Changes In Transport 1750-1900

Changes In Transport 1750-1900

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Road

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Canals

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Railways

This term the class 9M have been studying the subject of transport

between 1750 and 1900. Now we have to do a project on transport during

that period, in particular looking at roads, canals and railways. In

this project I will be finding out four main things:

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· What transport was like before 1750 ?

· Why did it need improving ?

· How did each type of transport improve ?

· How did this help the Industrial Revolution ?

Hopefully this project will help you learn more about transport in the

past and I hope you enjoy it.

[IMAGE]Below is a timeline diagram of the transportation between 1750

and 1900 just as a guide !

Road(1700)

The need for better roads

The increase in population, improvements in farming and growth of

industry at the time increased road traffic and wore down roads making

them soft. Farmers and industrialists needed good roads to move their

heavy produce. Some roads at the time were so bad that travellers

sometimes paid farmers to ride through their fields rather than get

stuck in holes the horse could not go through.

Turnpike

Because of many complaints about the state of the roads, parliament

devised a new system for financing roads. They appointed groups called

trustees; each group would be responsible for a certain stretch of

road. The trustees would set up gates on their road and make users pay

a fee to use and help maintain or improve the road quality. The tolls

were called turnpikes and the roads called turnpike roads.

[IMAGE]The first turnpike road was setup in 1663. By 1750, around 400

turnpike acts had been passed. By 1830 there were around 1116 trusts

controlling roughly 35000km of road. Some of the roads were improved

dramatically by the trustees. However, some turnpike roads were in a

bad state, the trustees were blamed for not doing their jobs properly