Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.

UK Waterways Locks and Distances

It has always seemed very difficult to get reliable information about the size of the network of rivers and canals that make up the UK waterways system. It was with a view to answering this question that these pages were developed. However, I do not claim that this it the definitive calculation of the total of all our waterways, rather it is a publicly available calculation that can be examined, challenged and improved.

The chart on the left gives a broad picture of the growth of waterways over the centuries, and their decline in the hundred years up to 1950. After 1950 a further dip then a rise can be seen as the waterways restoration movement started to take effect.

More detailed information is given in the various tables in the links from this page.

All the source data for the calculations is provided so that the details of individual canals can be checked for accuracy and completeness. Of course there will always be some facts that are in doubt. Even the opening and closure dates of many canals are only estimates.

Waterway Categories

For the purpose of these calculations all waterways (rivers and canals) have been divided into four broad groupings. These are:-

• Scottish Waterways
• Norfolk & Suffolk Broads
• Connected Waterway System - All the rivers and canals that are connected through inland routes.
• Non-connected Waterways - All the waterways not in the previous three categories.

Within the four broad groupings waterways are further sub-divided into the following:-

• Rivers - largely natural navigations that may have been improved by the addition of weirs, locks and short artificial cuts.
• Canals - artificial channels and other engineering works constructed to form a navigable route.
• Navigations - rivers where the navigation channel has been extensively diverted from the natural river course by the use of artificial cuts.

Canals and navigations are further sub-divided according to the type of craft they can accommodate:-

• Narrow - taking the Midland narrowboats sized about 70 foot long and 7 foot wide.
• Broad - taking barges and other craft over 7 foot wide.
• Ship - large enough for sea-going commercial craft.
• Tub-boat - for the use of very small boats that were navigated in groups and were often raised to higher levels by lifts or inclined planes rather than by using locks.
• Unspecified - where the size of craft used is in doubt.

The following pages give details of various waterways from Roman times to the present day.

Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.