88-596: The current Cannock Extension Canal is a 1.8-mile (2.9 km) canal in England. It runs from Pelsall Junction on the Wyrley and Essington Canal , north to Norton Canes Docks and forms part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations . Historically, it ran to Hednesford , and served a number of collieries, which provided the main traffic. It opened in 1863, and the northern section closed in 1963, as
176-547: A caisson of water in which boats float while being moved between two levels; and inclined planes where a caisson is hauled up a steep railway. To cross a stream, road or valley (where the delay caused by a flight of locks at either side would be unacceptable) the valley can be spanned by a navigable aqueduct – a famous example in Wales is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site ) across
264-510: A drainage divide atop a ridge , generally requiring an external water source above the highest elevation . The best-known example of such a canal is the Panama Canal . Many canals have been built at elevations, above valleys and other waterways. Canals with sources of water at a higher level can deliver water to a destination such as a city where water is needed. The Roman Empire 's aqueducts were such water supply canals. The term
352-415: A "cistern", or depressed area just downstream from the fall, to "cushion" the water by providing a deep pool for its kinetic energy to be diffused in. Vertical falls work for drops of up to 1.5 m in height, and for discharge of up to 15 cubic meters per second. The transport capacity of pack animals and carts is limited. A mule can carry an eighth-ton [250 pounds (113 kg)] maximum load over
440-601: A Watling Street but they are not on the route). Following the Viking invasions , the 9th-century Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum mentions Watling Street as a boundary. It is assumed that the pilgrims in Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales used the southeastern stretch of Watling Street when journeying from Southwark to Canterbury . The first turnpike trust in England was established over Watling Street northwest of London by an Act of Parliament on 4 March 1707 in order to provide
528-655: A boundary of many historic administrative units, and some of these are still in existence today, either through continuity or the adoption of these as by successor areas. Examples include: The broad, grassy trackway found by the Romans had already been used by the Britons for centuries. The main path led from Richborough on the English Channel to a natural ford in the Thames at Thorney Island , Westminster , to
616-496: A canal has a series of dams and locks that create reservoirs of low speed current flow. These reservoirs are referred to as slack water levels , often just called levels . A canal can be called a navigation canal when it parallels a natural river and shares part of the latter's discharges and drainage basin , and leverages its resources by building dams and locks to increase and lengthen its stretches of slack water levels while staying in its valley . A canal can cut across
704-413: A combination of the three, depending on available water and available path: Smaller transportation canals can carry barges or narrowboats , while ship canals allow seagoing ships to travel to an inland port (e.g., Manchester Ship Canal ), or from one sea or ocean to another (e.g., Caledonian Canal , Panama Canal ). At their simplest, canals consist of a trench filled with water. Depending on
792-549: A journey measured in days and weeks, though much more for shorter distances and periods with appropriate rest. Besides, carts need roads. Transport over water is much more efficient and cost-effective for large cargoes. The oldest known canals were irrigation canals, built in Mesopotamia c. 4000 BC , in what is now Iraq . The Indus Valley civilization of ancient India ( c. 3000 BC ) had sophisticated irrigation and storage systems developed, including
880-413: A longer route of 500 Roman miles connecting Richborough with Hadrian's Wall via Wroxeter. The continuation on to Blatobulgium ( Birrens , Dumfriesshire ) beyond Hadrian's Wall in modern Scotland may have been part of the same route, leading some scholars to call this Watling Street as well, although others restrict it to the southern leg. In the early 18th century, England's first turnpike trust
968-581: A rather low gradient for its time. The canal is still in use after renovation. In the Middle Ages , water transport was several times cheaper and faster than transport overland. Overland transport by animal drawn conveyances was used around settled areas, but unimproved roads required pack animal trains, usually of mules to carry any degree of mass, and while a mule could carry an eighth ton, it also needed teamsters to tend it and one man could only tend perhaps five mules, meaning overland bulk transport
