0:00:03 > 0:00:09This is the story of how canals changed and shaped our modern world.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Carrying huge volumes of goods and fuel,
0:00:12 > 0:00:16they were a stimulus to Britain's great Industrial Revolution.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21But they also gave us much more
0:00:21 > 0:00:27and their legacy lives on, often in surprising ways.
0:00:27 > 0:00:28I'm Liz McIver.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32I've spent my life studying and talking about history.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34I believe it's time to take a different look
0:00:34 > 0:00:36at our inland waterways.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Connecting the industrial powerhouses of Yorkshire
0:00:48 > 0:00:52and Lancashire meant driving through the Pennines,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55a huge obstacle with difficult geography and climate.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Would men with a fledging knowledge of engineering be able to
0:01:00 > 0:01:03conquer the unforgiving terrain and fickle weather?
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Whose reputations would be enhanced and whose would crumble?
0:01:09 > 0:01:11And how did their pioneering work
0:01:11 > 0:01:15give rise to a new discipline - civil engineering?
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Welcome to the Pennines, the backbone of England -
0:01:41 > 0:01:43in places 2,000 feet high -
0:01:43 > 0:01:47a rugged and almost inaccessible natural barrier.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50To build a canal here would take imagination and brute strength.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07But the prize was enormous.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10A trade link between Yorkshire and Lancashire,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13an industrial corridor between Leeds and Liverpool.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19If the canal could be built, it would enable the wool merchants
0:02:19 > 0:02:21of Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds
0:02:21 > 0:02:25to send their products across the Pennines to Liverpool
0:02:25 > 0:02:27and beyond to the British Empire.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31In the west, traders in Liverpool could transport imported
0:02:31 > 0:02:35American cotton to the mill towns of Lancashire
0:02:35 > 0:02:38and, in the middle, a giant coalfield would provide the fuel
0:02:38 > 0:02:40for the Industrial Revolution.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47If there was an imperative to improve communication
0:02:47 > 0:02:51in the late 18th century, it was this - the state of the roads.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55They were unpaved and unpassable in some places.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57This is Eastergate Packhorse Bridge
0:02:57 > 0:03:01on a track known as Rapes Highway, linking Colne Valley to Rochdale.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Travel on these roads would have been hazardous at the best of times.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Only small amounts of merchandise could be moved at one time
0:03:12 > 0:03:15and the cost was prohibitive.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18It was as cheap to carry freight on a ship from Portugal
0:03:18 > 0:03:22as it was to take it a few hundred miles by road across England.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Everyone agreed that a trans-Pennine canal would be the ideal solution.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32In a move destined to make life tricky,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36two committees were set up, one in Yorkshire, the other in Lancashire.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53The Yorkshire side was much keener than Lancashire to press on.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55The cities of Bradford, Wakefield
0:03:55 > 0:03:58and Leeds were well established as woollen centres.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03They wanted the quickest route across the hills to Liverpool
0:04:03 > 0:04:05and the international markets beyond.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Their option would run from Leeds north to Skipton,
0:04:10 > 0:04:14west towards Preston and south into Liverpool.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18They knew a canal was a long-term project that would help
0:04:18 > 0:04:20businesses grow as it developed.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24But they had a much more urgent problem,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26which the canal could resolve quickly.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33This is what it was all about, limestone.
0:04:33 > 0:04:34This is the reason that
0:04:34 > 0:04:37so many canals were built in the north of England.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41You might wonder, "Why do we need lime?"
