Canals: The Making of a Nation

Product Information

In 2016, Liz also filmed a similar documentary series on railways with the BBC titled Railways: The Making of a Nation. Two different engineering solutions presented themselves. Benjamin Outram’s plan was on the face of it rather simple: build a tunnel. He was consulting engineer for the pioneering Standedge tunnel on the Huddersfield narrow canal – at over 5km long and 200m above sea level, it’s still the both the longest and highest canal tunnel in the UK, and one of the so-called seven wonders of the waterways. Given the technology and understanding at that time, it was an extraordinary undertaking, with plenty of challenges along the way. The dig started from both sides of the hill, so getting the two tunnels to meet in the middle was an achievement in itself. Boats had to be powered by workers’ legs, walking along the tunnel walls, to get through the 5km stretch. Issues with money, excess water drainage, and losing their chief engineer, Outram, who left before construction was complete, threatened to derail the project. Thomas Telford, another visionary engineer, stepped in to finish the job however and the tunnel was a success. A new BBC programme, Canals: The Making of a Nation, is set to explore canal routes to tell a deeper story of how our waterways helped change our lives – and how that legacy lives on today. From April 2004 to May 2017, she was the Museum Curator – Social History and Technology at Bradford Museums and Galleries.

Since May 2017, Liz also holds the position of Manager at the Co-operative Heritage Trust, managed by the Co-operative College in Manchester. The 1800s were a time of organised labour and campaigns for better working conditions. Friedrich Engels wrote The Condition of the Working Class in England in Manchester, where socialism and revolution were seen as an answer to the injustice faced by workers. By this time, the disparate and disorganised navvies had mostly moved across to the railway construction which had superseded the declining canal building industry. However, there was still the Manchester Ship Canal to complete - the swansong for the navvies and hailed as the greatest engineering feat of the Victorian Age. Liz McIvor tells the story of the early canal builders who struggled with the rugged terrain of England's Pennine hills. Creating a network of canals in this landscape was an uphill challenge - sometimes literally! But connecting the powerhouses of Yorkshire and Lancashire was a great prize at the time of the industrial revolution. What should the engineers do? Should they build over, under, or around the hills? Who succeeded, and who struggled? This is the story of the men who built our canals - the navigators or 'navvies'. They represented an 'army'of hard physical men who were capable of enduring tough labour for long hours. Many 'roved' the countryside looking for work and a better deal.Although so many use them, it can be hard to see how they relate to each other and get a sense of the rich history and culture they were, and remain, a part of. We wanted to open up the subject and act as a way in for people who were neither boat owners nor historians.” They gained a reputation as troublesome outsiders, fond of drinking and living a life of ungodly debauchery. But who were they? Unreliable heathens and outcasts, or unsung heroes who used might and muscle to build canals and railways? Liz has two children. Their names are Xander (Alexander) McIvor and Reah Jennifer McIvor. Reah was born in August 2010. Liz obtained her Bachelor’s degree in History in 2000 from the University College of Wales Aberystwyth. She then studied for a Masters in Museology from the University of London and graduated in 2001. McIvor began her career as a curatorial assistant at Quarry Bank Mill, a former cotton mill in Cheshire.

Today, canals are mainly used for our leisure and pleasure. There’s nothing lovelier and more British than pottering up and down on a canal boat on a summer’s evening taking in the idyllic countryside but, during their ‘golden age’, canals served a more serious purpose. She adds: “Each canal has its own special interest story and each region covered gave a chance to explore a different angle of a massive story.”

Study with the Open University

Presented by Liz McIvor, an expert in industrial history and curator at Bradford Industrial Museum, viewers will be taken on a journey that shows just how instrumental canals were in shaping our modern world and how they came to be. Liz McIvor looks at who built the nation's canal network, who funded it, those who worked on it and how they were regenerated following WWII.​