Most of the canal system in England and Wales was built in the second half of the 18th century. Before then navigation had evolved with improvements to the rivers, so that by 1760 the extent of the waterway network had more than doubled from the total of 1000km recorded in the mid-16th century. The start of the canal age is attributed to Francis Egerton, who during a tour of Europe discovered the Canal du Midi which had been opened in 1681. He was so impressed that in 1759, inheriting his father's estates, he ordered a canal to be built to carry coal from his mines in Worsley to the market in Manchester. It was the success of this enterprise (the Bridgewater Canal) that sparked off the growth of a canal network which was eventually to cover most of the country, and which survives largely intact to this day…

Information about the network :
http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk