Photo of a modern narrowboat passing between the abutments of a dismantled railway bridge. Beyond the former bridge, a historic working boat that once transported coal from the Coventry coalfields is moored across the entrance of a basin that once served a colliery located next to the canal. Old maps show that the railway which used to cross the canal was a short branch line that linked a brickworks on the right bank with the colliery on the left bank and then connected to the main line railway that runs close to the canal. The Coventry Canal, begun 1768 but not completed until 1790, was part of the original waterway route between the Midlands and London which, unlike many other canals, remained a reasonably profitable commercial waterway into the 20th century, despite competition first from the faster Grand Union Canal route and then the railways.
Brief history of #ukcanals in one image
Modern leisure narrowboat passing between the abutments of a dismantled railway bridge as it approaches a historic working boat moored at the entrance to a basin that served a colliery.
#boatlife
#canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways