Water lovely view! - can Mossley beauty spot retain its place as the most UK's most scenic waterside setting?

The largest study of the UK’s waterside spaces ever conducted is underway to identify and investigate what elements create scenes of ‘everyday beauty’.

Thousands of images of landscapes featuring canals or rivers are being uploaded and assessed in order to rate their scenic quality - with the highest-rated set to be announced later this autumn.

More than 10,000 images have already been submitted by members of the public through the Canal & River Trust’s ‘Rate this Scene’ initiative - with more than 20,000 people casting over a million votes.

This is the second phase of the nationwide study carried out by The Canal & River Trust, the charity that looks after 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England and Wales, in collaboration with the Data Science Lab at the University of Warwick. 

Its objective is to collate real world data to provide scientific insight into the importance of ‘everyday beauty’.

Using an online game, ‘Rate this Scene’ was developed in partnership with the team at Warwick Business School and Fellows of The Alan Turing Institute.

Participants are asked to rate canal photos from 1-10 depending on how beautiful they think they are.

Initial findings have revealed that some of the most popular scenic elements include trees, reflections on the water and big skies.

However, when these features are combined with elements unique to inland waterways including boats, bridges, locks and marginal vegetation, they are deemed even more aesthetically pleasing by members of the public.

The project is backed by a number of celebrities including Grayson Perry, who has put forward a body of his own photographs of his favourite waterside scenes to help launch the 2022 phase. 

Others on board included Chris Packham, Gaby Roslin, Jo Brand, Angellica Bell, Tony Robinson, Dr Amir Khan, Iolo Williams and Brian Blessed.

The overall highest-rated scene captured during last year’s first phase of the project was a picture taken at Mossley, showing the autumnal trees of a copse rising above and reflected in the water of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal as its towpath curves around a gentle bend.  

The rest of last year’s top five were: Lodgefield Bridge east near Baswich, Staffordshire, on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal; a bridge near Llanfrynach, Powys, Wales, on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal; Brows Bridge at the Glasson Branch Canal in Lancashire; and Wheaton Aston near Lapley in Staffordshire on the Shropshire Union Canal.

The initiative comes after research carried out by the Trust’s academic partners, that looked at internet searches and postings on social media sites such as Instagram, found that landscapes featuring water are more likely to appeal to people aesthetically than those without - with canals and rivers considered to be the most scenic spaces in the country.

Heather Clarke, Strategy, Engagement & Impact Director at the Canal & River Trust, said: “This research is fascinating because we are learning more about the scenic quality of the Trust's waterways and how this ‘everyday beauty’ can help make the many visitors to our network happier and healthier.”

She added: “Rate this Scene will help us to identify the underlying contributory factors to beauty on the waterways so that we can better protect and enhance those features across the network.”

The study of canal landscapes builds on research published in August by King’s College London and backed by the Trust, showing that time spent on canals, with their unique mix of water, greenery and wildlife, shows that canals are good for people's mental health and wellbeing.

It’s hoped that fresh insights from this year’s ‘Rate this Scene’ study will help the Trust to further understand why the human brain responds so well to these 200-year-old industrial environments and what elements have the biggest impact on positively contributing to our health and wellbeing - and help it pinpoint what elements it needs to preserve, protect and enhance to boost the wellbeing impact of waterways up and down the country.

The study aims to also help to further evidence the unique value of the nation’s canal heritage.

Built to be the motorways of their age, today’s canals have gone from dereliction and decline to being reinvented as places for leisure and wellbeing.

However, a changing climate, rapidly rising costs and the inexorable tests of time are taking their toll; assets constructed in the 18th Century weren’t expected to be used so intensively 250 years later.

 Rate this Scene is an integral part of Canal & River Trust’s #ActNowforCanals campaign that is raising awareness of the increasing importance of canals and how people can take small actions to help look after them.

Click here to find out more about Rate this Scene and cast votes.

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