3:15:41 > 3:15:45This is the story of how canals changed and shaped our modern world.
3:15:46 > 3:15:49Carrying huge volumes of goods and fuel,
3:15:49 > 3:15:53they were a stimulus to Britain's great Industrial Revolution.
3:15:55 > 3:15:57But they also gave us much, much more,
3:15:57 > 3:16:01and their legacy lives on, often in surprising ways.
3:16:01 > 3:16:03My name's Liz McIvor.
3:16:03 > 3:16:06I've spent my life studying and talking about history.
3:16:06 > 3:16:08And now I think it's time to take a different look
3:16:08 > 3:16:10at our inland waterways.
3:16:11 > 3:16:13The boom years of canal building
3:16:13 > 3:16:15were fuelled by a frenzy of public interest
3:16:15 > 3:16:19in the moneymaking potential of this new form of transport.
3:16:21 > 3:16:24There were fortunes to be made and lost in an emerging world
3:16:24 > 3:16:29of shareholders, dividend pay-outs and stock exchanges.
3:16:30 > 3:16:33So, how did the canal age create this new type of capitalism,
3:16:33 > 3:16:38when middle-class investors helped to transform the British landscape
3:16:38 > 3:16:40and bring sweeping industrial change?
3:17:03 > 3:17:06London is the beating heart of British capitalism.
3:17:06 > 3:17:09Perhaps even of world capitalism.
3:17:09 > 3:17:11A place brimming with entrepreneurial spirit,
3:17:11 > 3:17:14where risk and reward often go hand-in-hand.
3:17:17 > 3:17:21Canals played a key part in creating this enterprise culture.
3:17:21 > 3:17:24They offered new investment opportunities,
3:17:24 > 3:17:26and one of the most exciting was this canal,
3:17:26 > 3:17:28then known as the Grand Junction.
3:17:28 > 3:17:31Back in the early 19th century, it was the M1 of its day,
3:17:31 > 3:17:35an express route between the Midlands and the booming capital.
3:17:39 > 3:17:43The seeds for the Grand Junction were planted by the success
3:17:43 > 3:17:47of the first wave of British canals, which appeared from the 1760s.
3:17:47 > 3:17:49These were built by industrialists
3:17:49 > 3:17:52like the Duke of Bridgewater, Josiah Wedgwood,
3:17:52 > 3:17:56who realised they had to create their own transport networks
3:17:56 > 3:17:59to maximise profits from their mines and factories.
3:18:01 > 3:18:03But the big profits made by early canal owners
3:18:03 > 3:18:06persuaded the newly-prosperous middle classes
3:18:06 > 3:18:09that canals were money-spinning ventures in their own right.
3:18:09 > 3:18:10And, by investing in shares,
3:18:10 > 3:18:14they hoped to make big profits from the dividends they paid out.
3:18:20 > 3:18:24The growth of the middling ranks is clearly a key factor
3:18:24 > 3:18:27in the subsequent financing of canals.
3:18:27 > 3:18:32There's a lot more people, there's a lot more urbanisation.
3:18:32 > 3:18:35Obviously, London hugely increases.
3:18:35 > 3:18:39There's lots more people working in and around industry and trade,
3:18:39 > 3:18:43and that's generating capital, that, if it's not being taxed,
3:18:43 > 3:18:47was to seek other areas like canals.
3:18:47 > 3:18:51With the loss of Britain's American colonies in 1783,
3:18:51 > 3:18:53following the War of Independence,
3:18:53 > 3:18:56opportunities to invest money overseas were far more limited.
3:18:58 > 3:19:01By the 1780s, we are seeing a movement
3:19:01 > 3:19:03away from just industrialists
3:19:03 > 3:19:06and landowners investing in canals
3:19:06 > 3:19:09to wealthy London merchants,
3:19:09 > 3:19:12indeed, London merchant banks,
3:19:12 > 3:19:16seeing there's a big profit to be made in canals.
3:19:16 > 3:19:20After all, canals look as if they're revolutionising the economy.
3:19:20 > 3:19:23Surely, that can only go up and up and up.
3:19:23 > 3:19:27The same thing happened in the 1990s with the dot-com bubble.
3:19:27 > 3:19:30You've got that optimism and that magnet for money.
