Wilts and Berks Canal
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The Wilts and Berks Canal is a canal in the traditional counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington, near Melksham, to the river Thames at Abingdon, with a branch to the Thames and Severn Canal at Cricklade. Following local authority boundary changes in 1973 the part of Berkshire through which the canal passes (mostly the Vale of White Horse) was transferred to Oxfordshire. However, the canal's original name is retained for historical reasons.
The Bill empowering construction of the canal received Royal Assent in 1795 and the canal was cut during the years 1796 to 1810. The main canal was 52 miles long, with branches totalling 6 miles to Chippenham, Calne, Wantage and Longcot. It was cut to take narrowboats 72 feet long and seven feet wide. There were 42 locks on the main line and three on the Calne branch. There were three short tunnels.
While the main canal was opened in 1810, some branches were operating before this and others added afterwards. The North Wilts Canal from Swindon to the Thames and Severn Canal at Cricklade was opened in 1819. It was originally a separate company, but soon merged with the Wilts & Berks. It had 11 locks.
Coal came from the Somerset mines via the Somersetshire Coal Canal, which joined the Kennet and Avon Canal at Dundas. In 1837 43,642 tons of coal were transported via the Wilts and Berks Canal from the Somerset coalfield, with 10,669 tons being handled at Abingdon wharf.[1] The Wilts and Berks thus became a link in the "chain" of canals providing a transportation route between the West Country and the Midlands. Water supply was always a problem and a reservoir was constructed near Swindon to supply the canal, now known as Coate Water.
The Wilts and Berks Canal was never a great commercial success owing to its narrowness and competition from rail and other canals, especially the Great Western Railway from 1841. The Wilts and Berks Canal operated for more than a century before being abandoned by an Act of Parliament in 1914. The act was sponsored by Swindon Corporation, which gained control of all the land within its boundary. In other areas ownership returned to the owners of adjacent land. Through traffic had ceased in 1901 when the Stanley Aqueduct over the River Marden between Chippenham and Calne collapsed. From the early 1930s much of the canal was filled in and generally used for dumping rubbish. During 1939 to 1945 many of the locks and other canal structures were used for army exercises and damaged by explosives.
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[edit] Restoration
In 1977 the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust [1] began to preserve what remained, and ten years later this became a major restoration project. Some development had taken place on the land of the canal but much of it still exists in the form of lock and bridge remains, embankments, towpaths, hedgerows and ditches. The trust now plans to restore all of the extensive rural sections, and to construct new sections (possibly including new tunnels) where urban development has made the original route unavailable. Not all development has been urban, however. In Uffington, for instance, a farm has been built on the old wharf site, over the filled canal. By 2006 a number of bridges and locks have been rebuilt and at least eight miles of the canal are in water.
[edit] Name
The official name of the canal was always "Wilts & Berks Canal" as cited in the Acts of Parliament that authorised its building. It should not be referred to as the "Wiltshire and Berkshire" Canal.
Likewise the North Wilts Canal should not be referred to as the "North Wiltshire" Canal.
[edit] References
- ^ Clew, Kenneth R. (1970). The Somersetshire Coal Canal and Railways. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4792-6.
[edit] External links
[edit] Further reading
- Dalby, L. J. (1971) The Wilts and Berks Canal. Lingfield, Surrey: The Oakwood Press. (2nd edition, 1986, Oxford: Oakwood Press. ISBN 085361332X.)(3rd edition, 2000, Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0853615624)
