Canals and Canal Boats

£12.99

Just over two hundred years ago the growth of Britain's waterways paved the way for the Industrial Revolution. Now they offer thousands a break from everyday life as a much loved leisure activity. This video explores the fascinating and tradition-steeped history of canals from Roman beginnings, through the golden pre-railway age - when Birmingham alone had more canals than Venice - to the modern renaissance. Around half of the visual content is archive film footage stretching back over more than a century - this is complemented by many still photographs, original maps and memorabilia, interviews with historians and unique personal reminiscences of life on the canals - including working with horses. The video brings alive the changing face of canals and the boats that worked them.