0:04:41 > 0:04:46And it was burnt using coal to make a fertiliser for improving the land.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54Lime kilns were used to burn the rock at about 1,000 degrees Celsius.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Quarries near Bradford were running out of limestone,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02but fresh supplies had been found further north near Skipton.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07The canal would be the ideal way of transporting it.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11The Yorkshire industrialists wanted work to start at their end.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Asking two committees, each with a vested interest,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17to decide on a route was never going to be smooth.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Predictably, the Liverpool backers weren't interested
0:05:20 > 0:05:23in going as far north as Preston or in limestone.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25They wanted coal.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30As Yorkshire mulled over its preferred route,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Liverpool produced an alternative.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36It would take the canal through Wigan
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and the Lancashire coalfield, then onto the market towns
0:05:39 > 0:05:43of Blackburn and Burnley, that we're just starting to expand.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Both committees realised someone would have to make an expert
0:05:47 > 0:05:50and independent judgment on the two routes,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52so they called in the best-known engineer of his time,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54James Brindley.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Brindley was no academic.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03He couldn't spell and his writings were almost illegible.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05But he was a born engineer,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08with a curious mind, a pile of common sense
0:06:08 > 0:06:10and a willingness to experiment.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15He is widely credited as the designer of the Bridgewater,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18often regarded as the first modern canal in Britain.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24In the late 18th century, if you used the term engineer,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26people would have assumed you meant a soldier
0:06:26 > 0:06:29because engineering was the preserve of the military.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33James Brindley was in the vanguard of a new breed of self-educated men
0:06:33 > 0:06:36who had started to develop civilian engineering.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41The engineers were defining their profession,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45firstly because they worked for a daily fee
0:06:45 > 0:06:49rather than for the work which was actually done.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52They were the equals in the professional sense
0:06:52 > 0:06:54of the people who employed them,
0:06:54 > 0:06:55whereas previously engineers
0:06:55 > 0:06:59tended to be the servants of those who employed them.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02And they prepared designs and specifications for other
0:07:02 > 0:07:07people to do the work according to the designs which they had made.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Brindley had to overcome a fundamental challenge -
0:07:15 > 0:07:18how to keep canals watertight.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20The answer he came up with,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23and for some it was his greatest achievement, was puddling,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27a technique for lining the base of the canal with impervious clay.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35This is a puddle clay out of the quarry as dug
0:07:35 > 0:07:39and this is to go on a firm base at the bottom of the canal.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45And it's got to be trampled in as so.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49- And when you get to the wetter stuff...- Oh, right.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52..when you've wetted it down, it goes together that much better.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56- Yes, I can feel the difference already.- And that seals it off.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58- Gosh, it's really hard work, isn't it?- Yes.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03That's the reason they use sheep or cattle to do it on larger areas
0:08:03 > 0:08:07but man has to do it on small, narrow areas.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11And puddle clay is a perfect clay that doesn't break up in water,
0:08:11 > 0:08:13so you can build on it.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14You can build the banks,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16the bottom, it'll never leak.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21It's so fine, but it's the only clay that doesn't break up in water,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24so it has to be puddle clay up to spec.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34Brindley arbitrated between Lancashire and Yorkshire
0:08:34 > 0:08:38and selected what he believed was the best route for the canal.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42It would follow Yorkshire's northern line because it was cheaper.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44To appease the Liverpool wishes,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48a spur would connect the coalfields around Wigan.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51It finally ended the friction between the two counties.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Both sides agreed in 1770 that work should start
0:08:55 > 0:08:57simultaneously at both ends.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05In designing canals, Brindley knew that following the contours
0:09:05 > 0:09:09of the land would make for easier construction.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13It avoided the need for difficult and expensive tunnels,
0:09:13 > 0:09:14embankments and locks.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30James Brindley favoured the contour method, basically,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33because he didn't have to worry about locks.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37And every time a lock was used, there'd be water used
0:09:37 > 0:09:41and with any lock, any canal, really speaking,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44one of the biggest problems is maintaining a supply of water.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48So you need to keep as much water in the canal as possible
0:09:48 > 0:09:52and he did that by following the contour, and not by using locks.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59The contouring is evident at Greenberfield,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02as Brindley curved the canal around the lie of the land.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06It's a very elegant engineering solution and today
0:10:06 > 0:10:11we can appreciate how it enhances the beauty of the landscape.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15But all this meandering added time to the journey
0:10:15 > 0:10:18and contouring couldn't solve all the problems in trying to