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#17327830958251056-550: A result of mining subsidence. Following a period of negotiations, the Birmingham Canal Navigations had been leased by the London and Birmingham Railway from November 1845. The lease meant that the railway company had to authorise all new works where the cost exceeded £500. An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1846 to legalise the agreement, by which time the London and Birmingham Railway had become part of
1144-416: A return on the investment required to once more pave the road. The section from Fourne Hill north of Hockliffe to Stony Stratford was paved at a cost of £ 7000 over the next two years. Revenue was below expectations; in 1709, the trust succeeded in getting a new act extending the term of their monopoly but not permitting their tolls to be increased. In 1711, the trust's debts had not been discharged and
1232-652: A site near Wroxeter , where it split. The western continuation went on to Holyhead while the northern ran to Chester and on to the Picts in Scotland. There is a longstanding tradition that a natural ford once crossed the Thames between Thorney Island (present-day Westminster ) and the Lambeth / Wandsworth boundary. Its location means that it is possible that Watling Street crossed it. Several factors may have slowed
1320-540: A tribe in the St Albans area in the early medieval period with an early name of their city being "Waetlingacaester", which would translate into modern English as "Watlingchester". The original Anglo-Saxon name for the section of the route between Canterbury and London was Casingc Stræt or Key Street, a name still borne by a hamlet on the road near Sittingbourne . This section only later became considered part of Watling Street. Watling Street has been used as
1408-459: A uniform altitude. Other, generally later, canals took more direct routes requiring the use of various methods to deal with the change in level. Canals have various features to tackle the problem of water supply. In cases, like the Suez Canal, the canal is open to the sea. Where the canal is not at sea level, a number of approaches have been adopted. Taking water from existing rivers or springs
1496-422: Is a channel that cuts across a drainage divide , making a navigable channel connecting two different drainage basins . Both navigations and canals use engineered structures to improve navigation: Since they cut across drainage divides, canals are more difficult to construct and often need additional improvements, like viaducts and aqueducts to bridge waters over streams and roads, and ways to keep water in
1584-511: Is listed as taking 24 Roman miles rather than 17. The more direct route north from Londinium (London) to Eboracum ( York ) was Ermine Street . The stations between Eboracum and Cataractonium ( Catterick ) were shared with Dere Street , which then branched off to the northeast. Durocobrivis ( Dunstable ) was the site of the path's intersection with the Icknield Way . The Maiden Way ran from Bravoniacum ( Kirkby Thore ) to
1672-671: Is on the original route.) Dere Street , the Roman road from Cataractonium ( Catterick in Yorkshire ) to Corstopitum (now Corbridge , Northumberland ) to the Antonine Wall , was also sometimes known as Watling Street. A third Watling Street was the Roman road from Mamucium ( Manchester ) to Bremetennacum ( Ribchester ) to Cumbria . Preston , Lancashire , preserved a Watling Street Road between Ribbleton and Fulwood , passing
1760-571: Is preserved beneath Old Kent Road . The 2nd-century Antonine Itinerary gives the course of Watling Street from " Urioconium " (Wroxeter) to " Portus Ritupis " (Richborough) as a part of its Second Route ( Iter II ), which runs for 501 MP from Hadrian's Wall to Richborough: Some site in the middle section of this route is supposed by most historians to have been the location of G. Suetonius Paulinus 's decisive victory over Boudica 's Iceni in AD ;61. The two routes of
1848-701: Is presumed, introduced in Italy by Bertola da Novate in the 16th century. This allowed wider gates and also removed the height restriction of guillotine locks . To break out of the limitations caused by river valleys, the first summit level canals were developed with the Grand Canal of China in 581–617 AD whilst in Europe the first, also using single locks, was the Stecknitz Canal in Germany in 1398. In
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#17327830958251936-599: Is rarely less than 30 metres (98 ft) wide. In the 5th century BC, Achaemenid king Xerxes I of Persia ordered the construction of the Xerxes Canal through the base of Mount Athos peninsula, Chalkidiki , northern Greece. It was constructed as part of his preparations for the Second Persian invasion of Greece , a part of the Greco-Persian Wars . It is one of the few monuments left by
