This book tracks the history of engineered water and canals in Great Britain.

Wherever a boat glides along a canal, a pen follows. Bringing together textual treasures from four centuries of waterways writing, The British Industrial Canal explores our relationship with engineered water and canal connections between our industrial and colonial pasts and the Anthropocene. This literary critical voyage travels from 1761, the opening of the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal, to the present.