The project began in March 2002 with cataloguing reaching completion in August 2005. Project work was completed in 2007. The project has been directed by a central team, which was first based at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, but is now at The Waterways Archive, Gloucester. Three project teams and one peripatetic archivist spent over three years sorting, arranging and cataloguing more than forty thousand documents. These teams were led by a senior project archivist, also based at The Waterways Archive, Gloucester. Project progress was monitored through regular board meetings of the project team and partners.

The catalogue database now includes over 40,000 records from 14 of the record offices involved in the project and more are being added all the time.

The project invites researchers to send feedback on the Virtual Waterways website, so that we may continually update these services. The news page keeps researchers informed on project developments and additions to the database.
Please provide feedback using our questionnaire.

Virtual Waterways is a unique project funded by the HLF, British Waterways  and The Waterways Trust to provide a web-accessible database of descriptions of the archives relating to British waterway history. This project has made previously uncatalogued archive documents available to the public for the first time. Prior to this project many catalogued records have only been available at the relevant record office, in a paper form or on a local electronic system.

Virtual Waterways enables you to search for information about waterways archives in England, Scotland and Wales, dating from the 17th century to the near present day. These archives are held in local record offices, libraries and national institutions across England and Scotland, where they are made available to the public.

Virtual Waterways enables you to search detailed catalogues from 15 repositories in England and Scotland. This website allows you to arrange to see or obtain copies of real archive documents with a few clicks of a mouse.

This work is in progress; new descriptions are being added regularly. Please remember to visit often to see the latest additions.