2024-1091: Is restricted or banned. The name Watling Street is still used along the ancient road in many places, for instance in Bexleyheath in southeast London and in Canterbury , Gillingham , Strood , Gravesend , and Dartford in Kent . North of London, the name Watling Street still occurs in Hertfordshire (including St Albans ), Bedfordshire ( Dunstable ), Buckinghamshire ( Milton Keynes ), Northamptonshire ( Towcester ), Leicestershire ( Hinckley ), Warwickshire ( Nuneaton and Atherstone ) and in Staffordshire ( Cannock , Wall , Tamworth and Lichfield ). (There are Watling Streets in Shropshire ( Church Stretton ) and in Gwynedd ( Llanrwst ), but neither
2112-418: Is steeper than the desired canal gradient. They are constructed so the falling water's kinetic energy is dissipated in order to prevent it from scouring the bed and sides of the canal. A canal fall is constructed by cut and fill . It may be combined with a regulator, bridge, or other structure to save costs. There are various types of canal falls, based on their shape. One type is the ogee fall, where
2200-452: Is the pound lock , which consists of a chamber within which the water level can be raised or lowered connecting either two pieces of canal at a different level or the canal with a river or the sea. When there is a hill to be climbed, flights of many locks in short succession may be used. Prior to the development of the pound lock in 984 AD in China by Chhaio Wei-Yo and later in Europe in
2288-544: The Antonine Itinerary immediately following ( Iter III & IV ) list the stations from Londinium to " Portus Dubris " ( Dover ) and to " Portus Lemanis " ( Lympne ) at the north eastern edge of the Romney Marsh , suggesting that they may have been considered interchangeable terminuses. They only differ in the distance to Durovernum : 14 and 17 Roman miles , respectively. The route to Lemanis
2376-734: The Dudley Canal , an extension to Lord Hay's Branch, and the construction of the Cannock Extension Canal, including two feeder tramways. The canal was opened to Rumer Hill Junction in 1858 and its 5.6-mile (9.0 km) length was fully open by 1863. A connection was made to the Hatherton Canal , a branch of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal , at Churchbridge Junction via the Churchbridge Branch, which had thirteen locks. An agreement between
2464-658: The Elbe , Oder and Weser being linked by canals. In post-Roman Britain, the first early modern period canal built appears to have been the Exeter Canal , which was surveyed in 1563, and open in 1566. The oldest canal in the European settlements of North America, technically a mill race built for industrial purposes, is Mother Brook between the Boston, Massachusetts neighbourhoods of Dedham and Hyde Park connecting
2552-501: The London and North Western Railway . The canal company had made a number of additions to their system in the 1840s, which had been successful in generating new traffic, and they embarked on another programme in 1854. The railway company did not object, although it imposed a condition that dividends paid to shareholders would be restricted to 4 per cent until the cost of the new works had been paid. The scheme included replacing Delph Locks on
2640-543: The Naviglio Grande built between 1127 and 1257 to connect Milan with the river Ticino . The Naviglio Grande is the most important of the lombard " navigli " and the oldest functioning canal in Europe. Later, canals were built in the Netherlands and Flanders to drain the polders and assist transportation of goods and people. Canal building was revived in this age because of commercial expansion from
2728-545: The Phoenix metropolitan area was the most complex in ancient North America. A portion of the ancient canals has been renovated for the Salt River Project and now helps to supply the city's water. The Sinhalese constructed the 87 km (54 mi) Yodha Ela in 459 A.D. as a part of their extensive irrigation network which functioned in a way of a moving reservoir due to its single banking aspect to manage
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2816-528: The River Brue at Northover with Glastonbury Abbey , a distance of about 1.75 kilometres (1,900 yd). Its initial purpose is believed to be the transport of building stone for the abbey, but later it was used for delivering produce, including grain, wine and fish, from the abbey's outlying properties. It remained in use until at least the 14th century, but possibly as late as the mid-16th century. More lasting and of more economic impact were canals like
2904-614: The Songhai Empire of West Africa, several canals were constructed under Sunni Ali and Askia Muhammad I between Kabara and Timbuktu in the 15th century. These were used primarily for irrigation and transport. Sunni Ali also attempted to construct a canal from the Niger River to Walata to facilitate conquest of the city but his progress was halted when he went to war with the Mossi Kingdoms . Around 1500–1800
