The ancient Babylonians had irrigation canals down which they transported boats and barges, and the Romans used the Fossdyke and the Caerdyke in Roman Britain. The Chinese had developed the 'pound' (from compound) lock by the 10th century AD, and this meant that with a source of flowing water the canals could traverse areas of differing altitude in the way we are familiar with today. The Dutch were using them by the 14th century, and the first appeared in Britain on the Exeter canal opened in 1566.

Lilleshall Abbey, with the fishpond in the foreground.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536, the Augustinian Abbey of Lilleshall was bought by the Leveson family, who had made a lot of money in the wool trade in Wolverhampton. They took charge of the estate, drained the surrounding marshes, and contracted out the mines of iron ore, coal, and limestone to mining companies. Limestone quarrying had certainly taken off by 1625, but it was not until the middle of the 18th century that the Industrial Revolution took off, and lime was needed in large supply as flux for iron smelting, that the trade flourished. 

Sir John Leveson was created Earl Gower in 1746, and his son Granville Leveson  the second Earl Gower in 1754. He was an extremely high ranking official in the country, and held the posts of Lord Privy Seal, Lord of the Admiralty, Member of Parliament, and Lord Chamberlain to King George III. Despite his responsibilities elsewhere, he remained closely concerned with the active running of his estates, Lilleshall, Sherrifhales, Donnington Wood, Prior's Lee, Wombridge, and Snedshill.

In 1761 Francis, Duke of Bridgewater built a canal to link the mines of Worsley with Manchester, and the canal boom took off. His brother-in-law was Granville Leveson, Earl Gower, whose own coal mines and limestone quarries needed the advantage of modern transport. He and two brothers, John and Thomas Gilbert, both land agents, joined forces in 1764 to form the Earl Gower & Company, later to become The Lilleshall Company.

With the coming of the railways in the mid 19th century, the canal systems fell into decline, and the companies that owned them decided to adopt the newer transport method. The canal bed was an excellent foundation, and in a number of places the railway was built directly on top of it. However there are still plenty of stretches of 17th century canal still in water, although it is unlikely that they will be joined up again.

Below is a map of the area in 1809, when all the tub boat canals were working. The canals are marked in blue, incline planes in red, roads in yellow, and the Severn is black with blue outline at the bottom of the map. Watling Street runs across the map in the middle, and of course Thomas Telford had not built the A5 Holyhead Road at this stage. John Wilkinson's Willey Furnaces are at the very bottom of the map, Ironbridge is not a big town, and Blist's Hill is here spelt Blisses Hill.