The transport network in 18th century Britain faced major problems. Roads were poorly maintained mud tracks, and travel between parts of the country took weeks. This negatively impacted industry, trade, and food supply. In response, Britain saw a transport revolution from 1750-1900 through improvements to roads, canals, and the rise of railways. Each new method sped up travel and movement of goods, fueling industrial growth. The complex new network brought both economic benefits and social changes to Britain.

1. Transport Revolution, 1750 - 1900
By Ms Rohani

2. What problems faced Britain's transport network in 1700?
• At the start of the 18th
Century Britain's transport
system was very old and
slow.
• It could take several weeks to
get from one part of the
country to another.
• Many roads were just mud
tracks which ran along the
remains of the old Roman
roads built over a thousand
years before.
Why would this road be useless for carrying goods like iron and
steel or delicate items made of pottery?

3. Why did Britain’s transport network change in the 18th Century?
• In the late 18th Century there was an urgent need
for better roads and new faster ways of moving
goods around the country. Factory owners
needed to get their goods to market. They also
needed to bring in raw materials such as cotton
and coal to help them produce their goods.
• With the growing population there were more
people living in the new industrial towns and
cities. They worked long hours and didn’t have
enough time to grow their own food.
• Farmers needed better roads so that they could
transport (move) food into the towns to help feed
these people.

4. • Transport changed very quickly in the period 1700-1900 as a result of an
increased need for better methods of moving goods, new
technologies and large scale investment in the countries infra-structure
(communications network).
• The result of the hanges in the Industrial Revolution was a complex
transport system including roads, rail, canals and the London
Underground.
• The changes came in several stages. First Roads were improved, then
Canals were built and finally the Railway was developed.
• Each change had an impact upon life in the country, each shortened travel
times over longer distances and each enabled industrialists to seek new
markets in previously out of reach areas of the country.
• Likewise they enabled more raw materials and goods to be shipped to and
from factories, providing further impetus to the industrial age.
• Prior to the Industrial Age getting around the country was very difficult, as
these images of a stage coach demonstrates.

5. Prior to the Industrial Age getting around the country was very difficult, as
these images of a stage coach demonstrates.

7. ROAD: The Turnpike Trust
• Turnpike trusts were local companies that were
set up to maintain roads. They were toll roads,
where the user had to pay a fee (a toll) to make
use of the road.
• These trusts were needed because the
government did not finance things such as
roads at the time.
• Turnpike trusts would need to raise quite a lot
of money to make improvements to the roads.
The image below shows you what roads were
like in the days before tarmac and regular
repairs to roads.

8. ROAD: The Turnpike Trust
• As roads were often simply mud tracks they
would be cut up in wet weather, leaving ruts
when they dried out. This could damage
vehicles using the road and make the road very
hard to use.
• Roads such as these were not really suitable
for transporting fragile goods along.
Industrialists needed flat and hard wearing
roads to enable larger wagons to be able to
make use of them safely. Turnpike trusts
enabled this to happen. The diagram below
shows what the outcome of Turnpike trusts
was for roads.

9. ROAD: The Turnpike Trust
• Straighter, hard wearing roads would improve journey times and make travelling
more comfortable. paying for using the roads allowed Turnpike trusts to employ
professionals to make and improve the roads, making travel by Road a lot more
effective.
• Not everybody was pleased with Turnpike Trusts however. Lots of people were very
angry that they had to pay money to use roads that had previously been free. In
some places there were violent protests about the roads and toll houses and toll
gates were the target of angry mobs. These protests were called the Rebecca Riots.
• As the Industrial Revolution continued and other forms of transport, such as the
Canal and the Railway systems evolved, the need for Turnpike Trusts was reduced.
Eventually the government and local authorities took responsibility for making
roads. Further improvements were made, by engineers such as Telford, MacAdam
and Metcalfe.

10. ROAD: The Turnpike Trust
• These men used a range of ideas, not too
dissimilar to those that the Romans had used
two thousand years earlier, to make roads
flatter, smoother and more hard wearing. The
diagram below shows the way in which each of
these engineers designed their roads, making
use of a variety of types of material.
• Each of these engineers realised that roads
needed to be ’rounded’ so that rain water could
drain from the road easily. They each used a
number of different sizes of stone to provide
further drainage and a firm foundation. This led
to roads becoming much stronger and safer for
wagons and coache to use.