3:19:35 > 3:19:37Suddenly, canals were all the rage,
3:19:37 > 3:19:41leading to an intense period of speculation in the 1790s
3:19:41 > 3:19:43known as Canal Mania.
3:19:43 > 3:19:46People started not only investing but speculating,
3:19:46 > 3:19:47which meant buying up shares
3:19:47 > 3:19:50and then selling them on almost immediately for a profit.
3:19:50 > 3:19:55And to appreciate how quickly this mania gripped the nation,
3:19:55 > 3:19:58just look at the number of canal acts that were passed.
3:19:58 > 3:20:03In 1790, there was only one new canal authorised by Parliament,
3:20:03 > 3:20:05while three years later, there were 20.
3:20:09 > 3:20:12In 1793, at the height of Canal Mania,
3:20:12 > 3:20:15one of the key routes trying to get a green light through Parliament
3:20:15 > 3:20:19was one that would directly connect London and Birmingham.
3:20:19 > 3:20:22Birmingham, with its industrial heart in the Midlands,
3:20:22 > 3:20:24needed better access to London's markets
3:20:24 > 3:20:26for its coal and its other goods.
3:20:26 > 3:20:30There was definitely a strong economic case to be made
3:20:30 > 3:20:35for a shorter and more reliable route between Birmingham and London.
3:20:35 > 3:20:38The existing one, via the old Oxford Canal,
3:20:38 > 3:20:40was circuitous, to say the least,
3:20:40 > 3:20:43and meandered along for nearly 250 miles.
3:20:43 > 3:20:46Barges had to navigate a long section of the Thames,
3:20:46 > 3:20:50which was prone to seasonal floods and droughts.
3:20:50 > 3:20:52A new canal, to be called the Grand Junction,
3:20:52 > 3:20:55running between Braunston and Brentford,
3:20:55 > 3:20:57just to the west of London,
3:20:57 > 3:21:00would knock around 60 miles off the distance.
3:21:00 > 3:21:03This crucial canal was going to be THE big route of its day.
3:21:03 > 3:21:07It was a prime opportunity for investors to pile in and make money.
3:21:07 > 3:21:09But to get the project off the ground,
3:21:09 > 3:21:12it needed a high-profile public champion.
3:21:13 > 3:21:15And that's exactly what it got,
3:21:15 > 3:21:17in the shape of the Marquess of Buckingham.
3:21:17 > 3:21:21Having held several government offices, including Home Secretary,
3:21:21 > 3:21:25he decided he would now use his influence to promote the new canal
3:21:25 > 3:21:29and deliver economic benefits to his home county of Buckinghamshire.
3:21:36 > 3:21:38In the summer of 1792,
3:21:38 > 3:21:41the Marquess held a public meeting here in the town
3:21:41 > 3:21:45of Stony Stratford, an important coaching stop on the way to London.
3:21:45 > 3:21:47The meeting kicked off here at The Bull,
3:21:47 > 3:21:50but there were so many people who arrived to subscribe for shares
3:21:50 > 3:21:52in this new canal that there simply wasn't room.
3:21:52 > 3:21:53And, reportedly,
3:21:53 > 3:21:57they all had to relocate across the road to the parish church.
3:21:57 > 3:22:00It was the only building in town big enough to house everyone.
3:22:04 > 3:22:07These first subscribers to the Grand Junction
3:22:07 > 3:22:10pledged £350,000 of capital.
3:22:14 > 3:22:17An initial survey of the new canal, paid for by the Marquess,
3:22:17 > 3:22:20was approved, and a committee was set up.
3:22:20 > 3:22:23Its elected chairman was the canal's second major champion,
3:22:23 > 3:22:27William Praed, an MP from a Cornish banking family
3:22:27 > 3:22:31who wanted to wave the flag for business interests in London.
3:22:33 > 3:22:36The huge amount of interest in the Grand Junction
3:22:36 > 3:22:39generated by the meeting here at Stony Stratford
3:22:39 > 3:22:41caused something of a speculative bubble.
3:22:41 > 3:22:45By the end of 1792, the shares had quadrupled in value
3:22:45 > 3:22:48and this was before the canal had started being dug,
3:22:48 > 3:22:51and even before approval from Parliament had been granted.
3:22:56 > 3:23:00Some of the shares just were valued at £100,
3:23:00 > 3:23:03and even before the Act was passed,
3:23:03 > 3:23:06they were valued at around £450.
