The Canal Builders- The Men who Constructed Britain's Canals

Canal Builders is a classic history book for anyone interested in the development of Britain's canal system. The book, which was first published in the 1970s, is now republished here. It takes the reader from the middle of the eighteenth century, to the start of the railway age in the early 19th century. Anthony Burton has revised and improved the original text and has added many extra illustrations. This is the remarkable story of the many groups of people who were responsible for building Britain's canal system. There were industrialists such as Josiah Wedgwood, who promoted canals to help his own industry, and speculators, financed the projects in the hope of a good return. The work was planned by engineers, such as James Brindley and Thomas Telford. This is also the story of the great, anonymous army of men who did the work, the navvies. This was the first book ever to study the lives of these labourers in detail. Altogether it is a story of how a transport route was made.