11. Britain's Road Transport Network in 1800
Roads in Britain in 1700
Before After
What has changed or stayed the same?

14. CANALS
• Canals are man made waterways. They were built during the Industrial Revolution to
allow industrialists to move large quantities of raw materials and goods to and from
their factories.
• A canal has several big advantages over using roads. (Remember that roads at the
time were not as good as they are nowadays).
• Firstly a boat, or barge, on a canal is not going to have a bumpy journey so fragile
goods are much less likely to smash on route. Secondly a canal barge is much larger
than a horse drawn wagon and so it can be used to carry much more than wagons on
Turnpike roads could be expected to.
• The third major advantage of canals is that, once they are built, they are very cheap
to use. If a barge can carry 50 tonnes of coal and it only takes two men to look after
the barge consider how much has been saved in wages if the largest wagon on the
road could only carry 2 tonnes. There’s also less breakage so the factory has more
goods to sell.

15. CANALS
• Industrialists soon realised that Canals were a very good
idea and invested heavily in the construction of this new
form of transport. By the end of ‘canal mania’ it was just
about possible to use inland waterways to get goods
from most cities to any of the major ports.
• The engineers who designed Canals were very capable
men. One of the basic problems with using water for
transport purposes is that water doesn’t go up and down
hills in the way that roads can. Britain, particularly the
north of England where much of the industrialisation was
happening, isn’t a very flat place.
• A solution had to be found, how can you go up and down
hills on a canal? The answer was to use locks.

16. CANALS
• Using a system of gates on a hill the canal builder could create a system where-by the people
working the barge could open and shut gates in the order demonstrated above to move the
barge uphill. Locks such as these can still be seen today and are a feature of all British canals.
The most famous example of locks in Britain being the ‘Five Rise locks’ in Bingley, West
Yorkshire. Here there are 5 locks in quick succession to allow a barge to make a steep climb
up a hill. (There is also a smaller 3 rise lock not so far away from this engineering masterpiece,
showing how ‘hilly’ the area is).
• Barges were powered initially by horses. A tow path can be found on one side of all canals.
This was for the horses who dragged the barges up and down the canals. In tunnels however
their was no tow path, the horse would be walked over the hill to the other side. To get through
a tunnel the men working the barge would have to lay on top of the barge and use their feet of
the side of the tunnel to ‘walk’ the barge through the tunnel. this process, illustrated below,
was called legging.
• Canal building stopped with the invention and development of the steam engine. Most of the
canals of the industrial age are still navigable (boats can use them) and are used by thousands
of people each year for barging holidays. Some canals are being redeveloped and reopened to
recognise the importance that canals have in our heritage and to promote tourism in some
areas.

20. RAILWAYS
• Railways developed quickly following the early successes of the Stephenson’s and
other pioneers. This new technology was the result of the invention and subsequent
development of the steam engine. Steam could be used to power motors and had
been used in mines to help bring coal and tin to the surface quicker. This idea was
transferred to the notion of pulling wagons along rails and eventually Stephenson
took the idea one stage further and built the steam engine into a wagon.
• This first ‘train’ was very slow and initially scared a lot of people but soon the early
railway lines between Liverpool and Manchester and Stockton and Darlington were
accepted and people began to realise that Rail had a lot to offer industry and society
in general.
• The railways spread across the country at an amazing rate as companies were
established to build and run the new lines. Many were financed by industry, eager to
have quicker delivery of goods and a wider sales reach.

21. RAILWAYS
• The impact of the railways was great. Industry benefited as goods could now be transported
faster and in even greater quantities than before, reducing costs and creating bigger markets.
The construction of the railway network also fueled demand for coal and steel. Ordinary
people saw the benefits too. They could now get around the country much quicker and for the
first time holidays out of the city were a possibility (Thomas Cook organising the first
‘package’ holiday from Leicester Station to the seaside). Communications in general improved
as well. Newspapers could now be sent from London and Manchester, where most of the
national dailies are printed, to towns across the country, the postage system became much
quicker and movement of workers became a more realistic prospect.
• One of the most noticeable consequences of the growth of the Railways was the rapid
development of a number of towns. Crewe and Peterborough are both examples of towns that
grew quickly due to their location on the railway network.
• There were however several negative consequences of the growth of the Railways. Many
people lost money from previous investments in canals, people who worked on the canals
found themselves out of work.

22. Causes and Consequences of the 18th Century
Transport Revolution in Britain
Causes Consequences