In the Industrial Age, in 1797 the Grand Union Canal was dug alongside the entire length of the river, the Bulbourne became the main source of water for the Canal that was the main link between London and the coalfields of the Midlands. This man made waterway was the only one to be built across the Chilterns hills. Ensuring a constant supply of water in a region of permeable chalk was an engineering challenge which required the building of reservoirs, pumps and boreholes. After the Pre-Roman Road and the canal, the third major transport route to carve its way along the Bulbourne valley was the London to Birmingham railway in 1834. In 1883, the "Berkhamsted Times" congratulated a Mr Bedford on having converted the remaining "dirty ditches and offensive marshes" into watercress beds. Thus the River Bulbourne was reduced by centuries of increased drinking needs, dredging, milling and agriculture as well as the London to Birmingham canal.