Brentford Canal 2006

muba, on April 24, 2007, said:

The Grand Union Canal basin at Brentford, London, is like so many similar places getting a revamp with much investment in hotels, apartments, bars and restraunts.

Norman Wingrove, on August 4, 2007, said:

This is the 18th century Grand Union Canal that runs more than 218 kilometres from Brentford to Birmingham. Once a major commerical artery that made the Industrial Revolution possible, it was superseded by the railways and by the 1960s the last few commercial boats were retired. It is now part of a country-wide network of still-navigable 18th and 19th century canals maintained for leisure activities. Constructed before the advent of modern machines, these tunnels were dug by hand using picks and shovels. The workers were called "navigators", thus giving rise to the modern term "navvy" for workmen on the roads.

muba, on August 5, 2007, said:

Thanks for that Norman. I grew up near the Grand Union and sometimes hung around these locks - http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1617653