Canal History
Mike Clarke’s Home Page
Members of the L&LC Society pose with me at the naming of my lock in 2016 in the top photo. The next photo was taken in China when I visited the Rouge Canal, near Nanjing, and the bottom photo was taken on Kennet with the award for the RCHS Canal Book of the Year.
I have been involved in research and conservation of industrial and canal heritage for over fifty years. I am best known in the UK for promoting the hstory of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, with this work on being recognized by a lock at Bank Newton being named after me in 2016. I wrote a new edition of my history of the canal for its 200th anniversary in that year. I am President of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society, which I set up in 1997, was President of the Railway & Canal Historical Society in 2016, and have been on the Council of Inland Waterway International for many years. I have reported on canal-related World Heritage Sites for ICCOMOS.
I continue to maintain my interest in canal history, and over recent years, I have been particularly interested in the development of inland waterways internationally, travelling widely across Europe and to China researching the transfer of canal technology. As a time-served craftsman, I am also looking at the central role of the skilled worker in the creation of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and how that position has been eclipsed by the rise of academic education.
Working on displays for the Heritage boat Kennet, and staffing the boat when open to the public, also takes up some of my time.
Books for Sale
New!
Locks & Inclines, a translation of Sturm's 1715 book on the subject.
The First Canal Guide, a translation of Hogrewe's 1780 book on English canals.