The History of the Cotswold
CanalsThere were many
early attempts to build a navigation from the River Severn to
Stroud. In the 1740s Richard Owen Cambridge built a man made
waterway near to Wheatenhurst for pleasure purposes. The Kemmett
Canal was built between 1759 and 1763 from Framilode to the
Stonehouse area. It was the earliest known example of container
traffic on an inland waterway.
The Stroudwater Canal was built between 1775 and 1779 from
Framilode, on the banks of the River Severn, to Wallbridge,
Stroud. From the beginning, the canal was very profitable, and
with the success of the canal the Stroudwater Canal Company was
soon looking to extend it towards London. In 1781 they
commissioned a survey of the line from Stroud to Cricklade on the
River Thames which recommended the Stroud to Cirencester route.
However, the surveyor, Robert Whitworth, warned that trouble
would be encountered on the summit, which was to be built over
"bad rocky ground".
A Bill was introduced in 1783 and construction of the canal was
expected to take six years. Josiah Clowes was appointed Resident.
On 31st January 1785 the first vessel passed through the lock at
Wallbridge in Stroud and went up the new canal as far as
Chalford. The 241 feet rise from Wallbridge to the summit level
at Daneway (near Sapperton) was completed in the summer of 1786
requiring 28 locks over a distance of seven miles.
At the summit came Sapperton Tunnel, the largest and longest
canal tunnel built up to that time. Even to this day, its length
has only been exceeded by two other canal tunnels in this
country. It is 3817 yards long and about 14 feet wide by 15 feet
high. Work on the tunnel started in 1784 and, after problems with
the difficult ground and an incompetent contractor, was completed
in 1789. The first boat passed through the tunnel on the 7 mile
summit pound to Cirencester in April 1789.
Work had proceeded meanwhile to the eastern side of the summit
where the canal descends 129 feet over 13 miles via 15 locks to
the Thames. The first boat reached the River Thames at Inglesham
Lock on 20th November 1789. A construction time of six and a half
years.
Lack of experience in the design and construction of canals
anywhere resulted in a shortage of water almost from the first
day. Numerous locks were built to varying lifts and due to the
narrowness of the Golden Valley were constructed with intervening
pounds of insufficient capacity. These problems, coupled with
fissured limestone ground on the summit, made it wasteful of
water. After using a wind pump for some years, the Company
installed a Boulton & Watt single acting beam engine at
Thames Head. In 1854 the Watt engine was replaced with a cornish
beam engine of much higher capacity. The new engine could deliver
three million gallons of water to the summit pound every 24
hours. The engine was scrapped in 1941 to aid the war effort.
The years 1820 to 1845 brought many improvements to the locks and
constant maintenance kept leaks to a minimum. All of the locks
between Chalford and South Cerney were shortened creating the
characteristic double top gate recesses and side ponds were added
to some of the locks in the Golden Valley. The efficiency of the
navigation was marked by steadily increasing receipts which
peaked in 1841. However, competition from the railways was
growing and at the end of 1893, a notice was issued closing the
canal east of Chalford until further notice. Despite many
protests the canal remained closed, but eventually led to the
formation of a trust which took over the canal. The Trust was
formed by six other canal companies and five local authorities
who reopened the canal throughout its length in March 1899.
This achievement was short-lived however, as leakage on the
summit caused the canal to close once again in June of that year.
In 1901 the canal was transferred to Gloucestershire County
Council who began further restoration work. The length of canal
from Cirencester to the River Thames was reopened in July
1902, from Stroud to Daneway in April 1903, and the summit pound
in January 1904. The first vessel over the reopened summit
was the "Staunch" in March 1904. The restored canal was
still not completely reliable and was closed for at least twelve
weeks of each year in 1905, 1906, and 1908 for repairs to the
summit. It was also closed for twelve weeks in 1907 for repairs
to Puck Mill Pound, which was emptying in four hours through
leaks in the clay puddle lining.
The last loaded boat passed over the summit in May 1911 and only
a few repairs were carried out in the next four years. In 1927
the canal was formally abandoned from Lechlade to Whitehall
Bridge in the Golden Valley, and in 1933 the remaining length to
Stroud was also abandoned. The Stroudwater Canal, which had
remained independent, carried on until 1941 when traffic of all
kinds effectively ceased. It was abandoned by Act of Parliament
in 1954 despite vigorous lobbying to keep it open by local
figures, notably Mrs Airey .
The fifteen years following the abandonment of the Stroudwater
Canal were the most destructive period in its history. The
sections of the Thames & Severn Canal abandoned in the early
part of the century very soon became derelict. Sapperton Tunnel
suffered two roof collapses and sections of the canal were
returned to agricultural use or had factory buildings erected
over them. The construction of the M5 motorway and its link road
to the A38 resulted in the loss of Bristol Road and Meadow Mill
Locks and the one mile of canal linking them. A flood relief
scheme by SevernTrent Water Authority in the vicinity of
Whitminster, merged the canal with the River Frome for about 400
yards and resulted in the infilling of Whitminster Lock.
A total of nine swing bridges were fixed, including Walk. Over
the years the remaining locks were allowed to decay with various
service pipelines being installed at water level. British Rail
enclosed the bridge over the canal at Stonehouse Court with an
"armco" tube and the road crossings at Stonehouse and
Bath Road, Stroud were infilled. More recently the canal at
Capels Mill Viaduct was infilled to provide the Stroud East/West
Bypass. However, a bridge was incorporated into the scheme to
allow future restoration.
In 1996 Gloucestershire County Council commissioned British
Waterways to make a corridor study. The resulting report examined
the cost benefit of full or partial restoration and concluded
that in either case the benefits to the local community were
extremely good both in terms of payback and number of jobs
created.
Ownership of most of the Stroudwater Canal still remains with the
original company with whom the Cotswold Canals Trust enjoys close
cooperation. After abandonment Gloucestershire County
Council sold much of the Thames & Severn east of Chalford to
the riparian landowners. The Trust leases a section of canal on
the outskirts of Stroud from the County Council and itself owns a
section near Frampton Mansell, at Puck Mill.
The Canal Trust has promoted a reversal of the destructive
processes and has undertaken specific restoration works using
volunteer . Volunteers come from both trust members, the
Waterways Recovery Group and Dig Deep. The result of all this
effort has been that most of the canal corridor has been declared
a Conservation Area.