LIVERPOOL & it’s CANAL Paperback – 95 pages. Author Mike Clarke ISBN 978-1-84306-336-0

It is impossible in the 21^st century to appreciate the transport and logistical problems facing engineers in the 1700’s. The Liverpool & Manchester Railway was still 100 years away and the inland canal was still in it’s infancy. Liverpool’s growth was being stifled by a shortage of coal, although it was abundant just a few miles away. The answer lay in a canal and it was eventually decided to build a canal from Liverpool to Leeds, with construction starting from each end. This canal was not fully completed until 1816, but it’s success was short lived as the Liverpool & Manchester Railway came into the city a mere 14 years later, soon followed by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. This book charts the full history of early transport and industry in the Liverpool area and covers the appalling social and economic conditions prevalent at that time. A picture of unbelievable poverty and social deprivation emerges with an average life expectancy of a mere 17 years. To its credit Liverpool was at the forefront of civic improvement with the supply of clean water, proper sewage treatment and hospitals. This excellent book is essential reading for Canal enthusiasts and students of Industrial & Social history in the North West of England.

Colin Usher