Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
Stratford-upon-Avon Canal | |
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River Avon |
The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is a canal in the south Midlands of England. The canal, which was built between 1793 and 1816, runs for 25.5 miles (41.0 km) in total, and consists of two sections. The dividing line is at Kingswood Junction, which gives access to the Grand Union Canal. Following acquisition by a railway company in 1856, it gradually declined, the southern section being un-navigable by 1945, and the northern section little better.
The northern section was the setting for a high-profile campaign by the fledgling
Route
The Stratford-upon-Avon canal connects the
The southern section continues the descent with the final seven of the Lapworth locks, passing under the M40 motorway just before the final one. The locks are closely spaced until those at Preston Bagot are reached, after which there is a 6-mile (9.7 km) section with just one lock in the middle. This nearly-level section contains two of the canal's three iron aqueducts. The easy cruising is interrupted by the Wilmcote flight of eleven locks in just over a mile (1.6 km), soon after which the canal reaches Stratford-upon-Avon.[1]
Along the 25.5-mile (41.0 km) route of the canal, there are a total of 54 narrow
Earlswood Lakes in Earlswood are feeder reservoirs to the canal. The three lakes were built between 1821 and 1822 and have a total capacity of 210 million gallons (950 megalitres (Ml)). The lakes consist of three separate pools; Terry's, Engine and Windmill Pool. They are retained by earth embankment. Until 1936 the water was pumped into the feeder by a beam engine, whose engine house can still be seen. The feeder was navigable for coal boats to reach the engine house and is now used for moorings.
Features
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From
After 3/4 mile is the only tunnel on the canal, at Brandwood. It is 352 yards (322 m) long, and like many canal tunnels it has no towpath; horses were walked over the hill and barges were pulled through the tunnel using a handrail on the wall of the tunnel, parts of which can still be seen.[2]
On the outskirts of Shirley the brick-built Major's Green Aqueduct carries the canal 10m above Aqueduct Road and the River Cole.
270 yards (250 m) further south is the electrically operated Shirley Draw Bridge which carries Drawbridge Road over the canal. It is normally closed and can be opened using a British Waterways key. The northern section also has a swing bridge (no.2, normally left open), a lift bridge (no.28), and another drawbridge (no. 26), all operated manually.
On the southern section interesting features of the canal include the unique barrel-roofed lock keeper's cottages to be found south of Kingswood Junction. All but two have been swamped by large modern extensions, but those at locks 28 and 31 are still in something like their original state, neither of them have either electricity supply or mains water.
Many of the
The southern section of the canal passes over three cast iron aqueducts, unusual in that the towpaths are at the level of the canal bottom.[1]
Travelling south from Kingswood Junction, the first aqueduct is the modest Yarningale Aqueduct which carries the canal over a small stream near Preston Bagot, Warwickshire. This cast iron aqueduct was built in 1834 to replace the original wooden structure which was washed away when the stream flooded that year.
The second is the
The third is the Edstone Aqueduct (also known as Bearley) which at 475 feet (145 m),[4] is the longest in England.[5] The aqueduct crosses a minor road, the Birmingham and North Warwickshire railway and also the trackbed of the former Alcester Railway. There was once a pipe from the side of the canal that enabled locomotives to draw water to fill the locomotives' tanks.[6]
History
The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal was conceived as part of a network of canals which would allow coal from the
Southern section
Stratford-upon-Avon Canal Navigation Act 1815 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Construction only recommenced in 1812, under the leadership of William James of Stratford.