3:23:06 > 3:23:08So that was the case for the Grand Junction Canal.
3:23:08 > 3:23:11So there was a huge increase in a short period of time.
3:23:11 > 3:23:13So, for people who were able to sell fast,
3:23:13 > 3:23:16there was a potential of making a quick return.
3:23:18 > 3:23:21During these heady days of Canal Mania,
3:23:21 > 3:23:23schemes sprang up all over Britain,
3:23:23 > 3:23:25with spectators scrambling to add their names
3:23:25 > 3:23:28to different subscription lists.
3:23:28 > 3:23:32The promoters would announce that they had this dream of creating
3:23:32 > 3:23:34a new canal, and they would send out a notice,
3:23:34 > 3:23:35people would see the notice
3:23:35 > 3:23:38and they were willing to actually just quickly, cheap horse and cart,
3:23:38 > 3:23:41and travel miles to just stand in a field
3:23:41 > 3:23:43and have their name on the list.
3:23:43 > 3:23:48So there was a bit of a frenzy there to just be part of this
3:23:48 > 3:23:51new transport system that was going to be created.
3:23:53 > 3:23:56For speculators, there was big money to be made from canals.
3:23:56 > 3:24:02In 1793, for example, £100 shares in the Birmingham and Fazeley
3:24:02 > 3:24:07rocketed in value, trading at a premium of well over £1,000.
3:24:08 > 3:24:11There are some similarities with the dot-com bubble
3:24:11 > 3:24:15that happened in the late 1990s, 2000s.
3:24:15 > 3:24:17These were new technologies,
3:24:17 > 3:24:19people didn't know what they were investing in,
3:24:19 > 3:24:21most people wouldn't have known what they were investing in.
3:24:21 > 3:24:24So some will have made a lot of money from some good schemes
3:24:24 > 3:24:27that are still running, and others will have lost everything.
3:24:33 > 3:24:35By 1793, the floodgates had opened,
3:24:35 > 3:24:38and Canal Mania was reaching such epidemic proportions
3:24:38 > 3:24:42that the government actually held a debate on whether or not
3:24:42 > 3:24:44dealing in canal shares should be limited,
3:24:44 > 3:24:47and whether such high profits should be curbed.
3:24:48 > 3:24:53They were worried about too much of the country being covered by canals.
3:24:53 > 3:24:55Although they voted against taking any action,
3:24:55 > 3:24:59it was noted that one honourable member wished his grandchildren...
3:24:59 > 3:25:01"might be born web-footed,
3:25:01 > 3:25:04"that they might be able to swim in water and live on fish,
3:25:04 > 3:25:08"for there would not be a bit of dry land in this island to walk upon."
3:25:15 > 3:25:17The Grand Junction didn't just attract
3:25:17 > 3:25:19those wanting to speculate for a quick profit.
3:25:19 > 3:25:22It appealed to longer-term investors, too.
3:25:23 > 3:25:25Clues to the types of people these were
3:25:25 > 3:25:28can be found in the canal's financial records,
3:25:28 > 3:25:31held at the National Archives in Kew.
3:25:33 > 3:25:35One of the documents is from 1815
3:25:35 > 3:25:37and is a list of shareholders in the canal.
3:25:37 > 3:25:41The book's full of names of people who are basically
3:25:41 > 3:25:43landed gentry, or who are middle class,
3:25:43 > 3:25:46who have quite a bit of money to invest in the canal.
3:25:46 > 3:25:51And in amongst the £200 shares, there are also some smaller amounts
3:25:51 > 3:25:55and what's clear is that there are signs of an emerging middle class.
3:25:55 > 3:25:57This entry for William Burt,
3:25:57 > 3:26:01who is a builder of Swallow Street, Piccadilly in London,
3:26:01 > 3:26:04he's only investing £30, which isn't a great deal of money,
3:26:04 > 3:26:08but it's interesting to see that he's obviously done well and
3:26:08 > 3:26:11he wants to invest the money, the profit he's made,
3:26:11 > 3:26:13in a scheme to get even richer.
3:26:13 > 3:26:17So, after a builder in the book, you also have a grocer,
3:26:17 > 3:26:20Sam Munn of Kettering in Northamptonshire.
3:26:20 > 3:26:23He's investing in this case £24 in the canal.
3:26:23 > 3:26:26What we have to remember is investment in the canal
3:26:26 > 3:26:28like this is a long-term investment.
