Ways of Using this Book

Ways of using this book

We hope that this book will help to answer some of the queries that occur when you are first inclined to take to the water. The best way the book can help depends on ‘where you are coming from’.

How long have you got?
The first five chapters of the book are related to the time you have available for your holiday, ranging from an afternoon to any time in excess of two weeks.

Do you want to start close to home?
Maps in the book cover most of the country. Hirebases are shown alongside the waterways. Seek out somewhere close to your home town.

Where do you want to visit?
Each suggested route includes visitor attractions to be found along the way. Most of them are within a half hour walk of the water, with a few beyond that distance indicated as ‘longer walks’.
This is clearly a personal selection and is only scratching the surface of places that could be visited within a short walk of a waterway.

Do you seek the ‘Seven Wonders’?
Roberts Aickman of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) described what he considered the ‘Seven Wonders’ of the waterways. These are located on the KEY MAP.

What is the name of your chosen waterway?
Individual canal companies had fiercely individual characters; they were never really team players. The names as given to waterways by their original owners are often still in use today and there is an index of the waterways featured in this book on page 80.

Are you meeting friends for your holiday?
A railway station that serves a large number of towns will be the most convenient target for a group of friends converging from around the country. Some might be sufficiently close to a hirebase to influence you choice of starting point.

Brian Roberts

Waterway enthusiast

Jackie Roberts

Well worth the walk
I asked Jackie to suggest villages that have been ‘well worth the walk’. Memories of country villages tend to merge into one idealistic image, many experiences contributing to that rosy glow. Her top twenty, chosen from lots of candidates are:--

Audlem
Shropshire Union Canal:
Braunston
Oxford Canal:
Brewood
Shropshire Union Canal:
Brinklow
Oxford Canal:
Burston (a hamlet)
Trent & Mersey Canal:
Dorchester
River Thames:
Gargrave
Leeds & Liverpool Canal:
Kintbury
Kennet & Avon Canal:
Lower Heyford
Oxford Canal
Lymm
Bridgewater Canal:
Marple
Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canals:
Saltaire
Leeds & Liverpool Canal:
Shardlow
Trent & Mersey Canal:
Skipton
Leeds & Liverpool Canal:
South Stoke
River Thames:
Stoke Bruerne
Grand Union Canal:
Sutton Cheyney
Ashby Canal:
Tewkesbury
River Avon:
Whaley Bridge
Peak Forest Canal.

Brian Roberts has always lived and played beside water.

Whittle-le-Woods near the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was home for many years. A grainy box camera image confirms his earliest memories on water — the girlfriend of the moment is shown against the deck rail of a Windermere steamer- they were aged eight. Row-boats on Poole Park Lake were part of later family summer holidays, and visits to his grandparents always included walking the dog along the Grand Union in Norwood Green and Southall, both known to countless Number Ones.

Regular waterway experiences started as a cox for Manchester University Boat Club’s eights and fours. His interest in ‘short cut’ ‘back alley’ routes away from roads grew from the twisting but direct route he devised to cycle twice a week across Central Manchester and Salford from University buildings at Fallowfield to the clubhouse at Agecroft. On-water training and regular evening runs prepared for summer events as far apart as the regatta on the curving river under the shadow of Durham Cathedral and the Head-of-the-River race from Mortlake to Putney on the tidal Thames in London. He was a lot lighter then.

Under his Presidency the University Club moved headquarters from alongside that short reach on the River Irwell by Agecroft power station to the infinitely longer pounds of the Bridgewater Canal at Dane Road alongside the commuter railway from Altrincham – now the modern Metro.

Six weeks after their second child was born, with wife Jackie and family he boarded a P&O ship for a sea voyage to the State of Sarawak (now Malaysia) where they lived for six years. At the time the road system was mainly unconnected segments of gravel-topped tracks, so frequently the only way to travel between towns was by water. This saw him successfully zooming around wide rivers behind Government-funded twin 40 HP outboard motors, but failing miserably to water-ski behind a helicopter. More recently, when working in Oxfordshire, he lived part time on a well-insulated narrowboat and has since become a part-owner of a more luxurious 55 foot model – although still without a 240-volt electrical system.

His professional work as architect / planner ranged from urban design for Local Governments in the U.K. to low cost housing and sites and services schemes in developing countries for the World Bank. All of which might involve writing some very convoluted explanations but always for a ‘captive audience’. He also contributed articles to professional journals.

More recent writing has been devoted to his interest in the simple joys of walking beside, or floating on, water. He notes, "There are lots of ways to start - even the free ride on Woolwich Ferry!"

Researching his books has been a marvellous excuse to travel by water along more than 2000 miles of the 3000 miles of UK’s navigable waterways, and countless miles by road to look at sites he had previously only read about. With Jackie, over 25 'short strolls beside water' have been investigated, most of them more than once -- some of them featured in his first book. Hopefully understandable descriptions of waterside structures flow naturally from his early professional training which gave a more specialized understanding of industrial archaeology and historic engineering.

His first published book (1999) was well received and is still available:-- Britain's Waterways - A Unique Insight ( ISBN 086351-115-5) and the most recent, Britain's Waterways – Cruising rings & other things became available at Easter 2002. – ISBN 086351-151-1.

Through them he hopes to share his enthusiasm for a waterway system that is quite as extensive as the motorway system. One that was raw engineering on an unprecedented massive scale when built 200 years ago, but has now matured into the countryside. So much so, that the towpath hedges are a haven for wild life and plants, often providing the only protective continuous corridor for animals moving on after eviction from ever larger farmer’s fields.

A member of the Railway and Canal Historical Society and the Society of Authors, he was sometime Chairman of the Oxfordshire Branch of the Inland Waterways Association -- one of the earliest special interest pressure groups, which for over 50 years has been lobbying Governments to increase their commitment to the Conservation, Use, Maintenance, Restoration and Development of the Inland Waterways.

Brian Roberts Weybridge 2002

back to 'About the Author'

The Inland Waterways Association is the national – democratically elected – association which has, rather long-windedly, been “ Campaigning for the Conservation, Use, Maintenance, Restoration and Development of the Inland Waterways” for more than 50 years. Many of the early campaigns were physical protests to assert the right of passage on theoretically operational canals which were practically un-navigable since they had not been properly maintained since the Second World War. In the present-day more ‘consultative’ society, ‘behind the scenes’ paperwork is a major method of maintaining campaigns and influencing governments. Click for more details

Brian joined the Oxfordshire Branch of IWA in 1993 when he started using a narrowboat instead of B&B during his days working for Oxfordshire County Council. The boat was moved round that part of the system within commuting distance of Oxford so that he arrived to work from a different direction each week, a type of boating he later discovered was known as “week-ending”. He soon became Planning Liaison officer on the branch committee and was embroiled in the eight-year long, essentially paper-based, campaign to ‘save’ Tooleys Boatyard in Banbury from complete destruction by an out of scale ‘town centre / shopping arcade’ development.

The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust is one of many specialist canal societies looking after particular canals. It is seeking to restore a canal linking the Thames at Abingdon to the Kennet & Avon Canal near Devizes via a junction at Swindon with a branch going to Cricklade linking to the current restoration of the Thames & Severn Canal. Closed for almost a century (1914) its restoration would create two large cruising rings in the south of England bringing extra benefits to towns along the Thames and the Kennet & Avon, as well as the towns and rural areas of Oxfordshire and Wiltshire through which it passes.

At 67 miles it is a long restoration, but not a massively huge project … there are no long tunnels or big flights of locks.

The Trust has grown out of an amenity group first formed over 25 years ago. Since then it has mounted a steady campaign (which continues) of physical works on the ground (over seven sections of the historic canal are in water) and more recently put the arguements to ensure the line of the canal is not built upon any further. The campaign has progressed to a recently completed overall engineering feasibility study (1998), and now individual detailed studies of new alternative alignments where the historic line has been irretrievably lost. These are in the process of being accepted into each relevant Local Authority’s Local Plans. Some developers are including restoration of parts of the line as it passes through their proposed housing etc. sites. Brian’s experience of planning authorities has become very relevant here. Click for more details

Apart from a 1/12th share in a 55’ narrowboat, and taking care of a friends 42’ boat, Brian’s waterway activities include:-
Chairman for the Central Southern Region of the Inland Waterways Association and thus a member of Council.
IWA representative on the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust Council of Management.
IWA representative on the Oxford Waterways Partnership

Other society memberships include:-
Cotswold Canals Trust www.cotswoldcanals.com/
Friends of the Cromford Canal www.cromfordcanal.org.uk/
Inland Waterway Protection Society www.brocross.com/iwps/
Railway and Canal Historical Society www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/rchs/
Wey & Arun Canal Trust www.weyandarun.co.uk/
&
Society of Authors www.writers.org.uk/society 

Tooleys Boatyard Campaign.

After too many delays, Banbury Museum opened in November 2002 and Tooleys Yard acquired a new tenant. YES the campaign was a bit of a struggle .. and NO we did not get all we wanted, but I feel the ‘lack of achievement’ should be seen in context.

Firstly, thanks to earlier IWA involvement, the boatyard site had TWO ‘Scheduled Ancient Monuments’ – the Forge & the dock itself – and this was a ‘thorn in the side’ of the developers. Their original intention was to ‘preserve’ the forge as a shopping kiosk, and the dock as a flowerbed.

As is normal on a scheme of such size, the planners asked the developers to provide an Archaeological Assessment which was delivered by Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit in Dec 1989 (revised 1991), which - although it contained some inaccuracies when dealing with Tooleys Yard and was a bit light on the IWA / rebirth of interest in canals - was a comprehensive review of the Shopping Centre development site.

We wrote letters in 1994, got the support of Oxfordshire’s Director of Museum Services and Tony Conder at Gloucester. We encouraged two ‘Open Day’s at Tooleys as part of our campaign (FEB. & MAY 1995), and the people of Banbury supported us well. The Council then went forward with a lottery bid to assist their Museum to re-locate alongside the Canal and incorporate what was to be preserved of Tooleys yard. IWA shared in the funding of the Architectural Competition (1995) to choose the designer (although the documents did not always acknowledge this) and we tried again to influence the brief.

However, developers were still sure that activities in an “untidy, dirty, noisy boatyard” were incompatible with shoppers’ needs and resisted any call for ‘living together’. Compulsory purchase of a huge area of land for shopping purposes by the District Council followed in August 1995, although IWA appeared at the enquiry to record their objection to this including any part of the yard. Unsurprisingly, the Inspector found for the Council / proposed development and against the IWA! However, BW resisted the complete wiping out of the yard and encouraged the Section 106 agreement (linked to the huge planning permission for the shopping centre) to include clauses that allowed many boatyard activities to take place.

We held a Canal Weekend (MAY 1996) which was hugely supported by the public and some of the local Councillors. The lottery bid was eventually 75% successful (1997) but once the contract was let nothing further could be changed – although we tried - especially about the roof over the dock .. withdrawing extra IWA funds because it did not do what it said it was going to do.

I am convinced that the museum lottery bid succeeded partly because of the presence of Scheduled Ancient Monuments on Tooleys Yard side of the canal, although the artefacts to do with Banbury / Civil War etc. were also relevant!

More recently, we kept the canal in the publics’ eye, firstly getting one of the new bridges needed by the development to be named for Tom Rolt (1999) and then the IWA AGM (2001) was held in the Mill at Banbury with a huge attendant boat gathering. “By popular demand” this was successfully repeated in 2002 – this time organised by British Waterways.

In the event, the whole boatyard site has been reduced in size by about one-third, although there is a small additional ‘undercroft’ (without windows) which is available for whatever the operator wishes to put in it.

The line of the back warehouse wall, which had supported the various ‘lean-to’ sheds, has been re-instated in ‘shopping centre friendly’ fire–proofing concrete and three of the ‘lean-to’ sheds were taken away have been re-instated almost as they were. The larger free-standing corrugated-iron-clad workshop has been reduced in height / size and squeezed underneath the ‘waterways gallery’ which spans the canal. However, the belt-driven pulleys and most of the machinery that was in this ‘belt-shop’ at the time British Waterways took back the lease have been reinstated and reconnected – although an electric motor is the motive power. None of this is obvious from the canal towpath, and health & safety requires that you have to be accompanied if you want to see.

As far as the dock itself is concerned, the most obvious disaster is the roof. Earlier pictures show there were TWO roofs probably of the cheap old corrugated iron too. A fixed one was near the stop-planks sitting on four pillars (the pillars have been retained), and a second one was on a wooden frame which rolled on rails so that it could be adjusted to protect the work going on at the other end of the variable length of boats (this has been re-instated but is not on rails). Since the war (!) bits of wooden primary school wall were re-cycled to provide the protection we all recall under another full length corrugated iron roof. The new glazed side walls allow glimpses of what is going on inside (ever stopped at a building site?) but the glass will certainly need extra protection when welding takes place. The dock has been completely re-wired etc. and is up to modern safety requirements.

The Waterways Gallery should be visited, it is quite fair about Tom Rolt, the IWA and its involvement in ‘saving’ the South Oxford from closure in 1955, but has a large amount of empty building space that could be filled with other more robust ‘exhibits’ in the future. I think it suffered from lack of funds / priority towards the end of the project.

The DEVELOPERS hated the canal in 1990, the OPERATORS of the Shopping Centre are now finding that they gather a lot of trade from users of the canal – and are very supportive in 2003!!

Published books –

	Britain’s Waterways – A Unique Insight GEOprojects 1999 - click for more details Read the First Chapter: Coastline, rivers and canals
	Britain’s Waterways – Cruising Rings & other things GEOprojects 2002 - click for more details Read the First Chapter: Frequently Asked Questions

back to 'About the Author'

Published articles –

Cruising southern waters
Canal Boat and Inland Waterways February 2003

Early Start on the Cut  - Click to see full text.
A Time & a Place – First Anthology from Walton Wordsmiths, Autumn 2001

Triangle Mooring
Canal Boat and Inland Waterways March 2001

Bux or Bugs?
Ownersnips – The Ownerships Magazine Spring 2000

How far in a fortnight?
Ownersnips – The Ownerships Magazine, Spring 1999

Coventry Basin
Ownersnips – The Ownerships Magazine, Spring 1998

Banbury & the Oxford Canal - Click to see full text
Cake & Cockhorse: Journal of the Banbury Historical Society, Summer 1995

Minimising the Cost of Infrastructure Supply
Urban Services Management in the Third World: Workshop: University of Sheffield July 1988

Interrelationship between Standards, Costs and Affordability
Co-presenter: Planning and Transport Research and Computation Summer Meeting 1982

Capital Costs of Urban Development. The need for a standardised Summary Diagram
Third World Planning Review, Liverpool University Press Vol. 2 No. 1 Spring 1980

Alternative Patterns of Development in a Rapidly Growing City (An examination of Bogota)
(co-author) Civil Engineering Problems Overseas. Institute of Civil Engineers 1971

Development Planning and Land Analysis Techniques (with special reference to Sarawak) (co-author) Proceedings of Third Malaysian Soils Conference 1968

back to 'About the Author'

Brian was born in the north (Salford) and his wife Jackie was born in the south (Blackheath). They have been together for over 40 years. Married in London, lived in Manchester, Coventry, Sarawak (Malaysia) – Sibu and Kuching but mostly in three houses on the main commuter line into London at Weybridge (over 30 years).

Jackie worked as a kindergarten teacher both in the UK and abroad, and eventually ran her own pre-school playgroup. She has worked in the NHS for 15 years and is currently Secretary of the Friends of the Local Hospital.

They traveled back and forth by sea to the Far East and thus visited many exotic lands. Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, South Africa became familiar stop off places, and time ashore was allowed in Suez/Cairo, Aden, Sri Lanka, Dakar, Lisbon. Brian’s work with a Lebanese firm took him (by air!) to Nigeria, Angola, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, the Holy Land, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. Jackie spent some time with him in Kano, Cairo, Luxor and Istanbul. Since retirement they stay closer to home and travel every year in Europe, often to Cordoba and Marbella in Spain… that is when they are not walking beside, or floating on, Britain’s Inland Waterways. So far they have boated over 2500 miles of the system.

They have three children and six grandchildren.

Eldest Paul is a teacher within a Japanese secondary school, married to Kaoru and lives in Tokushima Japan. They have recently completed a steel framed house to his design, partially equipped and furnished with a full container load of gear purchased in UK. Son Yuan was born in May 2003 and first came to UK for Christmas 2003 and Scotland for Hogmanay 2004.

Middle child Nicola, was a member of the Royal Ballet Company and performed the title character in Giselle, Cinderella, La Fille Mal Gardee , Midsummer Nights Dream and The Two Pigeons. She created roles in six modern ballets and over 20 years performed many principal roles in the classic repertoire.. She is married to Ashley Page choreographer, and now Director of the Scottish Ballet Company. They have two children, Jordan who is keen on piano and chess, drama and rugby (aged 8) and Audrey (aged 4).

Youngest Sarah, was a barrister and is now a teacher, is married to Michael Mallalieu who is Head of Science at Bedford Junior School. Their children are Kate (aged 4), Felix (aged 2) and Hanna (born Valentines Day 2003).

back to 'About the Author'

Contact me --

I am conscious that my books cover much of the country, and although I have visited most places at least twice, it is quite likely that, in these days of rapid change, there may be things that are no longer correct. If you note such inaccuracies I would be particularly keen to know of them.

I also enjoy writing articles about waterways, boating and the earlier history as shown in the industrial archaeology that is still visible today. My membership of Walton Wordsmiths may result in some fiction writing one day … who knows!

back to 'About the Author'

Early start on the cut.

Floating lazily like a newly felled tree, the boat had hardly rocked all night. Emerging from a depth of sleep encouraged by the clear air, the man slipped a leg out of bed and felt the remnants of dry heat from the overnight stove. So early and yet so refreshed.

Stillness surrounded him, his companion remained motionless. No shift in weight nor adjustment of position. No deadlines to meet today, no obligations except those they had set for themselves. He decided to visit the stars.

Pulling on rough trousers over his shorts, a thick sweater over his head, he grabbed his scarf and moved softly towards the rear deck. The boat responded to the change in balance with a slight shift from the horizontal, and then settled to a new equilibrium as he placed his weight on the seat outside.

He took in his surroundings. Canal water has a habit of converting to a mill pond at the end of the day. All boat movements stop, and water no longer rushes around the emptying locks. At dawn you can usually brush you hair in the reflection … if there is no mist. Last night they had stopped in the dark alongside the towpath hedge not knowing that beyond there were fields stocked with sleeping cows. Opposite the local manor house was hazily visible beyond a line of young trees planted to shield it from prying eyes. There was no wind but this morning there was a dampening mist. He adjusted his scarf.

Silence. The birds had yet to decide it was dawn. A faint tearing sound from the tyres on a far-off road failed to disturb him. He allowed his mind to be blank, he had no thoughts, no puzzle of logic screaming to be resolved. He stayed very still and watched the blanket of mist slide this way and that over the billiard table of the water. He relished his own stillness as the air slowly chilled his exposed skin. Time passed. He gazed skywards while the moon waned. He wondered what names had been given to all those disappearing planets and stars. Then sun was up.

At first it was so low down on the horizon the light merely coloured the mist a different hue. The frost still clung onto the boats roof and onto the trunks and buds on the winter trees. A little later the sun moved higher to force its rays past the bare branches. Their deep shadows became a three dimensional sculpture within the blanket of mist… a glorious fan of light radiating from the far bank.

Exposed skin was by now quite cold, but he did not move. Wildlife was wakening. Birds sang to establish their domains, swans flew upstream to seek their early breakfasts. The mist began to disperse under the infinitesimal change in temperature as the sun climbed above the trees. He could see a little further down the cut. Other boats had tied up after they had arrived last night, and a small hamlet of people were finishing their nights sleep.

The hatch opened and a mug of dark coffee was passed to him. They had decided ten hours ago to make exceedingly slow progress on this their last day. First move was to round the corner and await the opening of the lock flight. The coffee marked the crews awakening, a hint of willingness to cast off soon. Still no sound, still no conversation, just companable silence.

Coffee drained, he started the diesel engine. A shudder ran through the boat, a squeal rose from an unsuspecting bird as it retreated across the hedge and the slight blue haze rolled out over the water. Minutes later the engine settled and the doors into the forward well deck opened from inside. A head appeared above the roof and a ‘thumbs up’ indicated that ropes were held ready to slip. They both let go the boat from its mooring place. He engaged the clutch and the screw propeller nudged the heavy boat forward. He took charge of the tiller and guided them away from the towpath and began to slide past the others beginning to wake to the day.

A group of all night fishermen were tidying up their gear, gently coaxing their tiny primus stove into providing tea. Local residents were jogging along the towpath or following their dogs on their early morning walk. As they glided past other boats, they rocked oh so gently from his wash. Some occupants were sleeping in, some gave forth the delightful smell of cooking breakfasts:-- egg, bacon rashers, fried bread, one even added the slightly pungent odour of kippers, all combining to welcome the day.

As they approached the lock, his companion came aft and stepped off onto the towpath windlass in hand and walked forward. He stopped, tied up and himself walked forward to help with the nearside paddle. They opened both the gate paddles. A lockful of water pushed to get into the canal below. They watched a great slug of water plume out with such force that a solid arch was carved in the air. It sparkled in the sun, and splashed back into the canal to create a hugely- noisy turbulence. He enjoyed the spectacle until the lock was half empty then returned to the boat.

Moments later it was in the lock, the engine switched off and he had climbed off catching the centre rope around a bollard to keep it steady. Together they worked to open the ground paddles alongside the upstream gate. As the clack of the ratchets stopped, there was a slight hesitation of stillness. Then a crescendo of deep bubbles and gurgles announced the underwater surge as new water entered from the floor of the lock. The first flush moved towards the far end and rebounded off the far lock gate. On its return it momentarily stifled all sound. Levels then settled to a relative calm. Further rushes of water and underwater restlessness were the response to each further turn of the windlass until levels inside and out were nearly the same.

The lock then entered its end game. Even the most impatient human is forced to observe the enormity of liquid power that pioneer canal engineers harnessed to their use. Until levels and pressures are equal nothing moves. The man knew that even if enormous strength is brought to bear to try to cheat the system, gates will only ever move when difference in levels in measured in fractions of an inch. He leaned nonchalantly on the lock gate balance beam, relaxed and waited for nature to take its course. Calmly, silently it settled to its own level. A slight creak of timber indicated the pressure was off, they swung the gate open and moved out into the morning to repeat the process five more times.

He reflected on the trip. They were a good team. Waiting when there was nothing that could be done, but ensuring they anticipated the waters every move. They were always in position every time a human hand was needed and had established a rhythm as to which of them would go where. It had taken some practice, some patience, but had forced them both to see life from a different perspective.

The shame of it all was that they could not achieve such harmony back home on the bank. Such pressure from respective employers, such expectations of finance, such visits from demanding in-laws had all left them less and less time on the boat and less and less time for each other. Now this was their last morning on the cut. Tomorrow new owners would come to the marina and take over their boat, this the last of their possessions to be put asunder. They would then each go their separate ways.

Their two solicitors had exchanged divorce papers before the beginning of the trip.

back to 'About the Author'

Banbury is the largest town on the Oxford Canal , except for its extremities. Banbury citizens played a central role in its development, both as promoters and managers of the project.

Concept and Act I
On 13 April 1768, John Pain, Mayor of Banbury, received the M.P. for Oxford University, Sir Roger Newdigate in Banbury.

Sir Roger had promoted a canal designed to run northwards from Coventry to the Trent and Mersey Canal (then under construction) and now wished to seek support for a canal running south from Coventry to Oxford. They talked of the engineer James Brindley's vision of creating a " Grand Cross" of canals linking the main navigable rivers of the realm:- the Trent, Mersey, Severn and Thames.

A century earlier, reliable navigation up the Thames from London had been extended as far as Folly Bridge, Oxford by the construction of some of the first locks in the country, at Swift Ditch Abingdon, Sandford and Iffley, by the Oxford-Burcot Commissioners (1635). So the canal system needed only aim to join the Thames navigation at Oxford to provide a link with the great markets of London.

By the time of the meeting, two cross-country canals were progressing well. Both had been authorised by Parliament on 14th May 1766, two years earlier:- firstly, the Grand Trunk Canal connecting the Trent and Mersey via the Potteries, and secondly, the Wolverhampton Canal linking the Grand Trunk from Great Heywood to the River Severn at Stourport, where a new town was springing up. The Oxford Canal would thus be the final arm of Brinley's visionary "Grand Cross" and would link the birthplace of the industrial revolution (Birmingham and The Black Country) with London via the Thames downstream from Oxford.

Six months later Sir Roger returned and chaired a meeting in the Three Tuns, Banbury (now the Whately Hall Hotel) on 25th October at which he presented plans produced by the leading "navigator" of the day - James Brindley designer of the Bridgewater Canal (parallel to the Mersey), and the "Trent and Mersey" or 'Grand Trunk' Canal. At that one meeting local nobility and gentry subscribed the present day equivalent of three million pounds to the project. goto note 1.

Because of the scandalous collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, no joint-stock company could be created without the specific permission of Parliament. So four weeks later, on 29 November, Parliament was petitioned for a Bill which Sir Roger spent the next months piloting through. By March 1769 the Bill was printed. Lord Viscount Say and Sele of Broughton Castle (near Banbury) then reported on it to Parliament and Royal Assent was given on 21 April 1769, just one year after Sir Roger's first visit to the Mayor of Banbury.

The Act allowed for £150,000 to be raised, plus another £50,000 if needed. The company was not allowed to charge tolls on materials carried for road improvement nor to allow coal onto the Thames below Oxford. The meeting places of three management committees responsible for different lengths of the canal were specified:- One for the Coventry to Wormleighton length to meet in Coventry, a second for Oxford to Aynho to meet in Oxford, and the central committee to meet in Banbury.

One month later on 12 May, Banbury hosted the first meeting of the Company of Proprietors where the shares were issued in £100 units. Over half (60%) were taken up by people from Oxford. The engineer for the canal showed his confidence by signing up for 20 shares, as did Sir Roger. The Duke of Marlborough and Marquis of Blandford bought 50 shares each, although most shares were bought in blocks of 10 (the equivalent nowadays of bidding £60,000 at auction). The Vice Chancellor of Oxford University, Dr Nathan Wetherall, (who had subscribed for 20 shares) was elected Chairman of the Committee of the Company. Peter Bignall of Banbury was appointed solicitor to the Company as a whole, and the Treasurer for the Banbury sector was another Banbury solicitor, Benjamin Aplin, who resigned after six months because he wasn't being paid. The Banbury treasurers post was eventually filled for his lifetime by Mr Calcot stationer, also of Banbury. goto note 2.

Construction and Act II
Final engineering designs were presented at the Three Tuns in Banbury that August, and the first mile south from Coventry completed after only three months later (the end of November). With 700 men employed, 10 miles of navigation were open to traffic 16 months later in March 1771. Only one set of locks, at Hillmorton, were necessary in the first 40 miles until the hill at Napton, which was reached in 1774. Like many engineering works the Oxford Canal had cost more than initially forecast. As it paused contemplating crossing the Northampton Uplands into the headwaters of the Cherwell Valley, it had run out of money. This meant a second Act of Parliament was needed to allow the Company to issue further shares and thus raise more capital.

Lord North, MP for Banbury, a shareholder in the Oxford Canal (and Prime Minister at the time!) ensured this second Act moved swiftly through Parliament, 6 years after the first. This second Act received Royal Assent on 20 March 1775 and authorized a further £70,000, although it was thought that only £30,000 would be needed to get to Banbury. It also stipulated that the venue for the General Assembly of the Company should be in the Three Tuns Banbury.

Armed with this new money the canal proceeded to Fenny Compton by May 1776 and Cropredy by October 1777. On 30 March 1778 an inaugural 200 tons of coal was brought to Banbury Wharf amid much celebration. Sir Roger Newdigate was best pleased - his mines near Coventry began supplying coal to Banbury on a regular basis.

