The Leeds & Liverpool Canal in Yorkshire (Images of England)

The Leeds & Liverpool is the longest single canal in Britain and arguably one of the most successful. From its completion in 1774 to the last commercial delivery, it served for nearly two hundred years as a main artery of trade across northern England, meeting the industrial and commercial needs of Lancashire and Yorkshire much as the M62 motorway does today. It offered healthy competition with the railways until well into the twentieth century and today provides a wonderful corridor of tranquillity to the rambler, cyclist and pleasure boater alike. In The Leeds & Liverpool Canal in Yorkshire Dr Gary Firth has collected over two hundred photographs of the canal's eastern section from Leeds to Barnoldswick, as well as contemporary documents and reports. Accompanied by evocative commentary, these show the changing face of the Leeds & Liverpool – its vanished industries, its forgotten branch canals and a Yorkshire boating culture that has passed into the mists of time.