0:10:18 > 0:10:20cross England's highest range of hills.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26At some point, you had to tackle the typography head-on.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Between Bradford and Keighley, there were two major problems facing
0:10:34 > 0:10:36the canal builders.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39The first, at Dowley Gap, was how to cross the River Aire
0:10:39 > 0:10:42carrying water off the central Pennines.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Brindley designed an aqueduct with seven arches.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48It's the biggest structure on the canal
0:10:48 > 0:10:50and spans the Aire 30 feet below.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54The aqueduct was built by stonemasons
0:10:54 > 0:10:59and navvies wielding only picks, shovels, buckets and wheelbarrows.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03Brindley died before it opened in 1773.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10The second problem with the terrain was at Bingley.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13With Brindley's death, it fell on the shoulders of a young
0:11:13 > 0:11:16engineer from Halifax called John Longbotham
0:11:16 > 0:11:19and it was Longbotham who came up with one of the most
0:11:19 > 0:11:22spectacular engineering solutions in canal history.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43At Bingley, the canal had to rise a total of 90 feet.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Longbotham designed a system that would allow boats to be
0:11:46 > 0:11:49raised or lowered in separate stages.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10They are the steepest staircase locks in the UK
0:12:10 > 0:12:13with a gradient of about one in five.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16It also boasts the tallest lock gates in the country,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20but it's a complicated and not very efficient system.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23It takes about an hour for a boat to pass through.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35They are really an example of the old-fashioned
0:12:35 > 0:12:39type of engineering that was used in the early part of the 18th century.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44After they had constructed them, they realised there were problems
0:12:44 > 0:12:46because the amount of water you can use.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49You can hear it pouring down now.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51They are quite inefficient.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56And so, very, very quickly, they had to go on and develop better ways
0:12:56 > 0:12:59of using them and they built single locks instead.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12The canal's engineers were taking on the landscape and winning,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16but they knew that getting the route across a gentle hill would be
0:13:16 > 0:13:17relatively simple.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19As they progressed west into Lancashire,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23and higher into the hills, much bigger challenges would await.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40This is Foulridge, the summit of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43nearly 500 feet above sea level.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47It's a peaceful and beautiful place within sight of the moorland
0:13:47 > 0:13:49that so inspired the Bronte sisters.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53But two centuries ago the noise here would have been deafening,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57bustling with navvies hammering rocks, horses pulling carts
0:13:57 > 0:13:59and explosions going off in the hills.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05Again, the Pennine geography was making life
0:14:05 > 0:14:07difficult for the engineers.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Here, plans for locks were abandoned in favour of a much more
0:14:11 > 0:14:13ambitious structure -
0:14:13 > 0:14:16a tunnel stretching almost a mile.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Foulridge would become the single most expensive
0:14:20 > 0:14:22part of the entire construction project.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27The engineer, Robert Whitworth, had worked as a surveyor
0:14:27 > 0:14:29and draughtsman for Brindley's organisation.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34The technique Whitworth employed became known as "cut and cover"
0:14:34 > 0:14:36and is still in use today.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Cut and cover was actually used about 4,000 years ago in Babylon,
0:14:43 > 0:14:47where they use exactly the same technique of digging a trench,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51building a brickwork arch, although it was made of different materials,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53and then cover it up with earth.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58Cut and cover consists of a big trench that you
0:14:58 > 0:15:02dig in the ground, then you build your lining,
0:15:02 > 0:15:07your tunnel lining, which normally has a circular or arch shape,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10and then you fill it up with the ground that you've excavated
0:15:10 > 0:15:14previously, so you leave the ground surface as if nothing happened.
0:15:15 > 0:15:16They had to be really careful
0:15:16 > 0:15:19and control the way they were backfilling that tunnel
0:15:19 > 0:15:22to make sure that there was no asymmetric loading that would
0:15:22 > 0:15:24cause collapse of the tunnel lining.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32The work was dangerous, slow and difficult.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36Collapses were common and, when the navvies reached the central section,
0:15:36 > 0:15:41they found the rock so challenging they gave up on cut and cover.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44They were faced with laboriously boring through
0:15:44 > 0:15:46with picks and shovels.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49It took five years to complete.
0:15:49 > 0:15:50Navvy work was very dangerous.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53If you have a compound fracture, you know,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56a fracture where the bone is broken and the skin is broken,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58you go to hospital and essentially they will probably amputate
0:15:58 > 0:16:03the limb because your chances of it healing up are very low.
0:16:03 > 0:16:04In those circumstances,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07if you're working for a good canal company, they might compensate
0:16:07 > 0:16:10you because, obviously, you can't go back and carry on being a navvy
0:16:10 > 0:16:13and the chances are you will never have skilled work again.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The engineers and contractors knew that the smaller they kept
0:16:23 > 0:16:26the tunnel width, the quicker and cheaper it would be to finish.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28That meant they didn't include a towpath,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31by which the horses could pull the boats through.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35So, instead, boatmen had to leg their craft,
0:16:35 > 0:16:40propelling boats through by walking along the walls of tunnels.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42At some of the longer tunnels,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44professional leggers could be hired for the journey.