3:26:28 > 3:26:30It's designed not just to make them rich,
3:26:30 > 3:26:34but to improve the lives of their children and their grandchildren.
3:26:34 > 3:26:36It's social mobility, written down.
3:26:38 > 3:26:42Apart from the men's names listed in the shareholders' journal,
3:26:42 > 3:26:45there are quite a few women listed here as well.
3:26:45 > 3:26:48On this page, for the 13th of July,
3:26:48 > 3:26:51is Eleanor Brownell of Liverpool, spinster.
3:26:52 > 3:26:54And she has £24 worth of shares,
3:26:54 > 3:26:56but what's more interesting is the fact that she's
3:26:56 > 3:27:00listed as a single woman and single women often were encouraged...
3:27:00 > 3:27:02Middle class women were often encouraged to
3:27:02 > 3:27:06invest in schemes like this, in order to provide for themselves,
3:27:06 > 3:27:08should they not be able to marry well, or at all.
3:27:17 > 3:27:21The Grand Junction was making money for some people before it was built,
3:27:21 > 3:27:24or even approved, and before that could happen, the Marquess
3:27:24 > 3:27:27and William Praed had to fight off some stiff
3:27:27 > 3:27:30competition from other canal companies.
3:27:31 > 3:27:36The Oxford canal proprietors were not at all amused at the project
3:27:36 > 3:27:42to short-circuit their canal by a direct line from Braunston to London.
3:27:42 > 3:27:46And they entered some very vociferous opposition
3:27:46 > 3:27:49and a lot of backstairs diplomacy was
3:27:49 > 3:27:53entered into between the supporters of the Oxford canal project,
3:27:53 > 3:27:58who wanted to build their own cut-off canal into West London
3:27:58 > 3:28:00and eventually,
3:28:00 > 3:28:04they managed to come to a compromise agreement whereby
3:28:04 > 3:28:10the Grand Junction agreed to pay compensation tolls to the Oxford
3:28:10 > 3:28:16Canal Company, should their revenue ever fall below £10,000 a year,
3:28:16 > 3:28:19which in those days was a very considerable sum.
3:28:19 > 3:28:23The Oxford Canal were always at daggers drawn with
3:28:23 > 3:28:25the Grand Junction Canal.
3:28:25 > 3:28:30I can remember even in the '50s and '60s, Oxford Canal employees were
3:28:30 > 3:28:34always very suspicious of anybody who'd come off the Grand Junction.
3:28:34 > 3:28:37"What are you doing down this way?"
3:28:37 > 3:28:38Didn't like it at all.
3:28:42 > 3:28:44After seeing off its rival,
3:28:44 > 3:28:48the Grand Junction could now seek official parliamentary approval.
3:28:48 > 3:28:51Ever since the British Government had intervened to avert
3:28:51 > 3:28:54a banking collapse during the infamous South Sea Bubble
3:28:54 > 3:28:58fiasco of the 1720s, the state needed to authorise
3:28:58 > 3:29:01the amounts of capital raised for big projects like canals.
3:29:03 > 3:29:07A bill was successfully passed in 1793, steered through by
3:29:07 > 3:29:11William Praed, and with the Marquess as one of its principal sponsors.
3:29:13 > 3:29:16Work could now begin and by the year's end,
3:29:16 > 3:29:21around 3,500 men were busy building the canal.
3:29:21 > 3:29:25Most of the engineering works were carried out by pick, shovel,
3:29:25 > 3:29:27horse and cart.
3:29:29 > 3:29:32Construction of the Grand Junction was now under way,
3:29:32 > 3:29:34but there would be more obstacles to overcome,
3:29:34 > 3:29:37which would send costs spiralling upwards to jeopardise
3:29:37 > 3:29:40the potential profits of the shareholders.
3:29:40 > 3:29:44For one thing, just to the west of Watford,
3:29:44 > 3:29:47the canal route passed through two estates belonging to the
3:29:47 > 3:29:50local landed gentry, who needed to be appeased.
3:29:50 > 3:29:54After a lot of negotiations, both the Earl of Clarendon
3:29:54 > 3:29:58and the Earl of Essex, who owned the adjoining parks,
3:29:58 > 3:30:01agreed to let the canal company come down through here
3:30:01 > 3:30:05and one of the conditions was that they had to landscape it
3:30:05 > 3:30:08and it had to be made as picturesque as possible.
