Canal near Caunsall, West Midlands

The canals were built to provide transport for the heavy raw materials and finished goods of the industrial revolution in Britain. Old factories or even existing factories can often be found alongside and many have their own side canals and wharves. Within a hundred years of being built they were overtaken by first rail, then road transport and suffered a period of almost terminal decline.

Now, however, they are a major recreational resource and even provide the 'motorways' of the still extensive footpath system.

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