A canal basin is (particularly in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

) an expanse of

waterway A waterway is any Navigability, navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is ...

alongside or at the end of a canal, and wider than the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

, constructed to allow boats to moor or unload cargo without impeding the progress of other traffic, and to allow room for turning, thus serving as a

winding hole A winding hole () is a widened area of a canal (usually in the United Kingdom), used for turning a canal boat such as a narrowboat. In sea ports an area for turning ships is usually called a turning basin. Etymology The word is commonly believed ...

. For inland waterways, a basin may be thought of as a land-locked

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

.Shorter Oxford Dictionary - Vol 1 - "basin" A basin was often associated with wharves around its perimeter, to support commercial users. In modern times, canal basins are more usually used to moor residential and recreational

narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of Barge, canal boat, built to fit the narrow History of the British canal system, locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, b ...

Gallery

Williamsport MD - C&O Canal c1906.jpg, A canal basin at Williamsport, MD on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal C&O Canal - Cushwa Visitor Center.jpg, Cushwa basin, a modern look at the canal basin in Williamsport. Morris_Canal_Boats_near_Port_Delaware_Phillipsburg_NJ_From_HABS.tif, Port Delaware on the Morris Canal, with boats waiting for cargo.

References

Water transport infrastructure {{civil-engineering-stub

Gallery

See also

References