The 'canal age' began in the 1760s and 1770s with a network of waterways being built connecting the rivers of towns and cities with areas of industry and manufacture. Although road surfaces were improving in the 18th century, it was expensive to transport heavy goods by road. This new form of transportation was cheap and more reliable than travel by road, particularly for heavy loads such as coal, timber, chalk and wheat. The canal boom reached its peak in the 1790s, following the success of the earlier waterways.

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