2992-556: The reservoirs built at Girnar in 3000 BC. This is the first time that such planned civil project had taken place in the ancient world. In Egypt , canals date back at least to the time of Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332–2283 BC), who ordered a canal built to bypass the cataract on the Nile near Aswan . In ancient China , large canals for river transport were established as far back as the Spring and Autumn period (8th–5th centuries BC),
3080-404: The stratum the canal passes through, it may be necessary to line the cut with some form of watertight material such as clay or concrete. When this is done with clay, it is known as puddling . Canals need to be level, and while small irregularities in the lie of the land can be dealt with through cuttings and embankments, for larger deviations other approaches have been adopted. The most common
3168-471: The 12th century. River navigations were improved progressively by the use of single, or flash locks . Taking boats through these used large amounts of water leading to conflicts with watermill owners and to correct this, the pound or chamber lock first appeared, in the 10th century in China and in Europe in 1373 in Vreeswijk , Netherlands. Another important development was the mitre gate , which was, it
3256-472: The 15th century, either flash locks consisting of a single gate were used or ramps, sometimes equipped with rollers, were used to change the level. Flash locks were only practical where there was plenty of water available. Locks use a lot of water, so builders have adopted other approaches for situations where little water is available. These include boat lifts , such as the Falkirk Wheel , which use
3344-496: The Cannock and Leacroft Colliery. A railway line joined the two, which passed through a short tunnel to emerge by the basin. Immediately after the basin entrance, Washbrook Lane crossed at High Bridge, and then the thirteen locks of the Churchbridge Branch turned off at Rumer Hill Junction , descending in a straight line to the south west. At Rumer Hill, a short spur was connected to a railway which ran to Mid Cannock Colliery, which
3432-796: The Confessor . A number of Old English names testify to route of Watling Street at this time: Boughton Street in Kent ; Colney Street in Hertfordshire ; Fenny Stratford and Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire ; Old Stratford in Northamptonshire; Stretton-under-Fosse and Stretton Baskerville in Warwickshire . (The three adjacent settlements of All Stretton , Church Stretton , and Little Stretton in Shropshire ; and Stretton Sugwas in Herefordshire have
3520-590: The Persian Empire in Europe . Greek engineers were also among the first to use canal locks , by which they regulated the water flow in the Ancient Suez Canal as early as the 3rd century BC. There was little experience moving bulk loads by carts, while a pack-horse would [i.e. 'could'] carry only an eighth of a ton. On a soft road a horse might be able to draw 5/8ths of a ton. But if
3608-531: The Roman road ran along Old Dover Road , turning and running through the area of present-day Greenwich Park to a location perhaps a little north of the current Deptford Bridge. North of London, the road is designated mainly as the A5 between London and Shrewsbury . At various points along the route, the A5 leaves the Roman road to bypass settlements, but its historic route invariably remains evident even where motor traffic
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3696-785: The Southwest by 1300 CE. Archaeologists working at a major archaeological dig in the 1990s in the Tucson Basin, along the Santa Cruz River, identified a culture and people that may have been the ancestors of the Hohokam. This prehistoric group occupied southern Arizona as early as 2000 BCE, and in the Early Agricultural period grew corn, lived year-round in sedentary villages, and developed sophisticated irrigation canals. The large-scale Hohokam irrigation network in
3784-399: The Thames at Londinium (London). The route continued northwest through Verulamium (St Albans) on its way to Viroconium Cornoviorum ( Wroxeter ). Watling Street is traditionally cited as having been the location of the Romans' defeat of Boudica , though precisely where on the route is disputed. The Roman Antonine Itinerary lists sites along the route of Watling Street as part of
3872-566: The Thames. They did not return to Lundenburh (the City of London ) until forced to do so by the Vikings in the late 9th century. Over time, the graveling and paving itself fell into disrepair, although the road's course continued to be used in many places as a public right of way . "Watlingestrate" was one of the four roads ( Latin : chemini ) protected by the king's peace in the Laws of Edward
3960-594: The Wyrley and Essington Canal at Pelsall Junction . The towpath on the Wyrley and Essington is on the south bank, and so a footbridge is located just to the east of the junction, to connect to the Extension Canal's towpath, which is on the east bank. Pelsall Common North is a local nature reserve covering 92 acres (37 ha) to the west of the canal. It gives little clue that it was a thriving iron works between 1832 and 1888, providing employment for 100 people from
4048-767: The area, including the East Cannock Colliery, the Cannock Chase Colliery, and the Cannock and Wimblebury Colliery. Download coordinates as: 52°38′55″N 1°58′20″W / 52.6486°N 1.9722°W / 52.6486; -1.9722 Canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation ) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi ). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure , and can be thought of as artificial rivers . In most cases,
4136-418: The canal branch immediately above the basin, and then crossed the main line of the canal. There was another basin after the bridge, and the canal turned to the west. The railway recrossed the canal after Hednesford Road Bridge. After Norton Common Bridge, Badger Bridge, and two more bridges which were unnamed in 1884, the route turned to the north-west, and there was a basin to the north of the canal, which served
4224-436: The canal pressure with the influx of water. It was also designed as an elongated reservoir passing through traps creating 66 mini catchments as it flows from Kala Wewa to Thissa Wawa . The canal was not designed for the quick conveying of water from Kala Wewa to Thissa Wawa but to create a mass of water between the two reservoirs, which would in turn provided for agriculture and the use of humans and animals. They also achieved
4312-418: The canal to form a dam. They are generally placed in pre-existing grooves in the canal bank. On more modern canals, "guard locks" or gates were sometimes placed to allow a section of the canal to be quickly closed off, either for maintenance, or to prevent a major loss of water due to a canal breach. A canal fall , or canal drop, is a vertical drop in the canal bed. These are built when the natural ground slope
4400-462: The canal. Where large amounts of goods are loaded or unloaded such as at the end of a canal, a canal basin may be built. This would normally be a section of water wider than the general canal. In some cases, the canal basins contain wharfs and cranes to assist with movement of goods. When a section of the canal needs to be sealed off so it can be drained for maintenance stop planks are frequently used. These consist of planks of wood placed across
4488-469: The channel. There are two broad types of canal: Historically, canals were of immense importance to commerce and the development, growth and vitality of a civilization. In 1855 the Lehigh Canal carried over 1.2 million tons of anthracite coal; by the 1930s the company which built and operated it for over a century ceased operation. The few canals still in operation in our modern age are a fraction of
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#17327830958254576-656: The course of the canal, and Foredrove Bridge, the junction with the Norton Springs Branch was marked by a large basin to the east of the canal. The branch ran to another colliery called Conduit Colliery. By 1888 it ended where a railway siding crossed it course, part of the LNWR Fiveways Branch, which joined the North Staffordshire Line Norton Branch to the east of the basin. The Norton Branch railway crossed
4664-461: The creditors took over receivership of the tolls. In 1716, a new act restored the authority of the trust under the supervision of another group appointed by the Buckinghamshire justices of the peace. The trust failed to receive a further extension of their rights in 1736 and their authority ended at the close of 1738. In 1740, a new act named new trustees to oversee the road, which the residents of Buckinghamshire described as being "ruined". The road
4752-559: The destruction of the Churchbridge Branch, the Hatherton Canal restoration plan included a proposal for a Churchbridge bypass, which would create a link to Grove Basin, but environmental concerns and objections from landowners have resulted in a revised route being identified, which will link the canal to the Lord Hayes branch of the Wyrley and Essington Canal, a little further to the west than Pelsall Junction. The canal leaves
4840-399: The drop follows an s-shaped curve to create a smooth transition and reduce turbulence . However, this smooth transition does not dissipate the water's kinetic energy, which leads to heavy scouring. As a result, the canal needs to be reinforced with concrete or masonry to protect it from eroding. Another type of canal fall is the vertical fall, which is "simple and economical". These feature
