Seven Wonders of the Waterways

The Seven Wonders of the Waterways is a list of landmarks on the navigable waterways of the United Kingdom. The list was originally compiled in 1946^[1] by Robert Aickman, co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), at a time when the waterways network was largely derelict.^[2] Today, the Canal & River Trust—formerly British Waterways—has jurisdiction over (and responsibility for) all of the sites except for the Barton Swing Aqueduct, which is owned and operated by the Bridgewater Canal Company.^[3]

Background

In 1946, the Inland Waterways Association was formed to campaign for the conservation of navigable waterways in the United Kingdom.^[4] Robert Aickman, one of the co-founders of the association, proposed the list in his book Know Your Waterways as a method of highlighting significant feats of engineering on the canal network, as well as bringing attention to those at risk of becoming derelict.^[5][6] At the time of the list's publication, six of the locations were navigable. The London Midland and Scottish Railway Company Act of 1944 formally closed the Llangollen Canal, although the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct remained in use as a water feeder for the wider Shropshire Union Canal network. Aickman successfully passed through the Standedge Tunnel in Yorkshire with L. T. C. Rolt in 1948, at a time when it was closed to all other traffic and awaiting restoration from its state of disrepair.^[7] The Caen Hill Locks in Wiltshire became derelict shortly after the list's publication, with the last boat passage before restoration occurring in 1948.^[8] The Anderton Boat Lift only became inoperational for a sixteen-year period beginning in the 1980s,^[9] and the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the Bingley Five Rise Locks, and the Burnley Embankment have always—except for general maintenance—been navigable.

List

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

Standedge Tunnel

Caen Hill Locks

Barton Swing Aqueduct

Anderton Boat Lift

Bingley Five Rise Locks

Burnley Embankment

Falkirk Wheel

Sapperton Tunnel

Foxton Inclined Plane

Harecastle Tunnel

Crofton Pumping Station

Locations of the original Seven Wonders (green) and additional candidates (orange)

The original list comprises two aqueducts, two lock systems, one tunnel, one boat lift and one embankment. All but two of the sites date from around the Canal Mania period:

Name	Type	Description	Waterway	Principal engineer(s)	Location	Opened	Heritage	Coordinates	Image
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct	Navigable aqueduct	Longest and highest aqueduct in the United Kingdom[10]	Llangollen Canal	Thomas Telford William Jessop	Froncysyllte, Clwyd, Wales	26 November 1805; 219 years ago (1805-11-26)	UNESCO World Heritage Site[11] Grade I listed[10]	52.970556°N 3.087778°W / 52.970556; -3.087778
Standedge Tunnel	Canal tunnel	The longest, deepest, and highest canal tunnel in the United Kingdom[2]	Huddersfield Narrow Canal	Benjamin Outram Thomas Telford	Standedge, West Yorkshire, England	4 April 1811; 214 years ago (1811-04-04)	Grade II* listed (north portal)[12]	53.59107°N 1.96219°W / 53.59107; -1.96219
Caen Hill Flight	Lock flight	One of the longest continuous lock flights in the country, with a gradient of 1:44[13]	Kennet and Avon Canal	John Rennie	Devizes, Wiltshire, England	28 December 1810; 214 years ago (1810-12-28)	Scheduled Monument[14]	51.35253°N 2.02559°W / 51.35253; -2.02559
Barton Swing Aqueduct	Navigable aqueduct	The world's only swinging aqueduct[15]	Bridgewater Canal	Edward Leader Williams	Barton upon Irwell, Greater Manchester, England	1 January 1894; 131 years ago (1894-01-01)	Grade II* listed[16]	53.4748°N 2.3521°W / 53.4748; -2.3521
Anderton Boat Lift	Boat lift	The world's first commercially successful boat lift[17]	Trent and Mersey Canal, River Weaver	Edward Leader Williams Edwin Clark	Anderton with Marbury, Cheshire, England	26 July 1875; 149 years ago (1875-07-26)	Scheduled Monument[17]	53.2728°N 2.5305°W / 53.2728; -2.5305
Bingley Five Rise Locks	Staircase locks	Early example of staircase lock and steepest flight in the country (1:5)[18]	Leeds and Liverpool Canal	John Longbotham	Bingley, West Yorkshire, England	21 March 1774; 251 years ago (1774-03-21)	Grade I listed[19]	53.8558°N 1.8379°W / 53.8558; -1.8379
Burnley Embankment	Embankment	Innovative solution to a canal crossing a wide river valley[20]	Leeds and Liverpool Canal	Robert Whitworth	Burnley, Lancashire, England	April 1801; 224 years ago (1801-04)	Grade II (partial)[21][22]	53.7885°N 2.237472°W / 53.7885; -2.237472