3:30:08 > 3:30:11As befitted a gentleman's estate.
3:30:11 > 3:30:14And, of course, that's not necessarily cheap to do.
3:30:14 > 3:30:15No, it isn't.
3:30:15 > 3:30:21Further north, at Grove Park, you've got quite an expensive stone bridge,
3:30:21 > 3:30:26taking the main driveway into Grove Park from the old Watford Turnpike.
3:30:26 > 3:30:29And that must have been quite a bit more expensive than
3:30:29 > 3:30:32the ordinary run of the mill canal bridge.
3:30:32 > 3:30:37The Earl of Essex also made the canal company build a house where
3:30:37 > 3:30:41they had to station a man whose job it was to prevent boatmen
3:30:41 > 3:30:44loitering, and pinching his lordship's game.
3:30:44 > 3:30:48The favourite method was to have grain which you
3:30:48 > 3:30:50soaked in a bit of rum
3:30:50 > 3:30:53and the person who went ahead to get the locks ready happened to
3:30:53 > 3:30:56drop a few grains down, soaked in rum,
3:30:56 > 3:30:59and then when the boats came a few minutes later,
3:30:59 > 3:31:02there would be some very drunk pheasants lying on the tow paths,
3:31:02 > 3:31:05which could be picked up easily.
3:31:05 > 3:31:08As well as having to fork out to placate landowners,
3:31:08 > 3:31:11the Grand Junction's investors were also
3:31:11 > 3:31:15worried about the spiralling costs of some of the engineering work.
3:31:15 > 3:31:19A long cutting needed to be made at the canal's highest point,
3:31:19 > 3:31:21the Tring summit in the Chilterns.
3:31:21 > 3:31:25In Northamptonshire, geological problems meant that work on the
3:31:25 > 3:31:29Blisworth tunnel had to be abandoned several times after bad flooding.
3:31:32 > 3:31:35Not only were there these engineering problems,
3:31:35 > 3:31:38but there was also the Napoleonic wars going on in the background,
3:31:38 > 3:31:42which put the price of everything up, so, consequently,
3:31:42 > 3:31:47the canal was costing a great deal more than had been bargained for,
3:31:47 > 3:31:54and the company had to go back to Parliament on more than one occasion
3:31:54 > 3:31:58for further Acts of Parliament to authorise raising extra capital.
3:32:01 > 3:32:06All of this extra expenditure meant the canal's final costs, originally
3:32:06 > 3:32:12estimated at £400,000, eventually came in at around £1.5 million.
3:32:12 > 3:32:15Until it was overtaken by the Manchester Ship Canal in 1887,
3:32:15 > 3:32:17the Grand Junction remained
3:32:17 > 3:32:20Britain's most expensive canal project.
3:32:22 > 3:32:25Apart from the troublesome Blisworth tunnel,
3:32:25 > 3:32:28the canal was largely completed by 1800.
3:32:28 > 3:32:31It knocked 60 miles off the originally longwinded route
3:32:31 > 3:32:34via the Oxford Canal, and it was far more reliable.
3:32:36 > 3:32:39With most of the canal open for business
3:32:39 > 3:32:43by the turn of the century, the Grand Junction soon replaced
3:32:43 > 3:32:47the Oxford as the main trade route between London and the Midlands.
3:32:47 > 3:32:50Places like the Marsworth Locks near Tring would have been
3:32:50 > 3:32:52incredibly busy in the early 1800s.
3:32:56 > 3:32:59Narrow boats heading for London would be loaded with coal,
3:32:59 > 3:33:02agricultural produce and manufactured goods.
3:33:02 > 3:33:05They'd pass boats that were heading up to the Midlands
3:33:05 > 3:33:08and they were loaded with tea, sugar and spices from the London Docks.
3:33:11 > 3:33:15The Grand Junction, like most canals, made most of its revenue
3:33:15 > 3:33:18from tolls levied against goods carried up and down the waterway.
3:33:18 > 3:33:22It very much depended on what you were carrying and how much of it.
3:33:22 > 3:33:25Boats would be gauged by water displacement to see how much
3:33:25 > 3:33:26toll to levy.
3:33:26 > 3:33:29Coal was the most expensive item on the canal
3:33:29 > 3:33:33because it was the most profitable, at three half pence a tonne.