4928-573: The embankment, at the site of the modern Hawk's Green roundabout. The London and North Western Railway Norton Extension Branch crossed at an angle, and there was one more bridge before the two basins at Hednesford. A siding from the Norton Extension Railway ran alongside the canal for this final stretch, to connect to what had once been the Littleworth Tramway, built for the opening of the canal, to serve collieries in
5016-479: The end of the basins to serve Wyrley Grove Colliery, located just to the north of the basins. Pelsall Road Bridge carries the B4154 Lime Lane over the canal. A little further north on the east bank were the two basins which served Conduit Colliery. A tramway, which ran in a north-easterly direction, was built to connect the colliery to the basins. The next crossing is Watling Street , now the A5 road , and
5104-670: The first summit level canal to use pound locks in Europe was the Briare Canal connecting the Loire and Seine (1642), followed by the more ambitious Canal du Midi (1683) connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. This included a staircase of 8 locks at Béziers , a 157 metres (515 ft) tunnel, and three major aqueducts. Canal building progressed steadily in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries with three great rivers,
5192-406: The fort at Epiacum ( Whitley Castle ) with its remarkable ramparts, and on to the Hadrian's Wall fort of Magnis (Carvoran) . By the time of the Saxon invasions , the Roman bridge across the Thames had presumably fallen into disrepair or been destroyed. The Saxons abandoned the walled Roman site in favour of Lundenwic to its west, presumably because of its more convenient access to the ford on
5280-402: The freedom to make deliveries well away from rail lined road beds or ditches in the dirt which could not operate in the winter. The longest extant canal today, the Grand Canal in northern China, still remains in heavy use, especially the portion south of the Yellow River . It stretches from Beijing to Hangzhou at 1,794 kilometres (1,115 miles). Canals are built in one of three ways, or
5368-435: The higher waters of the Charles River and the mouth of the Neponset River and the sea. It was constructed in 1639 to provide water power for mills. In Russia, the Volga–Baltic Waterway , a nationwide canal system connecting the Baltic Sea and Caspian Sea via the Neva and Volga rivers, was opened in 1718. Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England , running from Dover and London in
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#17327830958255456-422: The load were carried by a barge on a waterway, then up to 30 tons could be drawn by the same horse. — technology historian Ronald W. Clark referring to transport realities before the industrial revolution and the Canal age . Hohokam was a society in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona , United States, and Sonora , Mexico. Their irrigation systems supported the largest population in
5544-412: The longest canal in the world today and the oldest extant one. It is 1,794 kilometres (1,115 mi) long and was built to carry the Emperor Yang Guang between Zhuodu ( Beijing ) and Yuhang ( Hangzhou ). The project began in 605 and was completed in 609, although much of the work combined older canals, the oldest section of the canal existing since at least 486 BC. Even in its narrowest urban sections it
5632-419: The longest one of that period being the Hong Gou (Canal of the Wild Geese), which according to the ancient historian Sima Qian connected the old states of Song, Zhang, Chen, Cai, Cao, and Wei. The Caoyun System of canals was essential for imperial taxation, which was largely assessed in kind and involved enormous shipments of rice and other grains. By far the longest canal was the Grand Canal of China , still
5720-410: The modern canal ends here. Beyond, much of the canal was on high embankments, raised to combat subsidence, but traffic no longer justified the costs of maintenance, and the northerly section was closed in 1963. The next bridge was Northgreen Bridge, beyond which there was a wharf, and the first of several large brick overflow weirs. After New Road Bridge, located where the modern M6 Toll motorway crosses
5808-506: The numbers that once fueled and enabled economic growth, indeed were practically a prerequisite to further urbanization and industrialization. For the movement of bulk raw materials such as coal and ores are difficult and marginally affordable without water transport. Such raw materials fueled the industrial developments and new metallurgy resulting of the spiral of increasing mechanization during 17th–20th century, leading to new research disciplines, new industries and economies of scale, raising
5896-437: The old path. A section of Watling Street still exists in the City of London close to Mansion House underground station on the route of the original Roman road which traversed the River Thames via the first London Bridge and ran through the City in a straight line from London Bridge to Newgate . The sections of the road in Central London possess a variety of names, including Edgware Road and Maida Vale . At Blackheath ,
5984-411: The pre-railroad days of the industrial revolution, water transport was the gold standard of fast transportation. The first artificial canal in Western Europe was the Fossa Carolina built at the end of the 8th century under personal supervision of Charlemagne . In Britain, the Glastonbury Canal is believed to be the first post-Roman canal and was built in the middle of the 10th century to link
6072-436: The river here, leading to the depositing of enough sediments to create a usable ford: The Romans began constructing paved roads shortly after their invasion in AD 43. The London portion of Watling Street was rediscovered during Christopher Wren 's rebuilding of St Mary-le-Bow in 1671–73, following the Great Fire . Modern excavations date its construction to the winter from AD 47 to 48. Around London, it
6160-446: The road is unknown, and the Romans may not have viewed it as a single path at all, since parts of it were assigned to two separate itineraries in one 2nd-century list . The modern name instead derives from the Old English Wæcelinga Stræt , from a time when "street" ( Latin : via strata ) referred to any paved road and had no particular association with urban thoroughfares. The Waeclingas ("people of Waecla ") were
6248-457: The southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter . The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity , Late Antiquity , and throughout the Middle Ages . It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main Roman roads in Britannia (Roman-governed Great Britain during the Roman Empire ). The line of the road was later the southwestern border of the Danelaw with Wessex and Mercia , and Watling Street
6336-480: The standard of living for any industrialized society. Most ship canals today primarily service bulk cargo and large ship transportation industries, whereas the once critical smaller inland waterways conceived and engineered as boat and barge canals have largely been supplanted and filled in, abandoned and left to deteriorate, or kept in service and staffed by state employees, where dams and locks are maintained for flood control or pleasure boating. Their replacement
6424-600: The two companies was reached in 1854, before the Cannock Extension Canal had been built, and the cost of the land for the Churchbridge Branch was shared, but when the locks were built in 1858 and 1859, it appears that the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal funded the work alone. Traffic down through the Churchbridge lock flight, which originated on the Extension Canal, was around 12,000 tons per month in 1902. As with many canals which served coal mines, subsidence
6512-573: The valley of the River Dee . Another option for dealing with hills is to tunnel through them. An example of this approach is the Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal . Tunnels are only practical for smaller canals. Some canals attempted to keep changes in level down to a minimum. These canals known as contour canals would take longer, winding routes, along which the land was
6600-406: The village of Pelsall . The company went bankrupt when iron prices dropped and the works was demolished in the 1920s. The canal heads north in a straight line from the junction. Friar Bridge, Pelsall Common Bridge, Green Bridge and Wyrley Grove Bridge cross the canal before the two former colliery basins are reached. A narrows just before the basins was the site of a railway bridge, which curved round
6688-612: Was 7.5–8.7 m (25–29 ft) wide and paved with gravel. It was repeatedly redone, including at least twice before the sack of London by Boudica 's troops in 60 or 61. The road ran straight from the bridgehead on the Thames to what would become Newgate on the London Wall before passing over Ludgate Hill and the Fleet and dividing into Watling Street and the Devil's Highway west to Calleva ( Silchester ). Some of this route
6776-481: Was a large flow of water. The two sets of gates protected against a breach on either side of the bridge. In 1960, part of the canal sunk by 21 feet (6.4 m), and commercial traffic effectively stopped the following year because of the problems. The 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Watling Street were abandoned in 1963. The Churchbridge Branch became disused around 1953 and the whole branch and Rumer Hill Junction were later obliterated by opencast mining . In view of
