The Cinderford Canal was a private canal, opened in about 1797, in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which was used to provide coke and water to Cinderford Ironworks

Cinderford Ironworks

Cinderford Ironworks, also known as Cinderford Furnace, was a coke-fired blast furnace, built in 1795, just west of Cinderford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.-Background:...

.

History

The canal ran 1¼ miles from the dam pool at Broadmoor to Cinderford Ironworks. It was approximately 15 feet wide, with no locks, and was used by boats transporting coke

Coke (fuel)

Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...

 to the furnace, the first in the Forest of Dean

Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...

 to use coke for iron-smelting. The canal also served a water wheel providing the furnace blast. Iron ore was brought in by pack-mule from local mines. The furnace was erected in 1795 but was not a success and ceased production around 1807.

Cinderford Ironworks re-opened in 1829, by which time the Bullo Pill Railway

Bullo Pill Railway

The Bullo Pill Railway was an early British railway, completed in 1810 to carry coal mined in the Forest of Dean Coalfield to a port on the River Severn near Newnham, Gloucestershire...

 had been opened with a line running past the works to provide coke and ore and to take away the finished iron. Production continued intermittently until final closure in 1894.

Route

The canal started at the dam pool at Broadmoor (SO647146), where the Cinderford Brook had been dammed in the seventeenth century to provide water to an iron furnace in Soudley

Soudley

Soudley is a small but thriving village north of Lydney, west Gloucestershire, England.Nearby attractions include Dean Heritage Centre, Soudley Ponds and the Blaize Bailey viewpoint....

, and ran parallel to the brook south to the ironworks in the valley west of Cinderford (SO652135). The route is now followed by the Valley Road, lined with light industrial enterprises, and little if anything remains of the canal.

See also

• Canals of Great Britain
• History of the British canal system
  History of the British canal system
  The British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...