The southern section of the canal never realised James' ambitions, as the Upper Avon was too tortuous and prone to floods to be a reliable through route. He spent some £6,000 on improvements to the Upper Avon locks in 1822, but over-reached himself, and was declared bankrupt shortly afterwards. For a while the upper river was managed by a syndicate of seven people, all connected with the canal, and the Canal Company took out a lease of it from 1842 for five years. Trade was mainly coal, which was conveyed from Stratford to
Traffic steadily built up, although tolls were low, to offset the costs imposed on goods passing through Kingswood Junction to the Warwick and Birmingham Canal. On the southern section, coal was taken to Stratford, from where it was sold, or passed along the Upper Avon or the Stratford and Moreton Tramway. Modest dividends were paid to shareholders from 1824, and the total traffic carried in 1838 was 181,708 tons, on which profits of £6,835 were made.[11] In 1845, the company agreed to sell the canal to the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, who were also keen to purchase the Stratford and Moreton Tramway. It was not until January 1856 that the transaction was finally completed, and another year before the railway company took over day-to-day running.[13] Another change of ownership occurred in 1863, when the railway company was absorbed by the Great Western Railway.[14] Traffic gradually decreased, but the fall in receipts was faster than the fall in tonnage, as the railway took the long-distance loads.[15]
Decline and restoration
By the late 1930s the southern section had become derelict, although a water supply was maintained, which the GWR used to supply its engine shed in Stratford. The northern section was never officially closed, but traffic had virtually ceased by 1939. It was blocked when bridge no. 2, the Tunnel Lane lift bridge at Lifford, became faulty, and was replaced by the GWR with a fixed bridge which left insufficient height for a boat to pass.[16] After Lord Methuen raised the issue in the House of Lords in 1947, and was assured that the bridge "would be lifted at any time on notice of intended passage being given",
By the 1950s, the southern section was un-navigable by canal boats, as several of the locks could not be operated, and some of the small pounds between the locks of the Wilmcote flight were dry.
The National Trust charged a private toll fee for navigation. Ten years after the re-opening, the Queen Mother performed the same ceremony for the Upper Avon Navigation, which had been derelict for more than a century, and the canal became part of a through route to the River Severn once more.
Points of interest
See also
- Stratford and Moreton Tramway
- Avon Ring
- images & map of mile markers seen along the Stratford on Avon canal
Bibliography
- "The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal". Canal Junction.
- Cumberlidge, Jane (2009). Inland Waterways of Great Britain (8th Ed.). Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson. ISBN 978-1-84623-010-3.
- Hadfield, Charles (1970). The Canals of the East Midlands. David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4871-X.
- Hadfield, Charles (1985). The Canals of the West Midlands. David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8644-1.
- Johnson, Guy (1983). Save the Stratford Canal!. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8424-4.
- Labrum, E. A. (1994). Civil Engineering Heritage. Thomas Telford. ISBN 0-7277-1970-X.
- ISBN 978-0-00-721110-4.
- Pearson, Michael (2004). Canal Companion - Severn and Avon. J. M. Pearson & Son Ltd. ISBN 0-907864-79-1.
- Priestley, Joseph (1831). "Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways of Great Britain".
- Skempton, Sir Alec; et al. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 1: 1500 to 1830. Thomas Telford. ISBN 0-7277-2939-X.
- Squires, Roger (2008). Britain's restored canals. Landmark Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84306-331-5.
- Ware, Michael E (1989). Britain's Lost Waterways. Moorland Publishing Co Ltd.
References
- ^ a b c d e Cumberlidge 2009, pp. 282–284
- ^ a b Nicholson 2006, p. 138
- ISBN 9781108048187.
- ^ a b c d e Ware 1989, pp. 28–29
- ^ a b Skempton 2002, p. 357
- ^ Warwickshire Railways website
- ^ Hadfield 1985, p. 84
- ^ Priestley 1831, pp. 598–600
- ^ a b c d Hadfield 1970, p. 179
- ^ Skempton 2002, p. 144
- ^ a b c Hadfield 1970, p. 180
- ^ a b Hadfield 1985, pp. 146–147
- ^ Hadfield 1970, p. 208
- ^ "Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Line". The Restoration & Archiving Trust. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
- ^ a b c d Nicholson 2006, pp. 136–137
- ^ a b c "Historic Campaigns: Tunnel Lane Bridge, Lifford". Inland Waterways Association. Retrieved 6 December 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Squires 2008, p. 82
- ^ Squires 2008, p. 122