0s. But the construction of this canal did not lead to a boom in canal-building across Britain; that had to wait nearly another two centuries, till the canal "mania" of about 1750-1770. The canal itself did not fail; it remained in use, but its example was not sufficient to result in emulation.
The short answer as to why is that there was not sufficient inland shipping traffic demand in Elizabethan England to support investment in a canal system. The advantages of water transport were well known. A boat could carry perhaps ten times the load of a wagon that cost a similar amount to build and operate, and given the state of the roads the boat could go at least as fast. On the other hand, these advantages applied in full only to bulk cargoes. A mer
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