canals

World news

Community-created field systems in Colombia? In the wetlands of La Mojana in northern Colombia is a vast (more than 500,000ha or 1,900 square miles) field system of canals and ridges, used to control both floods and droughts. In use from…

Ancient answers to climate crises

The wetlands of La Mojana in northern Colombia are home to an ancient raised field system made up of canals and ridges (camellones) covering a vast area of c.500,000ha. Often called the Zenú hydraulic systems, after the pre-Hispanic societies who…

Right Five aqueducts carry the Swansea Canal across major tributaries of the River Tawe. This is the now dry Twrch Aqueduct, showing the thick double sided walls once used to retain its water.

The Swansea Canal: Navigating the history of an industrial artery

In 1789, an opinion column in The Times hailed Britain’s canal-building achievements as a matter of national pride – contrasting them with the revolutionary turmoil in France. Aristocrats and entrepreneurs were losing their heads across the Channel, while in Britain they were busy building and funding a canal network that would serve the rapid growth of the nation as an industrial power. In his new book on the Swansea Canal, Stephen Hughes looks in detail at the archaeology and history of one such pioneering enterprise, as Chris Catling reports.

A Roman transport canal into Leicester?

After years of research, Steve Mitchell and John Poulter hypothesise that the Raw Dykes – a double-banked ditch located 2km south of Leicester’s Roman public baths – is a remnant of a navigable Roman canal. Their full results were recently…