Canal Mania
Canal Mania was the period of intense canal building in England and Wales between the 1790s and 1810s, and the speculative frenzy that ensued in the early 1790s.[1]
Background
The earliest canal building was undertaken as a local enterprise, usually by a merchant, manufacturer or mine owner needing to ship goods, such as the Bridgewater Canal, built by the Duke of Bridgewater to ship his coal from Worsley to Manchester.
Despite the high cost of construction, the price of coal in Manchester fell by 50% shortly after it opened, and the financial success was attractive to investors.[clarification needed]
The expensive
There was a dramatic rise in the number of schemes promoted. Only one canal was authorised by
Some of the canals authorized during this period went on to be profitable. However, there were a number, including the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal, which never paid a dividend. Others, such as the Grand Western Canal, were never completed.
See also
- History of the British canal system
- Canals of the United Kingdom
- Balloonomania
- Railway Mania
- Bike boom
- Dot-com bubble
- Timeline of transportation technology
References
- ISBN 9780752446677
- ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.