0:16:48 > 0:16:5125 years after construction began,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55some sections of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal were open
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and as a commercial venture it was working.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03By 1795, boats were carrying wool, grain, cotton and limestone.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09New companies wanted a share in the success.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Before the Foulridge Tunnel was completed, work started on two
0:17:12 > 0:17:15new canals across the Pennines,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17but these would be shorter and more direct.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28The first was the Rochdale Canal, engineered by William Jessop.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32It would run from Rochdale to Sowerby Bridge near Halifax.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36It was only 32 miles long, but needed 92 locks to cross the hills.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41At the same time as the Rochdale Canal was started,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44an even shorter crossing was proposed.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49The Huddersfield Narrow Canal would start in Ashton Under Lyne
0:17:49 > 0:17:51and run for just 20 miles.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56This one was in the hands of the engineer Benjamin Outram.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00His plan was so bold it verged on being reckless.
0:18:00 > 0:18:01He wanted to build the longest
0:18:01 > 0:18:04and highest canal tunnel in Britain, the Standedge Tunnel.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07This pursuit of the ultimate shortcut would push
0:18:07 > 0:18:11the boundaries of what was technically possible at the time.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28This is Pule Hill,
0:18:28 > 0:18:331,300 feet above sea level on bleak Marsden Moor
0:18:33 > 0:18:36and midway between Manchester and Leeds.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Outram had decided he could burrow straight through here for over
0:18:40 > 0:18:45three miles and complete the entire canal in just five years.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50His problems began with the layout of the tunnel.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56Standedge Tunnel is down there, about 600 feet below the surface.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59When Outram arrived here, he was faced with the immediate
0:18:59 > 0:19:01problems of the remoteness of the site,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03a climate that would swing wildly in the seasons
0:19:03 > 0:19:07and a very limited knowledge of what lay beneath his feet.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14When Outram visited the area, he had no idea about what
0:19:14 > 0:19:17kind of rock was at depth.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20And so when the tunnellers started cutting,
0:19:20 > 0:19:22they cut through the shale,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25but then encountered an ancient fault
0:19:25 > 0:19:28that had thrown up the grit stone in their path,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and they had to drill and blast their way through it.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39The work was painfully slow, hampered by poor workmanship,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43interference from the canal company and lack of money.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48The tunnel was hacked out by pick or blasted with black powder,
0:19:48 > 0:19:50an early form of explosive.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54In one year, just 150 yards was excavated.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06The use of black powder was extremely dangerous.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09The explosive power was low and unpredictable.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17It would be another 75 years before the stable
0:20:17 > 0:20:20and much more powerful dynamite was invented.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23There were no safety fuses.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Instead, navvies would stuff gunpowder into goose quills,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30light them and hope they burnt at the right speed.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Once the fuse was lit, the navvies clung to a rope,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46one above the other, and were hauled up the shaft.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48After the explosion,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51they were lowered back down to clear up the broken rock.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Accidents happened when they simply weren't hauled high enough
0:20:54 > 0:20:55above the danger zone.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59It's thought that, during construction, 50 men were killed.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04Outram was really too ambitious
0:21:04 > 0:21:08because this involved major engineering works without,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10really, the engineering skills
0:21:10 > 0:21:13that had been developed on other waterways.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19It was ambitious because it was very hard to estimate the costs
0:21:19 > 0:21:22and actually very hard to estimate the kind of returns
0:21:22 > 0:21:24that might be involved.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28The canal really was a product of the canal mania,
0:21:28 > 0:21:33excessive investment in the kind of projects
0:21:33 > 0:21:36that might well make no money at all.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51The engineer Benjamin Outram resigned
0:21:51 > 0:21:54after seven years on the project.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56To sort out the mess, the canal company now brought
0:21:56 > 0:22:00in an engineer regarded as one of the greatest of his generation.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Thomas Telford was a meticulous Scotsman
0:22:04 > 0:22:07who had worked across the country.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11He was a master in building canals, castles, churches,
0:22:11 > 0:22:13harbours, bridges and roads.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18Engineers like Telford were now professional consultants,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22giving independent advice to clients rather than being employees.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27And he used trusted contractors to ensure consistency.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31His was a more sophisticated approach
0:22:31 > 0:22:35and he was taking advantage of the progress engineering had made.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Telford no longer had to follow the contours of the land
0:22:38 > 0:22:39as his predecessors had.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41He met his challenges head-on,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43driving through hills in giant cuttings
0:22:43 > 0:22:46and straddling the valleys with large embankments.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53Telford resurveyed Standedge and found enormous errors.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55The tunnel ends were at different heights
0:22:55 > 0:22:58and the central alignment was off by three feet.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01By following his instructions,
0:23:01 > 0:23:06the company finally managed to complete the construction.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09But even then, the problems at Standedge weren't over
0:23:09 > 0:23:12as one of the supply reservoirs failed.
