Working Boats on the Black Country Canals in 1965

Working boats on Black Country Canals - Canals were vital to the development of industry during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in England's West Midlands. They were very busy even into the age of railways. But during the first half of the 20th century the old industries, users of canal transport, declined. By the 1960s very little commercial traffic remained. This is a glimpse of what had survived.'

Video Channel

There are an array of fascinating archive videos featuring Britain’s inland waterways available on the internet and they offer an important dimension to our understanding of the inland waterway story. To help you access these videos we have assembled a searchable database of archive films with links to the originals. The database is searchable by waterway and by decade. Clicking on the image in the listing below will bring the associated video to the top for viewing.

Where there is no image available clicking on the link will take you to the website where the original is hosted for viewing there.

We welcome suggestions and recommendations of archive films not included here – please email them to editorial@wwonline.co.uk.

Search by waterway and decade