Additional wonders

A number of other canal locations have been proposed to expand or amend the list. In 2002, British Waterways published an alternative list based on the results of a poll, which removed the Burnley Embankment and the Barton Swing Aqueduct. This list saw the first inclusion of a Scottish location, the Falkirk Wheel:^[23]

Name	Type	Waterway	Principal engineer(s)	Location	Opened	Heritage	Coordinates	Image
Falkirk Wheel	Boat lift	Forth and Clyde Canal/Union Canal	Tony Kettle (design) BWB/Arup/Butterley/RMJM	Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland	24 May 2002; 22 years ago (2002-05-24)		56.000278°N 3.841667°W / 56.000278; -3.841667
Sapperton Tunnel	Canal tunnel	Thames and Severn Canal	Robert Whitworth Josiah Clowes	Sapperton, Gloucestershire, England	20 April 1789; 235 years ago (1789-04-20)	Grade II listed (north portal)[24] Grade II* listed (south portal)[25]	51.7162°N 2.0666°W / 51.7162; -2.0666

A list published by canal multimedia production company Videoactive proposed the "New Seven Wonders of the Waterways", replacing the Caen Hill Locks, Standedge Tunnel and Burnley Embankment and introducing the only non-navigable location:^[1][23]

Name	Type	Waterway	Principal engineer(s)	Location	Opened	Heritage	Coordinates	Image
Foxton Inclined Plane	Inclined plane	Grand Union Canal	Gordon Cale Thomas (design)	Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England	1900; 125 years ago (1900)	Scheduled Monument[26]	52.4998°N 0.983°W / 52.4998; -0.983
Harecastle Tunnel	Canal tunnel	Trent and Mersey Canal	Thomas Telford	Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England	30 April 1827; 197 years ago (1827-04-30)	Grade II listed (both portals)[27][28]	53.074167°N 2.236389°W / 53.074167; -2.236389
Crofton Pumping Station	Pumping station	Kennet and Avon Canal	John Rennie	Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England	1809; 216 years ago (1809)	Grade I listed[29]	51.35827°N 1.62511°W / 51.35827; -1.62511

In 2015, the Canal & River Trust ran a competition to establish the Lost Wonders of the Waterways World.^[30] The resultant list highlighted three locations where canal restoration schemes are planned or underway:^[31]

Name	Type	Waterway	Principal engineer(s)	Location	Derelict	Heritage	Coordinates	Image
Horse Park Bridge	Accommodation bridge and canal bed	Lancaster Canal	John Rennie	Sedgwick, Cumbria, England	1944; 81 years ago (1944)	Grade II listed[32]	54.281285°N 2.746755°W / 54.281285; -2.746755
Combe Hay Locks	Lock flight	Somerset Coal Canal	William Bennet	Combe Hay, Somerset, England	1898; 127 years ago (1898)	Grade II listed[33]	51.343878°N 2.368865°W / 51.343878; -2.368865
Walbut Lock	Lock	Pocklington Canal	George Leather	Thornton, East Riding of Yorkshire, England	1932; 93 years ago (1932)	Grade II listed[34]	53.888043°N 0.827573°W / 53.888043; -0.827573

Notes