Heritage
The Canal & River Trust is custodian to a world-class historic estate. 90% of the British public agrees that 'canals are an important part of the nation’s heritage'.
Waterways have been instrumental to the economic development of the country in the 18th and 19th century. These created hubs of industrial activity are very different from the mix of leisure, business and cultural uses that this working heritage now supports.
That heritage includes man-made waterways, earth cuttings and embankments, as well as docks, wharves, locks, bridges, tunnels and aqueducts. There is, in addition to these amazing civil engineering structures, a wide variety of buildings that were required to support that transport system including warehouses, offices, workshop, workers’ housing and suchlike.
The waterways' heritage also consists of boats and artefacts, as well as archives and museum-held relics of the historic working days of the canals.
This unique legacy is cherished by many and the preservation of these finite resources for future generations is important to all of us.
