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Canal Mania was the period of intensecanal building inEngland andWales between the 1790s and 1810s, and thespeculative frenzy that ensued in the early 1790s.[1]
The earliest canal building was undertaken as a local enterprise, usually by a merchant, manufacturer or mine owner needing to ship goods, such as theBridgewater Canal, built by theDuke of Bridgewater to ship his coal fromWorsley toManchester.
Despite the high cost of construction, the price of coal in Manchester fell by 50% shortly after it opened, and the financial success was attractive to investors.[clarification needed]
The expensiveAmerican War of Independence ended in 1783. A long run of good harvests resulted in an increase in disposable income and an increase in the number of people looking to invest capital for a profit with little personal interest in the business.[clarification needed]
There was a dramatic rise in the number of schemes promoted. Only one new canal was authorised by anact of Parliament in 1790 (theGlamorganshire Canal), but by 1793 there were twenty new canals authorised (theWarwick and Birmingham Canal, theGrand Junction Canal, theEllesmere and Chester Canal, theChelmer and Blackwater Navigation, theGrantham Canal, theAberdare Canal, theBrecknock and Abergavenny Canal, theGloucester and Berkeley Canal, theLeicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal, theDerby Canal, theOakham Canal, theCrinan Canal, theUlverstone Canal, theBarnsley Canal, theNutbrook Canal, theStratford-upon-Avon Canal, theShrewsbury Canal, theCaistor Canal, theDearne and Dove Canal, and theStainforth and Keadby Canal.
The capital the Glamorganshire Canal Company was authorised to raise in 1790 was£90,000 (£9.7 million in 2015[2]), but the combined authorised for the new canals in 1793 had risen to £2,824,700 (£299 million in 2015[2]) by 1793.
Some of the canals authorized during this period went on to be profitable. However, there were a number, including theHerefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal, which never paid a dividend. Others, such as theGrand Western Canal, were never completed.
