(Ad 1)
The Montgomery Canal is to be found running between
eastern Wales and Northwest Shropshire and currently offers about 33miles of
navigable waterway, which is gradually being extended by a process of
restoration.
The Montgomery was chiefly designed to serve an
agricultural community particularly with the transportation of lime to
improve the soil, the investment in the canal hopefully being repaid by the
improvement to loyal land and crop yields.
The original proposal was made about 1792 and included the
idea of a canal from Llanumynech to Welshpool as an extension of the
existing Llanumynech branch of the Ellesmere canal. 1793 saw a fuither
extension to Newton proposed and the authorising Act of Parliament was
passed in 1794. With John Dadford appointed engineer, assisted by his
brother Thomas.
Both the Vyrnway and Berriew viaducts presented
considerable difficulties and by 1797 John Dadford had resigned, William
Jessop asked to advise and Thomas Dadford senior had been bought in to the
project to replace John. By this time 16 miles of the canal from
had already been completed from Llanumynech to Garthmyl, with 7
miles to go to reach Newtown. Where shortage of funds left the project until
1814.
1815 saw a second company formed to complete the canal to
Newtown, which became known as the Western branch of the Montgomeryshire
canal (as opposed to the Eastern already built).
This project was undertaken by Josias Jessop with John
Williams as engineer and it included 6 locks 15 foot wide, the branch was
complete by 1821
1847 saw the Eastern branch bought by the Shropshire Union
railways and Canal Company, followed by the purchase of the western branch
in 1850.
The late arrival of railways to the area allowed the
Montgomery canal to flourish for a number of years , while others were
beginning to decline and it remained in profit until the First World War,
after which things went into a decline. The Shropshire Union was bought out
by the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1922 with the canal included
in this transaction, after which the waterway was increasingly neglected
until an act of abandonment was passed in 1944.
Restoration began in 1969 when a proposed bypass
threatened to block the canal at Weshpool.
From this point on a gradual process of preservation and
renovation under the help and guidance of organisations such as the
Shropshire Union Canal Society, The Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust
and British Waterways has rebuilt several locks and
restored some the existing
structures of the canal , though land ownership issues and other
obstructions are still to be overcome before the route can be fully
reclaimed.