3:33:33 > 3:33:36Another busy spot where cargos were assessed
3:33:36 > 3:33:39and tolls paid was the Brentford Gauging Lock.
3:33:39 > 3:33:42In fact, the whole Brentford district grew up as a direct
3:33:42 > 3:33:46result of the canal's construction, with wharfs, warehouses,
3:33:46 > 3:33:49freight sheds and workshops all springing up to serve the new route.
3:33:50 > 3:33:54But for the Grand Junction to reach its full potential,
3:33:54 > 3:33:56a final piece of the puzzle would be needed.
3:33:56 > 3:33:58And once it was in place, it would
3:33:58 > 3:34:03allow London to directly link up to the national canal network.
3:34:03 > 3:34:06The Grand Junction Company had always had ambitions to build
3:34:06 > 3:34:10a connection from the main line at Southall to Paddington, which was
3:34:10 > 3:34:12close to the heart of the capital
3:34:12 > 3:34:16and connected by road to the City of London.
3:34:20 > 3:34:24The 13 mile Paddington Arm opened in 1801,
3:34:24 > 3:34:26terminating here at Paddington Basin.
3:34:29 > 3:34:32Paddington was a very insignificant little village,
3:34:32 > 3:34:36just outside London, but the canal brought with it warehouses,
3:34:36 > 3:34:42wharfs and bustling industry and, of course,
3:34:42 > 3:34:47it was also the natural site some 40-odd years later
3:34:47 > 3:34:49for Isambard Kingdom Brunel
3:34:49 > 3:34:52to site his terminus of the Great Western Railway.
3:34:52 > 3:34:55So you can say really that the Grand Junction Canal was
3:34:55 > 3:35:00the making of Paddington as an important suburb of London.
3:35:02 > 3:35:04One of the firms to build warehouses
3:35:04 > 3:35:08and wharves at Paddington was the carrying company Pickfords.
3:35:08 > 3:35:13Pickfords first began using canals in 1776
3:35:13 > 3:35:16and it was a safeguard to their main wagon and horse transport
3:35:16 > 3:35:18between Manchester and London
3:35:18 > 3:35:21cos they were wanting to see how this newfangled
3:35:21 > 3:35:23mode of transport would actually work out.
3:35:23 > 3:35:28Within 20 years, Pickfords had grown from four barges to over 28.
3:35:28 > 3:35:32As they started the 19th century, it was up to nearly 80.
3:35:32 > 3:35:35For Pickfords, the arrival of the Grand Junction
3:35:35 > 3:35:38was a godsend, as it meant they no longer had to use
3:35:38 > 3:35:42the Oxford Canal as their main carrying route down to London.
3:35:42 > 3:35:45The Oxford Canal Company were quite greedy
3:35:45 > 3:35:48and were causing Pickfords problems
3:35:48 > 3:35:52because they were wanting higher leases on warehouses, on wharves.
3:35:52 > 3:35:55The Grand Junction Canal was a saviour.
3:35:55 > 3:35:58It was quicker, it was more direct, and when the Blisworth Tunnel
3:35:58 > 3:36:01was built, straight to London, no unloading.
3:36:01 > 3:36:03And they had priority at the locks.
3:36:03 > 3:36:05Barges would be stacked up to go through.
3:36:05 > 3:36:08Flyboat comes along, you had to give up your place,
3:36:08 > 3:36:10so Pickfords had the priority going through.
3:36:10 > 3:36:13They could be in London within two and a half days
3:36:13 > 3:36:14from the North of England.
3:36:14 > 3:36:17Nobody could beat it and that was because the Grand Junction Canal
3:36:17 > 3:36:21gave them a direct route and also a basin
3:36:21 > 3:36:23in the heart of London, at Paddington.
3:36:24 > 3:36:27Of course, there was no point having a fast canal route
3:36:27 > 3:36:31if the delivery system across London wasn't equally efficient.
3:36:31 > 3:36:34Pickfords had opened up not one,
3:36:34 > 3:36:36but two warehouses through the basin.
3:36:36 > 3:36:41The barge would come in between two and four o'clock in the morning.
3:36:41 > 3:36:43All its paperwork, its manifest,
3:36:43 > 3:36:46had already been sent ahead of the barge so they knew what was coming.