0:23:14 > 0:23:1770 million gallons of water came crashing down the moors,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20sweeping everything away in front of it,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23and the cascading water scoured peat from the surface
0:23:23 > 0:23:25and the black flood, as it was called,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29hurtled through the Colne Valley wrecking mills and factories.
0:23:29 > 0:23:30Five people were killed
0:23:30 > 0:23:34and a 15-tonne boulder was swept two miles down the hills.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51Standedge and the Huddersfield Canal had taken 17 years to complete,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55more than three times the original estimate of Benjamin Outram.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00And, by 1810, some 40 years after it had started,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04the big prize, connecting Leeds and Liverpool, was almost within reach.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10In that time, the Industrial Revolution had got into full swing.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14Business was booming on the sections that were open.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28And, at Parbold in Lancashire, the canal took a turn into history.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Instead of heading north, engineers now took the canal south
0:24:32 > 0:24:35towards the rich coal seams around Wigan.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40The canal finally joined up at Wigan in 1816.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54The building of the canals led to a new scientific
0:24:54 > 0:24:59understanding about materials, construction and mathematics.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Such big projects, with hundreds of men,
0:25:02 > 0:25:06meant there was no longer a place for trial and error.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Civil engineering became a discipline that encompassed reliable
0:25:09 > 0:25:16and accurate estimating of cost, design and the supervision of works.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Two years after the opening of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22the Institution of Civil Engineers was formed in London.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26First president was Thomas Telford,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30the man who had solved the problems at Standedge Tunnel.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33A central theme of the institution became the sharing
0:25:33 > 0:25:35and learning from other people's work.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42The publication of learned society papers continues today.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45It began in 1835 and there is a continuous record to today.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48We still do that. We still have evening lectures.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50We still have discussion meetings.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54We still learn from each other and we still publish our findings.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58And, of course, we have the additional benefit of the internet today,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02which the early engineers would have been very glad to have.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06What they were doing, in many ways, was creating
0:26:06 > 0:26:09the equivalent of an internet for themselves
0:26:09 > 0:26:11because the canal network and the road network
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and then the rail networks
0:26:13 > 0:26:18were binding networks that improved the means of communication.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32By 1816, all the difficult geography and climate of the Pennines
0:26:32 > 0:26:37had been overcome and they'd been crossed by three canals.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41The Leeds and Liverpool Canal was the region's main transport artery.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Along its route sprang cotton mills, factories,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47iron mills and warehousing.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51The volume of goods carried by the canal increased rapidly.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57Wool, grain, timber and passengers were all being transported in bulk
0:26:57 > 0:27:01and coal remained the most commonly transported cargo.
0:27:04 > 0:27:05Within a quarter of a century,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company had paid off all its debts.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14And within 50 years, the population of Leeds had trebled.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Britain's economy had undergone an explosive expansion,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28allowing it to become the first industrial power in the world.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Engineers who'd focused on small sections of waterways
0:27:33 > 0:27:37had built a network of canals that changed people's lives forever.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45The men responsible for the design, layout and execution
0:27:45 > 0:27:49of the early canals began as self-taught craftsman.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51But in profiting by experience,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53those who followed in their footsteps
0:27:53 > 0:27:56were recognised as the country's foremost civil engineers.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06The civil engineers who transformed Britain's landscape
0:28:06 > 0:28:09have left us with awe-inspiring monuments to a bygone age.