Before There were Trains

Birmingham is at the heart of the region known as the West Midlands, and the West Midlands was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. As the Industrial Revolution was in its infancy in the 1700s, spreading out from Britain to the world, one of the crucial factors for growth was quick and efficient transportation to and from the centres of industry. Raw materials needed to get to the new "manufactories," and finished products needed to go out from them. The old horse-and-cart system could not keep up with the supply and demand, and the steam engine-powered train was still years away. The most obvious choice was water transportation, but many of these centres of industry, such as Birmingham, did not have good river access by which goods could move to the sea ports or even to the great metropolis of London.

Thus was born the extensive canal system in Britain, and previously land-locked cities like Birmingham were the beneficiaries. Although trains, planes, and lorries have long since taken over the shipping load, thousands of miles of canals remain, including over one hundred miles within Birmingham--more than the famous canal city of Venice. The long, narrow canal boats can still be seen puttering along the waterways; if one wanted, one could still travel across Britain from sea to sea along its rivers and canals. Much of the British canal system is in disrepair, but many cities and towns are, like Birmingham, restoring their canals for leisure and tourism. One of the most interesting areas of Birmingham's city centre is a recent development along the old canals (pic 1), retaining a 200-year old canal roundabout called the Old Turn Junction (pic 2 - pic 3).

Soon after we arrived here, in one of our first trips to the city centre, we had a closeup look at life on the canals. We walked by the Old Turn Junction and then by a system of locks through which a family was moving their boat (pic 4). We offered to help, and found ourselves participating in a 250-year old West Midlands ritual (pic 5 - pic 6).