Grand Contour Canal facts for kids

The Grand Contour Canal was a really big idea for a canal in England and Wales. It was meant to make Britain's canal system much better, but it was never actually built. This huge canal was first suggested in 1943 by a man named J.F. Pownall. He noticed that there was a natural "contour" (like a level path) running through England, about 300 feet (91 meters) above sea level. This line connected many busy areas.

Pownall thought this natural path could be used to build a giant canal, big enough for large European barges. The special thing about it was that it would have almost no lift locks, except at the very start and end. It was also planned to be a "water grid." This meant it could move drinking water around England to places that needed it.

This proposed canal would have been able to handle huge barges, weighing up to 300 tons. Smaller canals, called "feeder conduits," would have brought water into the main system. These feeders would have come from places like North Wales, the Pennines, and the South West Peninsula.

The canal was also known as The Three-hundred-foot Canal because of its height above sea level. It was planned to be about 100 feet (30 meters) wide and 17 feet (5.2 meters) deep. It would also have 25 feet (7.6 meters) of space above the water for boats to pass under bridges.

Connecting Major Cities

The Grand Contour Canal was designed to link many important industrial cities. These included London, Bristol, Southampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Nottingham, Derby, Chester, Manchester, Blackburn, Bradford, Hartlepool, and Newcastle.

At the end points of the canal, there would be special lift locks. These locks would be like giant elevators for boats, lifting or lowering them 300 feet (91 meters). Each lock would have tanks about 250 feet (76 meters) long, 35 feet (11 meters) wide, and 14 feet (4.3 meters) deep. A long tunnel, about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) long, was also planned between Airedale and Ribblesdale.

Water for the South East

One big reason for this canal was to help with water supply. Getting enough water is a major challenge for London and South East England. The canal was meant to solve this problem by moving water from wetter areas to drier ones.

In 2012, the idea of the Grand Contour Canal was talked about again. Boris Johnson, who was the Mayor of London at the time, supported the plan. He saw it as a way to bring water from the higher, rainier parts of Wales, Scotland, and northern England to the "breadbasket" (farming area) of the south east.

The plan imagined moving a lot of water, about 2,000 cubic feet (57 cubic meters) per second, in either direction. This water would come from large areas like the Northern Pennines (800 square miles or 2,100 square kilometers), the Dee, the Severn, and the Wye rivers (1,040 square miles or 2,700 square kilometers), and Exmoor (160 square miles or 410 square kilometers).

Older Water Projects

Even before the Grand Contour Canal idea, there were other big projects to bring water to growing cities.

Elan Valley Reservoirs

The Elan Valley Reservoirs scheme started in 1892 in mid-Wales. These reservoirs, including the Craig Goch Dam, hold a huge amount of water (99,000 megalitres). They were built to provide water for the city of Birmingham, which had a population of 1 million people. The engineers planned for the city's water needs for many years into the future.

Lake Vyrnwy

Lake Vyrnwy was created by building the first large stone dam in Britain. This happened between 1881 and 1888. It was built to give the fast-growing city of Liverpool a new water supply. Water from the Welsh mountains was carried to the city through a long pipe system called an aqueduct.

Longdendale and Thirlmere Reservoirs

The Longdendale Reservoir, located about 18 miles (29 kilometers) east of Manchester in the Pennines, was one of the first of its kind in the country. It opened in 1851. By 1875, it was clear that Manchester's growing population needed even more water. So, plans were made to build another reservoir in the Lake District. Thirlmere (built in 1894) now provides water for Manchester, even though it is 100 miles (160 kilometers) away.