Abingdon's Canal !
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IWA HEAD OFFICE BULLETIN – December 2005 – ISSUE No 107 Wilts & Berks Canal As part of its 2006 Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, IWA has announced that it has offered its support to Wilts & Berks Canal Trust's Abington Junction project. This ambitious project, to construct a new junction of the Wilts & Berks Canal to the river Thames at Abingdon with a new 150-metre canal, was seen by IWA's Council as a fitting commemoration of the Association's 60 years of work restoring and conserving Britain's waterway network. Support will be given in three forms - financial, advisory and physical and the total cost of the project is likely to be in excess of £150,000. The exact amount of IWA's grant is yet to be determined and will be subject to grants from other funding bodies and further discussion between all the parties involved. The work to build the new canal should be complete by August 2006, and the 150-metre waterway will link into a former gravel pit to provide visitor mooring facilities 400-metres from the Thames. The work will also include a wheelchair friendly footpath from Peep-o-Day Lane to the Thames Junction, fishing platforms and seating for disabled users. It will be the first part of the Wilts & Berks canal to be accessible to boats from the connected inland waterway network. If the construction work goes to plan, the Canal Trust intends to open the new canal on Wednesday 30th August 2006, immediately following IWA's National Festival and Inland Boat Show over the late August Bank Holiday at Beale Park, Pangbourne. The Trust has issued an open invitation to the boats attending the Festival to join in the opening celebrations and navigate a small part of the Wilts & Berks Canal connected to the national waterways network Much of the work to construct the new canal will be carried out by Waterway Recovery Group and Wilts & Berks Canal Trust volunteers on weekend work parties and week-long Canal Camps in 2006. WRG has committed to four weeks of Canal Camps on the project and plans to commit more resources as the plans develop. The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust was formed with the aim of protecting, conserving and improving the route of the Wilts & Berks and North Wilts Canals, and branches, for the benefit of the community and environment. Its ultimate goal is to restore a continuous navigable waterway linking the Kennet & Avon Canal at or near Melksham, the river Thames at or near Abingdon, and the Thames & Severn Canal at or near Cricklade. The Trust was originally called the Wilts & Berks Canal Amenity Group and was formed in 1977. The Trust's current membership stands at more than 1,600 people and businesses. A county boundary change in 1974 transferred the eastern section of the canal from Berkshire to Oxfordshire. The Wilts & Berks Canal was promoted from 1793 as a means of providing cheap transport. The Bill empowering construction of the canal received Royal Assent in 1795 and the canal was cut from the Kennet & Avon Canal at Semington, near Melksham, to the river Thames at Abingdon during the years 1796 to 1810. A link from Swindon to the Thames & Severn Canal at Latton (near Cricklade) was completed in 1819. This link, known as the North Wilts Canal, allowed traffic to bypass the difficult river Thames navigation between Lechlade and Abingdon. The main line of the canal was 52 miles long, with six miles of branches and nine miles of the North Wilts Canal. It was cut to take narrow boats 72 feet long and seven feet wide, carrying 35 tons. There were 42 locks on the main line, 11 on the North Wilts Canal and three on the Calne branch. There were three short tunnels. The canal enjoyed a period of prosperity between 1817 and 1841. However, with the coming of the Great Western Railway in 1841 decline set in. Stanley Aqueduct between Chippenham and Calne collapsed in 1901, stopping through traffic, and the canal was abandoned by Act of Parliament in 1914. |