The Wilts and Berks Canal
The Wilts and Berks Canal is a
restoration project of a canal disused for about 100 years. It was built to
link the Kennet and Avon at Semperton
to the River Thames at Abingdon in all about
52 miles. It was opened in 1810 and
abandoned in 1914 after the collapse of the Stanley Aqueduct in 1901. As
there were no commercially viable ideas put forward for rescuing the
waterway it fell into a state of disuse , even to the extent of structures
being used for demolition practice for by the armed forces during the war,
which hardly improved the situation! Restoration began with the formation of
the Wilts and Berks Canal Amenity Group in 1977.
Another ambitious project, but the process continues….
The first plans were proposed by Robert (Snr) and William
Whitworth in 1793 with an act of Parliament resulting in Royal Assent being
passed in 1793, with the new coalfields discovered in Bath and Somerset
providing a good case for development of a new transport route, though the
idea was also supported by the general feeling that the area to be served
was being left isolated in an era before the currently good road networks
had been established and in which canals were opening up the rest of the
country to the benefits of a new industrial age.
Construction commenced in 1796 with Robert Whitworth Snr.,
as Chief Engineer and William Whitworth as resident engineer with William
later taking over the project on Robert’s departure.
The canal was complete and open in 1810.
Coal was duly transported from the Somerset Coalfield to
London or other destinations on route such as
Melksham, Calne, Chippenham, Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Farringdon, Wantage
and Abingdon and with a route also available to Oxford and other areas.
Serious competition was also opened
in 1810 offering direct completion and a broad canal as opposed to the
narrow Wilts and Berks Canal. The best years for the canal actually
were 1830 as it was used to carry materials for the construction of the
great western Railway and in part the seed
of its own demise, which was inevitably bound up this the development
of the new railway network.
Eventually declining use meant lower profits and less
funds and incentive to repair, so thew c anal silted , restricting traffic
further and hastening its decline, which was finally marked by the collapse
of Stanley Aqueduct in 1901, which was an event from which it did not
recover, though it wasnot officially abandoned until 1914.
Restoration is in hand , but will be a long project facing
some major obstacles like crossing the M4 and reclaiming or routing around
sections that have been built over, but progress is being made and the
prospect for a full restoration of the waterway may yet exist.