Partial Table of Tonnages for the Louth Navigation

Tonnages

We hope that more data on the early tonnages will come to light as more research is undertaken.

The continual decline in tonnage presumably came about as the rail network became more extensive and more reliable. However, it should be noted that the railways came to Louth in the 1840s and that even in the 1890s a considerable amount of trade was carried on using the Navigation. Hardly an overnight collapse in canal use.


Tonnages Table
Tonnage out is a different matter. By the time these tables commence, cotton had become the great rival to wool & the Lancashire & Yorkshire cotton mills were fully operational. This may have had economic repercussions for Lincolnshire which had drawn a lot of its wealth since the13th century from the sale of wool. Louth never became an industrial town as it was not near to any coalfields. data supplied by Malcolm Beaumont.