Why does England still have canals?

Hello again! In this video you can see me and my narrowboat going through the famous Bratch Locks in South Staffordshire.

I also give a very simplified history of England’s canal network, and why it is that England still has canals.

I then come across a bit of a problem which means I can’t continue my journey…

Thanks for watching!

Hello from Wombourne in South Staffordshire. I thought I’d film a video today because I’m going to go through some locks that I remember really well from my childhood, when I used to cycle along this canal with some friends. They’re called Bratch Locks and I remember them because they look quite distinctive. What I didn’t realise at the time is they’re actually quite unusual as well. In fact, I think that they’re the only kind of locks like these on the entire canal network. They’re normally manned by Canal and River Trust volunteers, but unfortunately there aren’t any there today for some reason. So, I’m just going to have to give it a go on my own and hopefully it goes okay. Given that I’ve just mentioned the Canal and River Trust, I should probably explain what that actually is. But in order to do that, I need to explain a bit about the history of the English canal system. So that’s what I’m going to do in this video. The canals in England are hundreds of years old. In fact, the one I’m on at the moment, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, was opened more than 250 years ago in 1772. Canals were built as a way of transporting goods and raw materials, such as coal, textiles, and pottery. The various canals originally had various different owners, and they charged people tolls to use the canals. At the locks I’m approaching now, you can see an octagonal toll house where a toll collector would have collected fees from boats using the canal. So this is the first lock. There are 
three locks in total at Bratch Locks. There are some instructions there. It says: “Bratch Locks are a flight of locks, not a staircase.” I think I enter the bottom lock just like a normal one, so I need to make sure that it’s empty first so that I can drive my boat in. Locks were built wherever the level of a canal changes, so that boats can travel up and down hills. Normally you get just one lock on its own, but sometimes you get two or more locks together, wherever there’s a big change in the level of the canal. Bratch Locks were originally built as staircase locks, which means each lock would have been directly connected to the next one up. So basically, the gate you can see in front of my boat would have opened into the next lock. However, they were later re-engineered as three separate locks. I now have a bit of a dilemma because I need to go to the left side of the lock, so that I can open the paddle, but my boat is tied up on that wooden thing on the right. And normally I like to stay quite close to the centre line so that I can control the boat when it’s in the lock if I need to by pulling the boat with the rope. Fortunately, some Canal and River Trust staff members came along to look at a broken sink in one of the buildings and they very kindly offered to operate the lock for me. This meant I could get back on the boat and control it while it was in the lock. While all the hard work is being done for me, I 
can get back to giving you a history lesson. So as I was saying before, various canals were 
built to transport goods and materials, and they were a huge boost to 
the economy. But then railways came along in the 19th century and 
these were competition for canals. Thank you! Some canals closed as a result. In some areas, canals were actually bought by railway companies and closed down to reduce competition or to provide routes that railways could be built on. There was then further decline in the 20th century due to increasing competition from road transport, and many canals were lost when roads or urban developments were built on them. So how did some canals like the one I’m on 
now end up being saved? This links in with the ownership I was telling you about before. Canals and railways were nationalised in 1948, which meant that the government took over ownership of them. The canals weren’t of much use by that point because they were already in decline. In fact they were more of a burden, because they needed a load of money spending on repairs and maintenance. But a lot of the canals were owned by the railway companies that the government was buying, and the government at the time wanted to create a publicly-owned transport system, so canals came as part of the package. Thank you! You’re welcome. What’s your name? 
Gemma. Gemma. Who’s your colleague? Chris. Chris. Chris. Thanks, Chris. Pleasure! I think it, they just seem really difficult to 
do these locks. Yeah, I think if you get the right sequence they’re all right. Yeah. Canals continued to decline under government ownership and many were abandoned. So in 1962, the government formed British Waterways, a public body tasked with maintaining canals, but also closing ones which weren’t seen as viable. You all right? Yeah, great. Thank you. Also during the 1960s, the public started 
using canals more as leisure spaces. This was promoted by a campaigning organisation called the Inland Waterways Association, which was also lobbying the government to preserve and restore the canal network. Fortunately, the transport minister of the time, Barbara Castle, happened to be a fan of canals herself, and she introduced legal protections for them as part of an Act of Parliament in 1968. Thank you. I’m so grateful though. You’re welcome. Enjoy the rest of your trip. See you! See you later! Take care! I’m so grateful to Chris and Gemma for helping me with that lock there. I think it would have been possible on my own, but it would have been very, very difficult, and I think with that first lock at the bottom, it potentially would have been quite dangerous because I wouldn’t have been able to control my boat while I was operating the paddles on the gate. I’m not sure how far I’m going to go because when I was talking to Chris and Gemma they said that there’s actually a bridge further along the canal that’s been hit by some kind of vehicle and it’s fallen into the canal. So there’s loads of debris in the water, which means boats can’t get past at the moment. So until that’s fixed I won’t be able to go any further than where that bridge is. So, I think I’m going to moor before the next lock and then walk along the canal to see what it’s like and check it out. While I walk to check out the canal closure, I’ll tell you more about canal history. The Transport Act of 1968, which was introduced by Barbara Castle, was basically a turning point for canals. By the way, whenever I do these walking shots, I have to run back and pick my phone up, so it takes me twice as long to get anywhere. Anyway, the Transport Act was a turning point for canals. Leisure boating grew in popularity in the 1970s and this was supported by British Waterways, which was doing things like improving towpaths and refurbishing locks. Hello! Many abandoned or derelict canals were also brought back to life, with volunteer groups doing a lot of the physical hard work to clear and rebuild them. This is the next lock and this bridge is fine, 
so it must be further ahead. By the 1990s, canals were recognised as not just being for boats, but as spaces to promote wellbeing and also important wildlife corridors. But the catch is that canals cost a lot of money to maintain. So in 2012, the government created the Canal and River Trust, which replaced what used to be British Waterways, except it’s a charity. Some of the funding for canals does still come from the government, but boaters like me also pay an annual licence. I’ve just paid mine, and it was about £1,000, but it’s gradually going up, because the government wants 
to reduce how much money it spends on canals. This has been quite controversial and lots of people are worried about the future of canals and what will happen if there isn’t enough money to maintain and repair them. Oh my god, this looks bad. Oh dear. This doesn’t look good at all. I’ve seen a couple of bridge strikes before, but this looks really, really bad. The top bit of the bridge has basically been hit and fallen into the canal. It looks OK on this side of the bridge, but there’s so much damage to the other side. I think it’s going to take weeks and weeks to repair, maybe more, and I dread to think how much money it’s going to cost to repair. Has it been hit before this bridge? Pardon? Has it been hit before, the bridge? Every year. Every year. Really? Yeah. Part of the problem is that canal bridges are hundreds of years old and they weren’t designed for modern traffic. Whenever a bridge like this is damaged, the canal has to be closed and huge amounts of money have to be spent repairing the damage. So, all I can do now is head back to the boat and see what happens. So, I’m back at the boat now and I’m not sure what I’m going to do to be honest because I was planning to go to Wolverhampton, but I can’t get there because the canal is obviously closed. So, the next video, I’m not sure what it’s going to be like. I might still be here, I might have managed to move, I’m not sure, but hopefully I’ll see you next time anyway. Bye!