Co-operation and Act III
The 64 miles from Coventry to Banbury had cost £205,000 (equivalent today to twelve million pounds) and again there was no money left. Although the authority to construct as far as Oxford had been given in the first Act, a third Act of Parliament would be necessary to raise the extra money. So the Oxford had parliamentry authority to construct - but someone would have to provide the where-with-all. As this was a peroid when Merchant Banking was in its infancy and canal companies were stridently independent, only a third Act would allow more shares to be issued.

In 1780 tolls had raised almost £7,000, but over 40% of this was needed to pay interest on loans, leaving little for shareholders. The shareholders would need convincing that by subscribing extra funds they would reap improved returns. They needed to know that there was a realistic prospect of increased trade on completion of the works and that estimates of construction costs would be more accurate than before.

The same problems were facing the owners of other incomplete canals goto note 3. and in an uncharacteristic act of co-operation representatives of four canal companies met at Coleshill in Warwickshire on 20 June 1782 and agreed target dates to complete various connections to form a proper network. Through traffic was expected to boost trade all round.

Oxford Canal Company formally ratified their commitment to make the Banbury-Oxford link sixteen months later (29 October 1783) but then dragged its heels. It took almost five years more before it ordered a survey of the Cherwell valley (September 1788). The Cherwell had been navigable towards Banbury in the past, but by 1777 the limit of navigation was at Shipton-on-Cherwell only 13 miles from Oxford.goto note 4.

However, having secured good prospects of through traffic, the Committee also needed to convince shareholders of the probity of the construction project. They appointed a recognised engineer, Robert Whitworth of London, to prepare the drawings to accompany the bill through Parliament. His designs took the cheapest engineering options:- dredging the River Cherwell where its line was good, and making short cuts (canals) around difficult stretches. 38 of the 79 bridges required across the canal, were designed to be the cheapest construction possible - the characteristic lift bridges for which the South Oxford Canal is nowadays so famous.

This last Act, allowing a further £60,000 of shares, received Royal Assent on 11 April 1786. In May the company appointed Banbury man James Barnes, owner of Austins Brewery in North Bar and £80 worth of canal loan stock since 1778, to be part-time supervisor of the work at a present-day salary equivalent of £12,000 per year. He was asked to follow Whitworths designs exactly, given six surveyors under him, and the target of reaching Oxford by January 1791.goto note 5.

Although construction under Barnes proceeded apace, the Duke of Marlborough was impatient for the connections to the Thames to be made. He was aware of competition from the Thames and Severn Canal which had just started building. So, as soon as he could he built a private cut (Duke's Cut) across his land to link with the Thames backwater that fed his Wolvercote paper mill. This was the sole link from the Midlands to the upper reaches of the Thames for six years. Finally the route via the Thames and Severn Canal via Lechlade was opened in 1789, having taken only 6.5 years to build.

Finally Barnes succeeded in bringing the main Oxford Canal to the Worcester Street Canal Basin in Oxford (now the car park next to Hythe Bridge). It was formally opened on 1 January 1790, one year ahead of schedule and almost 12 years after the canal had been forced to stop at Banbury.

By mid 1789 the canal network had changed dramatically.

The canal junction at Fazeley had been opened. The Birmingham and Fazeley came down through 38 locks from Farmers Bridge, and the Fazeley link to Fradley on the Trent and Mersey was opened, and in 1790 the main line from Atherstone northwards from Coventry was finally connected to Fazeley. The Oxford Canal linked to the Thames in two stages. The Dukes Cut made the first connection , which despite notorious shallows off Pool Meadow and difficulties with the towpath, made the first genuine through route for heavy or delicate loads from Manchester, the Potteries, and Birmingham to London. Six years later the more reliable connection to Sheepwash backwater of the Thames was made by the constuction of Isis Lock by prison labour (1796).

Traffic on the Oxford increased by a dramatic additional 50% between 1801 and 1806. The Oxford Canal became a success story. High dividends became the norm:- 20% in the years 1806, 1807 and 1808, up to 33% in 1833, 26% in 1846 and back down to a (nevertheless respectable) eight and quarter percent in 1860.

Despite competition from the railways, the Oxford remained independent and continued to profit from the trade to London..... even when the Grand Junction Canal made a wider, more direct and therefore faster, route to the Capital via Braunston, Daventry, and Tring ...but that is a different story.

back to 'About the Author'

Weblinks