The Canal
A contour canal that holds its level for miles, then pays the whole debt at once.
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Plate IV·1The Canal Takes the Long Way on Purpose
A contour canal follows the land rather than cutting through it, which is why the Oxford Canal wanders. The engineering logic, the cost trade-off, and the later straightening of the northern section.
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Plate IV·2Somerton Deep Lock
One of the deepest narrow locks on the system: what a deep lock does to the water budget of a canal, and why the level is held for miles and then paid off at once.
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Plate IV·3What the Canal Was Built to Move
Coal south, agricultural goods north, and the commercial case that funded the cut. What the traffic actually was, and what it did to the towns it passed.
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Plate IV·4What Happened When the Railway Came
The collapse of canal freight, the long decline, and the later reinvention of the waterway — described as economic history, not nostalgia.
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Plate IV·5Locks, Bridges and the Lift Bridge
The standard structures of the Oxford Canal, including its distinctive wooden lift bridges, and what each one tells you about the money available when it was built.