The Caen Hill Lock Flight in Wiltshire (a 200-year old scheduled monument) and the Grade I listed World Heritage Site around Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in North Wales, are among the first sections of Britain’s canal network to feature on Google’s Street View. The towpaths along the canals at each location were visited earlier this summer by Google’s Street View Trike and the panoramic imagery captured has now gone live, allowing people from around the world to visit two of Britain’s most scenic locations.

Street view of the waterways

Street view of the waterways



Robin Evans, CEO of the Canal & River Trust which looks after the waterways in England and Wales, said: “Two hundred years ago, the canal network helped put the ‘Great’ into Great Britain as an industrial nation. Today, the waterways are a haven for both people and wildlife. Having these canals on Street View helps open them up to millions of people right around the globe who might not otherwise be able to come and experience them.”

Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist at Google UK, said: “We are delighted to add canalside imagery to Street View. We hope that people from far and wide will be able to admire a large part of the country's canalside heritage, and plan trips around these new areas.” Expect plenty more English canals to come within the remit of Street View in the near future.

Written by: Alex Smith
Alex Smith is a journalist, copywriter and magazine editor with a long history in boating and a happy addiction to the water. He’s worked on boats, lived on boats, bought boats, sold boats and – when he’s not actually on board a boat – he can generally be found in his Folkestone office, tapping away at the computer and gazing out to sea.