Seven Wonders of the Waterways

The Seven Wonders of the Waterways is a list of notable landmarks on the navigable waterways of the United Kingdom. The list was originally compiled by Robert Aickman, co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA). Today, the Canal & River Trust—formerly British Waterways—has jurisdiction over all of the sites except for the Barton Swing Aqueduct, which is owned and operated by the Bridgewater Canal Company.

List

The original list comprises two aqueducts, two lock systems, one tunnel, one boat lift and one embankment, five of which date from the Canal Mania period:

Number	Name	Type	Waterway	Principal engineer(s)	Location	Opened	Coordinates	Photograph
1	Pontcysyllte Aqueduct	Navigable aqueduct	Llangollen Canal	Thomas Telford William Jessop	Froncysyllte, Clwyd, Wales	26 November 1805 (1805-11-26)	52.970556°N 3.087778°W / 52.970556; -3.087778
2	Standedge Tunnel	Canal tunnel	Huddersfield Narrow Canal	Benjamin Outram Thomas Telford	Standedge, West Yorkshire, England	4 April 1811 (1811-04-04)	53.59107°N 1.96219°W / 53.59107; -1.96219
3	Caen Hill Flight	Lock flight	Kennet and Avon Canal	John Rennie	Devizes, Wiltshire, England	28 December 1810 (1810-12-28)	51.35253°N 2.02559°W / 51.35253; -2.02559
4	Barton Swing Aqueduct	Navigable aqueduct	Bridgewater Canal	Edward Leader Williams	Barton upon Irwell, Greater Manchester, England	1 January 1894 (1894-01-01)	53.4748°N 2.3521°W / 53.4748; -2.3521
5	Anderton Boat Lift	Boat lift	Trent and Mersey Canal, River Weaver	Edward Leader Williams Edwin Clark	Anderton with Marbury, Cheshire, England	26 July 1875 (1875-07-26)	53.2728°N 2.5305°W / 53.2728; -2.5305
6	Bingley Five Rise Locks	Staircase locks	Leeds and Liverpool Canal	John Longbotham	Bingley, West Yorkshire, England	21 March 1774 (1774-03-21)	53.8558°N 1.8379°W / 53.8558; -1.8379
7	Burnley Embankment	Embankment	Leeds and Liverpool Canal	Robert Whitworth	Burnley, Lancashire, England	April 1801 (1801-04)	53.7885°N 2.237472°W / 53.7885; -2.237472

Additional wonders

A number of other canal locations have been proposed to expand or amend the list. In 2002, British Waterways published the results of a poll, which substituted the Burnley Embankment and the Barton Swing Aqueduct for alternative locations:

Name	Type	Waterway	Principal engineer(s)	Location	Opened	Coordinates	Photograph
Falkirk Wheel	Boat lift	Forth and Clyde Canal/Union Canal	Tony Kettle (design) BWB/Arup/Butterley/RMJM	Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland	24 May 2002 (2002-05-24)	56.000278°N 3.841667°W / 56.000278; -3.841667
Sapperton Tunnel	Canal tunnel	Thames and Severn Canal	Robert Whitworth Josiah Clowes	Sapperton, Gloucestershire, England	20 April 1789 (1789-04-20)	51.7162°N 2.0666°W / 51.7162; -2.0666

A list published by canal multimedia production company Videoactive replaced the Caen Hill Locks, Standedge Tunnel and Burnley Embankment:

Name	Type	Waterway	Principal engineer(s)	Location	Opened	Coordinates	Photograph
Foxton Inclined Plane	Inclined Plane	Grand Union Canal	Gordon Cale Thomas (design)	Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England	1900 (1900)	52.4998°N 0.983°W / 52.4998; -0.983
Harecastle Tunnel	Canal tunnel	Trent and Mersey Canal	Thomas Telford	Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England	30 April 1827 (1827-04-30)	53.074167°N 2.236389°W / 53.074167; -2.236389
Crofton Pumping Station	Inclined Plane	Kennet and Avon Canal	John Rennie	Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England	1809 (1809)	51.35827°N 1.62511°W / 51.35827; -1.62511

Locations

Of the seven original wonders, six are located in England and one in Wales. Subsequent nominations included the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland.

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

Standedge Tunnel

Caen Hill Locks

Barton Swing Aqueduct

Anderton Boat Lift

Bingley Five Rise Locks

Burnley Embankment

Falkirk Wheel

Sapperton Tunnel

Foxton Inclined Plane

Harecastle Tunnel

Crofton Pumping Station

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Locations of the original Seven Wonders (green) and additional candidates (red)