The
Neath and Tennant Canals are two independent but linked
canals in
South Wales, usually regarded as a single canal. The Neath Canal was opened from
Glynneath to Melincryddan, to the south of
Neath, in 1795 and extended to Giants Grave in 1799, in order to provide better shipping facilities. With several small later extensions it reached its final destination at
Briton Ferry. The canal was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long and included 19 locks.
The Tennant Canal was a development of the Glan-y-wern Canal, which was built across Crymlyn Bog to transport coal from a colliery on its northern edge to a creek on the River Neath. It closed after 20 years, but was enlarged and extended by George Tennant in 1818, to link the River Neath to the River Tawe at Swansea docks. To increase trade, he built an extension to Aberdulais basin, where it linked to the Neath Canal.
Use of the canals for navigation ceased in the 1930s, but because they supplied water to local industries and to Swansea docks, they were retained as water channels. The first attempts at restoration began in 1974; the section north of Resolven was restored in the late 1980s, and the canal from Neath to Abergarwed has been restored more recently. This project involved the replacement of Ynysbwllog aqueduct, which carries the canal over the river Neath, with a new 32-metre (35 yd) plate girder structure, believed to be the longest single-span aqueduct in Britain.