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A ship is sailing along the Manchester Ship Canal towards the old docks in Eastham in the same year that the canal was opened.

Bude's canal, built in 1823, was something of an oddity. For its first two miles, it was a barge canal – as seen here. Then, freight was trans-shipped into small 5-ton tubs with wheels.

When the Duke of Bridgewater planned his canal into Manchester in 1760, the original plan was to stay on the Salford side of the Irwell.

This was the only English canal to open directly into the Atlantic Ocean. Bude sea lock is still in use today, although the rest of the canal was abandoned in 1896.

The new mill was built around 1800 to take advantage of the Grand Union Canal's Wendover Arm or branch canal that opened in 1797.

This is the entrance to Braunston Tunnel on the Grand Union Canal. This is 2049 yards long, and it leaks quite appreciably; boaters must wear waterproofs when transiting.

Completed in 1794, the Basingstoke Canal was originally planned to link London and Guildford with Southampton. Vessels plied the waterway carrying grain, coal, malt and farm produce.

The bridge was built over the Bridgewater Canal in 1778, but it has been widened and strengthened many times since.

A little beyond the 450yd-long tunnel at Chirk, the Llangollen Canal is suddenly carried 70 feet in the air over this spectacular stone aqueduct.

Opened in 1894 by Queen Victoria, the Manchester Ship Canal is 36 miles long. Still a busy canal for commercial traffic, everything here was built on a big scale.

The Grand Western Canal was part of a grandiose scheme to link the Bristol and English Channels between Taunton and Exeter. There were to be three branches, one of which was Tiverton.

Opened in 1823, the Bude Canal served a large area of north Cornwall. The canal itself extended some 35 miles inland, though by the time this picture was taken much of it had already closed.

The Exeter Canal was just over 5 miles long, and trade along it to these quays continued until 1972.

This trade lasted until 1924, when the whole canal was closed but never infilled.

In its heyday, long before this picture was taken, the canal was used to transport goods and products such as coal, iron, stone, agricultural wares and much more besides.

The Oxford Canal was first opened as far as Banbury in 1778 and to Oxford in 1790.

These locks were constructed in 1774 on the Leeds/Liverpool canal, which transformed the town of Bingley into an industrial centre.

These locks were constructed in 1774 on the Leeds/Liverpool canal, which transformed the town of Bingley into an industrial centre.

Close to the canal, it was bought by the canal's owners, and with the installation of a steam engine it worked until around 1900.

A little further along Hospital Road the Chesterfield Canal passes under the road; the bridge was rebuilt some thirty years ago.

This is part of the marvellous system which comprised the Grand Junction or Union Canal, linking the Thames with the Midland canal system, and providing a direct waterway link between London and Birmingham

This short, 2-mile canal was opened in 1773, and is an extension of the River Ure. In this view of the stone-walled canal basin we see the cathedral rising over the roofs, and the old arched bridge.

But this one has to be visited by boat, as it lies at the end of a half-mile underground canal originally excavated by lead miners. The canal is reached by a 104-step descent to this landing stage.

Here we see the upper reaches of the Basingstoke Canal in Hampshire. The surface weed indicates a lack of commercial use. Note the telegraph poles on the left, once a regular sight alongside canals.