Kennet and Avon 

The Kennet and Avon canal is composed of three individual waterways: The Avon Navigation from Bristol to bath, the navigation from Bath to Newbury and the Kennet Navigation from Newbury to Reading.

The combined purpose was to provide a safe inland navigation from Bristol to London to avoid both the natural hazards of dangerous coasts and storms, but also piracy and attack from our neighbours; the French and her Allies, who would at times take advantage of vulnerable merchant ships in English waters. Transport by road still had its hazards as roads were often in poor repair, with the odd Highwayman watching over them and loads were restricted to whatever a cart could carry, which was probably little more than a ton or two as compared with maybe 40 tons by canal , depending on actual waterway and design of craft.

The River Avon had actually been navigable as far back as the 13 century , though had gradually become blocked by watermills and other constructions, which was attended too by the Act of 1712, which when finally implemented restored the bath to Bristol section as navigable water to barge traffic by 1727.

At about the same time the construction of the Kennet and Avon was being considered with the necessary Act being passed in 1715 to make a navigable waterway from Reading ( Thames ) to Newbury, this was complete by 1723.

The final junction to connect the Kennet  to the Avon was proposed in 1788 and named as the Western Canal Project for which royal assent was obtained in 1794 after some debate about various alternative routes, possible solutions to water supply and landlords not keen to have their grounds disturbed the project finally got under way.

The canal opened in 1810 taking a course through Gret Bedwyn, Devizes Towbridge and Newbury  ( much to the disappointment of Malborough and other settlements on the original route).

1841 saw the opening of the Great Western Railway and inevitably the decline of the waterways was marked from this point as trade steadily switched from water to rail, until the railway company took over the canal in 1852, increasing Tolls so as to make use of the waterway uneconomic, with the final blow coming with the closure of the Somerset Coal Canal in 1904 followed by the Wilts and Berkshire Canal in 1906.

The second World War saw the waterways being marked as lines of defence with Pill Boxes and Tank traps being built on their banks, many of which are still visible.

By the 1950’s poor lock maintenance had led to closure of large sections of canal.

Restoration or at least the acknowledgement of the need for restoration probably started in 1956 with a waterside trader  John Gould successfully claiming damages for loss of trade as a result of the waterway’s deterioration, which helped persuade the British Transport Commission to prevent further decay though no steps towards actual restoration were taken until British waterways took over in 1963.

The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust was formed in the 1960’s with the aim of restoring the canal from Reading to Bristol, which the Queen re-opened as a navigable waterway in 1990.