3:36:46 > 3:36:50There might be 150 consignments on that barge, each consignment
3:36:50 > 3:36:53would come off, they'd look at it, "Oh, yeah, that's for Hammersmith."
3:36:53 > 3:36:55It would be in loading bay 1 or loading bay 4,
3:36:55 > 3:36:57wagon would be waiting.
3:36:57 > 3:37:00If it arrived between two and four, by five, it was on its way,
3:37:00 > 3:37:02by eight o'clock, the same wagon had delivered everything
3:37:02 > 3:37:04and was back for its second load.
3:37:04 > 3:37:07Now, I doubt if many parcel carriers could beat that today
3:37:07 > 3:37:09and when you consider the technology,
3:37:09 > 3:37:12which was canals, horses, wagons,
3:37:12 > 3:37:13it was pretty slick.
3:37:16 > 3:37:19Even with the addition of the Paddington Arm,
3:37:19 > 3:37:23the Grand Junction wasn't a success in its early years of operation.
3:37:23 > 3:37:26A letter from 1806 to the Gentleman's Magazine
3:37:26 > 3:37:31complained about "the consequences of ill-judged speculation".
3:37:31 > 3:37:35"From the pressure of the times, many widows and young ladies,
3:37:35 > 3:37:38"whose fortunes, with the hopes of extraordinary interest,
3:37:38 > 3:37:41"were vested by their friends in the stock of this company,
3:37:41 > 3:37:43"have been obliged to sell their shares
3:37:43 > 3:37:45"at a very great disadvantage and loss."
3:37:49 > 3:37:52In the short term, the Grand Junction may have been
3:37:52 > 3:37:56the ruin of some, but over the next years, the canal's fortunes
3:37:56 > 3:38:00improved and its revenue and share price began to climb steadily.
3:38:02 > 3:38:06Despite a sluggish start, the Grand Junction soon began to hit
3:38:06 > 3:38:11its stride and repay the confidence of the investors who risked so much.
3:38:11 > 3:38:15By 1810, there were nearly 350,000 tonnes of goods moving
3:38:15 > 3:38:18through London, with equal amounts coming in and out of the capital.
3:38:19 > 3:38:24In 1819, it was noted that "the annual gross revenue of the canal
3:38:24 > 3:38:28"amounted to the sum of £170,000.
3:38:29 > 3:38:32"It possesses 1,400 proprietors
3:38:32 > 3:38:36"and its shares of £100 have recently sold at up to £250 each.
3:38:38 > 3:38:42"Many of the first capitalists of the kingdom are its proprietors
3:38:42 > 3:38:44"and its usual routine of business is so conducted
3:38:44 > 3:38:48"as to give satisfaction to all who are connected with it."
3:38:49 > 3:38:54In the long run, it was to prove not the most successful canal,
3:38:54 > 3:38:56but a very successful canal,
3:38:56 > 3:39:02and it paid a steady dividend from the early 19th century
3:39:02 > 3:39:08until it was taken over by the Grand Union Canal Company in 1929.
3:39:08 > 3:39:12And, in fact, it still existed as a property company
3:39:12 > 3:39:16owning property in Paddington until 1972.
3:39:18 > 3:39:22As well as collecting dividends, shareholders could wheel and deal
3:39:22 > 3:39:25their stocks on a bigger scale once the London Stock Exchange
3:39:25 > 3:39:28was formally established in 1801.
3:39:28 > 3:39:34During the mid-18th century, their markets were local, there was limited
3:39:34 > 3:39:40flow of capital, hence prospective canals depended on local money.
3:39:40 > 3:39:44But by the 1790s, you've got lots of shares in canals being traded
3:39:44 > 3:39:48in and around the Bank of England, and round Exchange Alley.
3:39:48 > 3:39:52Of course, the Stock Exchange isn't officially regulated till 1801
3:39:52 > 3:39:54and by 1811, half the companies on the Stock Exchange
3:39:54 > 3:39:55are canal companies.
3:39:57 > 3:40:01The Grand Junction shareholders may have profited financially,
3:40:01 > 3:40:04but the canal also brought benefits to the nation as a whole.
3:40:04 > 3:40:06It was a good investment for the country
3:40:06 > 3:40:10because the boots for Wellington's army came from Northampton
3:40:10 > 3:40:14and the guns that fired at Trafalgar passed along this canal.