6864-569: Was again paved in the early 19th century at the expense of Thomas Telford . He operated it as a turnpike road for mail coaches from Ireland . To this purpose, he extended it to the port of Holyhead on Anglesey in Wales. During this time, the section southeast of London became known as the Great Dover Road . The tolls ended in 1875. Much of the road is still in use today, apart from a few sections where it has been diverted. The A2 road between Dover and London runs over or parallel to
6952-466: Was also expensive, as men expect compensation in the form of wages, room and board. This was because long-haul roads were unpaved, more often than not too narrow for carts, much less wagons, and in poor condition, wending their way through forests, marshy or muddy quagmires as often as unimproved but dry footing. In that era, as today, greater cargoes, especially bulk goods and raw materials , could be transported by ship far more economically than by land; in
7040-470: Was an increasing problem as the mines expanded underground. The canal side walls near Leacroft Wharf had to be rebuilt in 1934 after severe damage from subsidence. The canal company was extremely worried about the possibility of the canal breaching, and to lessen the effects should a breach occur, safety gates were fitted at a number of locations. At Northwood Bridge, there were two pairs of gates, one facing in each direction, which were designed to close if there
7128-458: Was an option in some cases, sometimes supplemented by other methods to deal with seasonal variations in flow. Where such sources were unavailable, reservoirs – either separate from the canal or built into its course – and back pumping were used to provide the required water. In other cases, water pumped from mines was used to feed the canal. In certain cases, extensive "feeder canals" were built to bring water from sources located far from
7216-530: Was disused by 1888. The canal turned to the north, and its course lies under the modern A460 road. Three more bridges followed. The middle one was near the hamlet of Mill Green, and its site now lies beneath the roundabout where the A460 and the A5190 Lichfield Road meet. Another brick weir was located on the west bank, just before the start of a large embankment. The road to Hawk's Green passed through
7304-566: Was established to pave the route through Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire . In the early 19th century, the course between London and the Channel was paved and became known as the Great Dover Road . The route from London to Wroxeter forms much of the A5 road . The route from Dover to London forms part of the A2 road . At various points along the historic route, the name Watling Street remains in modern use. The original Celtic and Roman name for
7392-470: Was gradual, beginning first in the United States in the mid-1850s where canal shipping was first augmented by, then began being replaced by using much faster , less geographically constrained & limited, and generally cheaper to maintain railways . By the early 1880s, canals which had little ability to economically compete with rail transport, were off the map. In the next couple of decades, coal
7480-424: Was increasingly diminished as the heating fuel of choice by oil, and growth of coal shipments leveled off. Later, after World War I when motor-trucks came into their own, the last small U.S. barge canals saw a steady decline in cargo ton-miles alongside many railways, the flexibility and steep slope climbing capability of lorries taking over cargo hauling increasingly as road networks were improved, and which also had
7568-470: Was numbered as one of the major highways of medieval England. First used by the ancient Britons, mainly between the areas of modern Canterbury and St Albans using a natural ford near Westminster , the road was later paved by the Romans . It connected the ports of Dubris (Dover), Rutupiae ( Richborough Castle ), Lemanis ( Lympne ), and Regulbium ( Reculver ) in Kent to the Roman bridge over
7656-426: Was once used to describe linear features seen on the surface of Mars , Martian canals , an optical illusion. A navigation is a series of channels that run roughly parallel to the valley and stream bed of an unimproved river. A navigation always shares the drainage basin of the river. A vessel uses the calm parts of the river itself as well as improvements, traversing the same changes in height. A true canal
7744-644: Was sometimes distinguished by the name "Stone Street" ; it now forms most of the B2068 road that runs from the M20 motorway to Canterbury. The route between Durovernum and the fortress and port at Regulbium ( Reculver ) on Kent's northern shore is not given in these itineraries but was also paved and is sometimes taken as a fourth terminus for Watling Street. The Sixth Route ( Iter VI ) also recorded an alternate path stopping at Tripontium ( Newton and Biggin ) between Venonis ( High Cross ) and Bannaventa ( Norton ); it
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