BOOK REVIEW
Reviewer: Michael Keith
Title: Around Britain By Canal: 1,000 Miles of Waterways
Author: Anthony Burton
Total Number of Pages: 200
Rating Scale (1: Very Poor, 10: Excellent): 8
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In Chapter 1 of this volume, the author observes that ‘Canals are one of the great loves of my life’. As a result, (and on 13 March 1975), he, together with three companions (one a ‘Daytripper’) set off on a six-week long tour of Britain’s canal system. His intention was ‘…To do a continuous [canal] tour with as little doubling-up as possible, and to cover as wide an area as [he] could’. This volume is the result.
This book is a reprint and update of an earlier work (date of publication unknown). Accordingly, the single-page Preface placed after the volume’s Contents page provides both technological and historical updates to cover the 43 years since the original journey was undertaken. The Preface is in turn followed by the 17 Chapters which constitute the main part of the book. Within these, the reader is taken on a journey along many of Britain’s canals, and while so-doing is introduced into unique locations, individuals, circumstances and history. While the Canals are, by analogy, the base upon-which everything else rests, it is nonetheless a most excellent base for a totally idiosyncratic meander along and around Britain’s hidden canal-based and influenced byways. The volume is well-written; the author a raconteur of some ability and the result is a delightful ‘wander’ along largely-neglected paths. An Index completes the volume. The book contains numerous colour images. Although a note in the Preface indicates that these were taken by one Phillip Lloyd (one of the author’s travelling companions), no notes to that effect accompany the individual images. Each image is captioned but the latter vary in both length and information. Curiously, the first two words of each caption are highlighted. The reason for this is unknown. No Maps are provided.
For this reviewer, this book was let down in several areas, most noticeably by the Index. When reviewing this volume, this reviewer had cause to randomly search that section for information on subjects within the book which he found of interest. On Page 84 (for example) he sought Index references for Scaris-brook, Southport, Henry III and Johnsons Hillocks. None were found. A subsequent search for other ‘interesting’ words produced similar results, while the Index entry for Rose Skinner, although noting her as appearing on pages 138-140, ignores her photograph on page 143. There were many similar examples. As there is no way to know what else may be missing, the authority and veracity of the Index is inevitably compromised. As previously-noted, the volume contains no Maps. In their absence, a reader can have no idea about the geographical locations under discussion. A General Ordinance Map of Great Britain (or even a simple outline map showing the route travelled), would have been very helpful. Readers with no ‘local knowledge’, may well find this omission frustrating. Interpretative diagrams of both a Narrow Boat and Lock Operations would also have been useful.
This volume is likely to appeal to several different readerships. It is, ultimately, a travelogue and will no doubt interest some on that basis. Due to the passage of time, it is also an ‘historic document; and as a result could be of use to Historians, particularly those with an interest in late Twentieth-Century commerce, water-borne transportation and, specifically, British canals. Canals and canal boating enthusiasts will, of course, find the volume of interest, while those who enjoy ‘Messing about in boats’ may also find something within its covers to entertain them. Readers seeking images of some of the more obscure parts of Britain may also find those within this book of interest.
On a Rating Scale where 1: Very Poor, 10: Excellent, I have given this volume an 8.
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