Barging Round Britain: Exploring the History and Heritage of our Lost Waterways

by John Sergeant, David Bartley

Barging Round Britain by David Bartley is a beautifully-illustrated guide to a unique and fascinating part of our history: the canal network.

Explore the people and places that have forged this national treasure, from the birth of the Industrial Revolution to the leisure explosion on our waterways today. Fully-illustrated with maps and photographs, the book will trace canal routes across the UK, from the Georgian grandeur of Bath to the dramatic splendour of the Scottish Highlands.

David Bartley's Barging Round Britain includes a foreword and chapter introductions by the presenter of the TV series, John Sergeant.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History

416 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2015

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now from the start I should say this isn’t the book I thought it to be. It is not just based on a TV series but a three-fold approach with John Sargeant being the start and reason for this book.
As a result, it is a comprehensive and thoroughly involving book that rekindles memories of one’s own links with canals or journeys along a cut in a narrow boat.
From John’s own introduction to his journeys we then have a detailed history of that canal and interspersed between these are wonderful illustrations and historical pieces about the growth of canals, it’s peoples and the demise of a way of life.
So, it is less about how one of our favourite TV personalities got on steering his boat or if he ever recovered his hat. It is his impressions yes and why canals continue to draw folk to the tow paths and leisure pursuits. However, it is the detailed accounts of each route and how they came to be built where they were. Plus, the dramatic history and the proud heritage in a civil engineering.
It is a remarkable story, recounted with a sense of passion and enthusiasm and enhances my respect for all those involved in these great schemes that propelled our countries prosperity. There are also further reading suggestions where your personal interest is piqued so you can research in more detail.
I loved this book as it not only entertained me but I feel so much more knowledgeable about an interest that expands whenever I see a lock being entered or smell a wood burning stove along the canal bank.
Having spent three weeks messing about on narrow boats last year this book brought back many happy memories. The water supply may be resolved along the way but as a traditionalist I still enjoy the beer served at the various public houses beside the cut.
The highlight of our trip was a folk night at Fradley Junction but those memories have been stirred up and recalled through this wonderful book.

[Ollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Barging Round Britain" sounds good as the title of a book on the history of Britain's canals and its narrow boats - it has a ring to it - but it's an intriguing choice nevertheless when you consider that boats people found the term "barge" and "barging" offensive! Maybe the authors are signalling that despite their knowledge of the topic they are not boaters?

The book is perfect for anyone wishing to move into a narrow boat, already living in one, or keen on British history (especially engineering history). It's structured chronologically, starting from the first canals until the last one built. After each chapter detailing the history of a particular canal, the book then offers a guide for the journey on that particular canal, for any readers who chooses to have the book with them as they cruise the canals. It's worthwhile reading these sections, though the desire is high to skip them, as they contain interesting tidbits of English and Welsh history. For example, near Liverpool there is a National Nature Reserve with the largest area of peat bog in the country where the military set fire to moss during WWII to make the Luftwaffe think it was Liverpool and drop their bombs there.

The most interesting section, in my view, is towards the end, where it goes into the canal's social history. The miscreants that manned the boats in its early days (considered the worst of the worst for their boozing and depravity), to the families that then grew from them - entire communities that were born and raised in tiny cabins, shunned by "good society", living in awful conditions (no lavatories, washing their clothes in canals dirtied by the industrial revolution) - there were so many interesting facets mentioned (boat schools created, for example, as well as floating chapels!)

There's a lot of interesting info for history buffs:

- Charles Darwin's grandfather was directly involved with the implementation of canals in England, which led to the Industrial Revolution. He'd have been proud to know his grandchild would one day be the father of the theory of Evolution.
- Boats were drawn by horses on canal paths. Once they reached tunnels, there would be men and women waiting to offer their help in pulling the boats along them. They (known as leggers) would lie on their backs on top of the boat and push with their legs. Wasn't unusual for some to fall in the water and drown. Horses, in the meantime, were worked to their death and were considered the worst treated animals in the country. It wasn't unknown for horses to drop dead into canals and be left there.
- Birmingham was the epicentre of a lot of discoveries that propelled the Industrial Revolution and changed the world, such as the first steam engines. The expansion of canals there also involved a lot of corruption.
- There was a "Canal Mania" at the end of the 18th Century, when canals shares steadily grew, encouraging frenzied speculation and investment - often on canals that never got their permits through Parliament or took decades to finally be completed. Fortunes were made and lost. All interest, sadly, was in making money and not maintaining the canals or creating decent working conditions - so only the worst possible characters took on a boating life. Crime was rife.
- After the "Canal Mania" came the "Rail Mania", killing off canal trade. It made me think of MySpace, killed off by Livejournal, which then got killed off by Facebook... which then got killed off by TikTok?

Luckily, the canals didn't die - thanks to a revival of interest in the Second World War, enthusiasts worked on restoring many stretches, and soon the leisure boating industry moved in. Nowadays, canals are seeing a really strong revival, with many people moving into narrow boats thanks to the high cost of living "on land" (the book doesn't go into this, though.)

[Tracey White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mind boggling! Some impressive feats of engineering on these pages. There's something very simplistic about floating down a canal but in reality it's hiding a complicated past. I have my heart set on a birthday treat involving a narrow boat and several canal-side inns!

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book.

The different part about different canals were interesting and fluently written; the last part about life on the canals - the workers, their families, socio-economic dynamics- was really informative and interesting. It is a great introduction to the history of the canals in Britain and easy to read and understand without prior knowledge.

[Stuart Dormer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written and very good

I think it the best book I had had to read and I well think it good also to hear

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first two-thirds

The book talks about individual canals - the journey
This offers interesting insights into the different areas of the country, the impact of the industrial revolution, and the development of canals

However - this style makes the book a bit too repetitive in terms of the history - by the Kennet and Avon I became bored