3:40:18 > 3:40:20The canal's public champions were both
3:40:20 > 3:40:24honoured for their work in helping create the Grand Junction.
3:40:24 > 3:40:26The Marquess of Buckingham had his coat of arms
3:40:26 > 3:40:28incorporated into the company's official seal,
3:40:28 > 3:40:31while William Praed had a major street named after him
3:40:31 > 3:40:32in Paddington,
3:40:32 > 3:40:36marking the crucial role he played in the growth of the area.
3:40:38 > 3:40:42For some investors, the era of Canal Mania brought hefty returns,
3:40:42 > 3:40:45but not all the canals given the go-ahead during those years
3:40:45 > 3:40:47were as successful as the Grand Junction.
3:40:50 > 3:40:54The Hereford and Gloucester Canal never paid a dividend.
3:40:54 > 3:40:57The Grand Western Canal didn't pay out any until the 1850s.
3:40:59 > 3:41:02And the Dorset and Somerset was abandoned during construction
3:41:02 > 3:41:04and never completed.
3:41:05 > 3:41:09There were more losers than winners in canal investment.
3:41:09 > 3:41:12The early canals were the most successful
3:41:12 > 3:41:16because they had a proper rationale.
3:41:16 > 3:41:19They were promoted by industrialists, merchants, and in the case
3:41:19 > 3:41:23of Bridgwater, a landed gent who owned a lot of coal mines.
3:41:23 > 3:41:27The key area is the industrial Midlands and the North West,
3:41:27 > 3:41:32and it's here where a network is built up around bulky items
3:41:32 > 3:41:37like coal, salt, limestone, Cheshire cheeses.
3:41:37 > 3:41:43However, the later canals, built on less firm grounds
3:41:43 > 3:41:48often without a proper purpose, ended up losing money
3:41:48 > 3:41:53or never getting built and obviously the investors there were doomed.
3:41:54 > 3:41:57Ultimately, the mania for canals
3:41:57 > 3:42:01were eclipsed eventually by the railways.
3:42:03 > 3:42:06The Grand Junction was profitable until the 1840s
3:42:06 > 3:42:09when the railways started to muscle in on their business.
3:42:09 > 3:42:13Many shareholders sold their canal shares to invest in these railways,
3:42:13 > 3:42:16resulting in a similar period of speculative mania.
3:42:18 > 3:42:21The dawn of the railway age began the long decline of
3:42:21 > 3:42:26the Grand Junction and the rest of Britain's industrial canal systems.
3:42:26 > 3:42:29The new railways certainly brought a swift end
3:42:29 > 3:42:32to Pickfords' slick canal operation.
3:42:32 > 3:42:35From 1840-1847, in that seven year period,
3:42:35 > 3:42:40Pickfords went from having over 100 barges, 400 horses, down to nothing.
3:42:41 > 3:42:44The reason being, railways,
3:42:44 > 3:42:48and Pickfords knew this was the way to go.
3:42:48 > 3:42:51But to be involved with the railways,
3:42:51 > 3:42:54the railway company said, "You scrap every other mode of transport,
3:42:54 > 3:42:56"we will have no competitors."
3:42:56 > 3:42:59That meant no canals. That was the end.
3:43:02 > 3:43:06The canal age really represents a milestone on the road
3:43:06 > 3:43:08to financial development for the modern age.
3:43:08 > 3:43:12In previous years, major schemes had to be invested in
3:43:12 > 3:43:16by aristocratic people borrowing from each other, very small numbers.
3:43:16 > 3:43:19Now, an emerging middle class were able to invest themselves
3:43:19 > 3:43:23in large schemes that required huge amounts of money to get going.
3:43:27 > 3:43:30Margaret Thatcher famously in the 1980s tried to create
3:43:30 > 3:43:36a stockholding democracy by privatising nationalised companies,
3:43:36 > 3:43:38particularly the utility companies
3:43:38 > 3:43:41and wooing people to invest in them,
3:43:41 > 3:43:45thus having a stake in the country, and that's the same mentality
3:43:45 > 3:43:49we see, I think, in the late-18th, early-19th century,
3:43:49 > 3:43:53a shift away from having to have fixed property, land,
3:43:53 > 3:43:55which had traditionally been the way,
3:43:55 > 3:43:58to now having a stake through investment,
3:43:58 > 3:44:02from investment in projects like canals and, later, railways.