page_title: Widebeam
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Widebeam / History
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an image of a traditional horse-drawn widebeam boat that once was worked on the UK's wide canals.
context_page_description: A widebeam is a canal boat built in the style of a British narrowboat but with a beam of 2.16 metres or greater. Widebeams are found on the UK waterways, a canal and river system that is managed by the Canal and River Trust
context_section_description: When English canals were first built to assist transport during the Industrial Revolution, locks were only  2.1 metres (7 ft) wide. Most narrow locks are 21.9 m (72 ft) long, but some are only 17.7 m (58 ft). It was soon realised  that it would be more efficient to have wider canals with wider 4.3 m (14 ft) locks, and widebeam boats were introduced to take advantage of this change. Of course, the wider locks also meant that two narrowboats could enter a lock side-by-side, which was particularly useful if the second boat was a towed "butty".
  While a 17.4 m (57 ft) long narrowboat may travel the entire UK waterways, there is still no wide link between the north and the south of England, so widebeams must stay in one part or the other unless they are prepared to make the journey in the sea around the coat, a journey for which most widebeams are unsuited. (Occasionally narrowboats take to the sea, such as Terry Darlington's "Phyllis May", but both narrowboats and widebeams are Class D vessels fit for rivers, small lakes and canals. Inevitably, their greater beam makes widebeams more stable than narrowboats, but, with their bow welldeck vulnerable to flooding, they are still not true seagoing boats. 
  There is a plan to make a north-south link around Bedford, but this may take decades to accomplish.
caption: A horse-drawn widebeam working canal boat
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