The Stort Navigation is
a 13 mile modification of the River
Stort from between Bishop’s
Stortford and its junction with the River Lee Navigation at Feildes Weir
near Hoodesdon in Hertfordshire.
The canal became the mainstay of the local Malting
industry with the long flat Stort barges conveying
large quantities of grain and malt with up to 60 Tons being carried in a 70
ft barge with two horses drawing it. Often carrying the cargo down to London
to return with timber, coal or other commodities in a round trip taking
about three weeks
The first Act authorising the work of canalising the Sort
was passed in 1759, but didn’t translate into an active project because of
problems in raising the necessary funds.
1766 saw a second Act empowering Charles Dingley, George
Jackson and William Masterson to build a Navigation and
Thomas Yeoman was appointed as
Engineer, under whom the work including 15 locks was completed by 1769,
providing navigable water from Bishop’s Stortford to the Lee.
1788 saw Samuel Weston employed to survey a branch to
Saffron Waldon, but the project was never realised.
1812 and 1814 saw Acts passed that permitted the
construction of a connecting link between the River Stort and the River Cam
intending to provide a route to London via the London and Cambridge Junction
Canal, though this project did not get off the ground either, again due
problems raising necessary funds.
1830 saw George Duckett
granted permission by Act of parliament to build the hertford Union
Canal , which became known as “Duckett’s Cut”. This was an attempt to
improve trade by providing a route between the Lee Navigation and the
Regents Canal thus avoiding the lower semi- tidal section of the Lee, though
the project was not a commercial success, with George Duckett declared
bankrupt in 1832 and the canal passing into the hands of receivers for 21
years who failed to find a buyer for it and neglected maintenance.
Finally Richard Gurney took on the canal having failed to
recover debts from George Duckett by other means and it became the unhappy
asset of his company, who eventually managed to persuade the Trueman,
Hanbury & Buxton to reluctantly buy
it in 1873.
Trueman, Hanbury &
Buxton wrote it off selling it to John Poole Davis for £100, who 9 years
later sold it on to Sir Walter Gibley in 1898 for £500, which was probably
the only profit ever associated with the canal.
Eventually it passed into the hands of the Lee Conservancy
Board for the nominal sum of5 shillings, who began restoration work, which
was finally completed in 1924, delayed by the intervention of War.
The canal was nationalised in 1948, apassing into the
hands of thbritish transport Commission and the british Waterways. Currently
the navigation is open and navigable by craft up to 88 ft in length, 13ft
wide with a draft of up to 4ft