 km, opened.
USA.
1927, The Chesapeake and
Delaware Canal, 31 km, opened.
1916, The Beaumont to Port
Arthur Canal, 64 km, opened.
1914, The Cape Cod Ship Canal
opened, 29km, Buzzard�s Bay to Cape Cod.
1914, The Houston Ship Canal
opened, 80km, connecting Houston to Galveston Bay.
1907, The Atchafalaya Bay Canal,
Louisiana, opened, linking the Atchafalaya River and Moirgan City with the Gulf
of Mexico.
1900, The Chicago Sanitary and
Ship Canal opened, 48 km.
1877, The canal to Keokuk, Iowa,
14 km, opened.
1856, The Wabash and Erie Canal
opened after 24 years contruction, with considerable loss of life to cholera
and loss of money to embezzlers. The canal ran 758 km to Evansville on the Ohio
River, However dsue to competiton from the railways, the section below Terre
haute closed down 4 years later, and the reaminder closed in 1874.
1855, The Sault-Saint-Marie (Soo) Ship Canal opened, linking Chicago to
the large iron ore deposits of northern Michigan.
1850,
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal opened froim
Georgetown to Cumberland, 299km, opened (construction began 1828).
1845, The Miami and Erie Canal,
410 km from Cincinatti to Toledo, opened.
1837, The Pennsylvania Canal
was opened, spurring the development of Pittsburgh.
1836, Construction began on the Whitewater Canal, terminating at Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
1834, The Delaware and Raritan
Canal opened, 72 km from New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Bordentown,
Pennsylvania.
1831, The Morris Canal,
163 km, opened between Newark, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania; it mainly
carried coal.
1829, The Delaware and
Chesapeake Canal, 21.7 km, was completed
1828, The Delaware and Hudson
Canal, 98km, opened between Kingston (New York) and Port Jervis on
the Delaware River, where it connected to the 81 km Lackwanna Canal to
Honesdale, Pennsylvania. It reached Cumberland, Maryland, in 1850; however the
railway had arrived there in 1842, making the 297 km canal, with its 74 locks,
obsolete. Plans to extend the canal to Pittsburgh were abandoned, but it
remained in use until 1924.
1828, The Welland Sea Canal
opened, connecting Lake Erie with Lake Ontario and enabling shipping to avoid
the Niagara Falls.
26 October 1825, The Erie Canal, linking New
York with the Great Lakes via Niagara and the Hudson River, begun 4 July 1817,
was completed. Influenced by Governor DeWitt Clinton the New York state
legislature agreed to fund the US$ 7 million project. The canal, 363 miles
long, 40 foot wide, 4 foot deep, with 82 locks, would make New York the
principal port of America.
4 July 1817, Construction work began on the Erie Canal; actually called the New York State Barge
Canal.� The canal opened on 26 October 1825.
USSR
1964, The Volga-Baltic Ship
Canal opened, 850 km, to link Leningrad to the Caspian Sea,
31 May 1952, The Volga � Don Canal was
opened (105 km).
1937,
In the USSR, the Moscow-Volga Ship Canal, 130km,opened,
linking Moscow to the River Volga.
21 August 1933, In the
USSR, the White Sea Canal opened. It was built mostly with
forced labour.
