Grantham Canal
Encyclopedia
The Grantham Canal is a canal
that runs for 33 miles (53 km) from Grantham
, falling through 18 locks to West Bridgford where it joins the River Trent
. It was built primarily to allow for the transportation of coal to Grantham. It opened in 1797, and its profitability steadily increased until 1841. It was then sold to a railway company, after which it declined, and was finally closed in 1936.
Because it was used as a water supply for agriculture, most of the channel remained in water, although bridges were lowered. Since the 1970s, the Grantham Canal Society have been working towards its restoration, and two stretches are navigable to small vessels. Full restoration will require a new route where the canal joins the Trent, as road building has effectively severed the original route.
was surveying the Nottingham Canal
at the time, he was aked to survey the Grantham route as well, and a bill was put before Parliament in 1792. It was defeated, as there was opposition from coal suppliers, who delivered coal by road to Grantham, and from those who thought that the River Witham
would be damaged by the project. A revised route was developed, with the junction now at West Bridgford
, and an additional 3.6 miles (5.8 km) branch to Bingham
. A second bill was put forward and the act of Parliament
received the Royal Assent on 30 April 1793. Building work on the canal started in 1793, with Jessop in overall charge, but with James Green and William King as resident engineers: Green, who was from Wollaton
, was appointed engineer for the section of canal from the Trent to the Leicestershire border, while King, who was the agent for the Duke of Rutland
, was responsible for the rest of the canal, including two reservoirs, one at Denton
and the other at Knipton
on the River Devon
.
The act authorised an initial £75,000 (£ as of ),to be raised to pay for construction, together with an option to raise a further £30,000, of which £20,000 should be raised by shares of £100 each among the initial subscribers, and £10,000 by mortgaging the future income of the canal. However, this amount proved insufficient, and there was also disagreement between the shareholders as to their liability to raise the additional £20,000. As a result a second act was sought. This received the Royal Assent on 3 March 1797, and made clear the obligations of existing shareholders to pay the extra subscription, and also authorised an additional £24,000 to be raised. The second act also removed restrictions in the first act, and allowed the company to set whatever rates it chose for using the canal.
The eastern section from the Leicestershire border was opened on 1 February 1797, with the rest of the canal later that year. The canal was built with locks 75 by, the same size as those on the Nottingham Canal
to allow boats to use both. The branch to Bingham authorised by the first act was not built. The 18 locks raised the level of the canal by 140 feet (42.7 m) from the Trent to Grantham. Eleven of them were located in the first 4 miles (6.4 km) above the Trent, after which there was a level pound of around 20 miles (32.2 km) before a flight of seven locks at Woolsthorpe, and a much shorter upper pound to Grantham. At Harlaxton
, the canal passed through a deep cutting, which was only wide enough for a single boat, but this situation was partially rectified in 1801 when the cutting was widened in two places to allow boats travelling on opposite directions to cross. At Cropwell Bishop
and Cropwell Butler
, the route passed through gypsum beds, which resulted in problems with leakage.
Initially, some of the coal carried on the canal had been transported in boats owned by the canal company, but they had given up this practice in 1812. They resumed carrying coal in 1827, because they felt that coal stocks at Grantham were not adequate, but were accused of price-fixing. Although the penalty imposed by Lincoln Assizes was small, they ceased this trade, and the coal merchants agreed to maintain stocks of 2,660 tons at Grantham. In 1833, J. Rofe and his son made a proposal for a canal to connect Grantham and Sleaford, but this was not pursued.
when their line from Ambergate to Grantham was opened. Although the railway was completed in 1850, the railway company did not honour the agreement. The canal company brought a large number of cases against the railway company, and successfully opposed several bills which the railway were trying to get passed in Parliament. Eventually the railway company agreed to pay, and shareholders received £45 per share in cash, with the balance being in railway mortgages. The agreement was reached on 1 June 1854, and the transfer of ownership took place on 20 December. Railway mergers meant that the canal came under the control of the Great Northern Railway
in 1861, and later the London and North Eastern Railway
.
Traffic declined as the railway companies neglected the canal, and were down to 18,802 tons in 1905, on which the tolls amounted to £242 and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1936, formally closing the canal, though there had been no boat traffic for ten years. The closure act stipulated that water levels should be maintained at 2 feet (60 cm) to support agricultural needs. This effectively guaranteed the continued existence of the canal channel, but structures such as locks and bridges deteriorated, and in the 1950s 46 of the 69 bridges over the canal were lowered as part of road improvement schemes. Although the low bridges act as barriers to navigation, large parts of the canal are still in water.
In 1948 Britain's railways, and hence the canal, were nationalised. In 1963 control of the canal passed to British Waterways
. In 1968 the canal was placed into a "remaindered" state, which involved maintenance of the water level and general maintenance of the line.
campaigned against the bill, and the clause was amended. The Grantham Canal Society was formed soon afterwards, to promote restoration of the waterway. In 1974, a National Boat Rally was held at Nottingham, to gain support for the restoration scheme, and to promote the idea of a new link to the Trent, which would pass through old gravel workings.
Together with British Waterways, the Inland Waterways Association and the Waterway Recovery Group
, the Society began the work of restoration
of the canal to navigation, a process which is still ongoing. A major development was the granting of permission in 1992 to remove an old railway embankment, which blocked the route near the top of the Woolsthorpe
flight of locks. The task was completed by a number of Waterway Recovery Group workcamps. New gates were fitted to the top three locks, and rebuilding of Casthorpe bridge was funded by Lincolnshire County Council, opening up 4.4 miles (7.1 km) of the canal for navigation. Further down the canal, restoration of a 2.3 miles (3.7 km) section between Hickling Basin and Hose was funded by a derelict land grant of £400,000, received in 1993. The Grantham Canal Partnership was formed in 1997, as a way to take the project forwards. It consisted of representatives from each of the six local authorities through which the route passes, British Waterways, the Inland Waterways Association, the Grantham Canal Restoration Society and the Grantham Navigation Association, a group which had split off from the Canal Society in 1992. As a result of the co-operation, British Waterways formulated a draft business plan for the canal.
Following the restoration of the top three locks at Woolsthorpe in the 1990s, a 10-mile (16-kilometre) section from the A1 to Redmile
will be completed once the four locks at Stenwith are restored. The Polser Brook Aqueduct was restored in 2003, and five locks have so far been restored. Approximately one quarter of the canal is now to navigable standard, and much improvement of the towpath has taken place.
A major setback occurred in 2007, when one of the walls of Woolsthorpe top lock had to be propped to prevent it collapsing, and British Waterways took the decision to fill it in, as funding was not available to rebuild it. The Inland Waterways Association received a legacy of £100,000 from the estate of Fredrick Woodman, designated for the Grantham Canal, but British Waterways ruled that no work could start until the whole cost of £175,000 had been found. The balance was made up by grants of £40,000 from Lincolnshire County Council and £35,000 from the East Midlands Development Agency
. The wall was demolished and rebuilt in three sections, utilitising 290 cubic yards (221.7 m³) of concrete and 7,500 new bricks.
Restoration of most of the canal does not present major problems, but challenges are presented by the final sections at both ends. The original route to join the Trent has been severed by the building of the A52 road
. A route was identified which followed the course of the Polser Brook, which passes under the A52 to the north of the canal, but by 2009, three possible solutions were under consideration. These pose additional problems in finding funding, since they do not count as restoration, and many of the traditional funding sources are not then available. At Grantham, an embankment carrying the A1 road blocks the line of the canal, and the terminal basin has been filled in. There are plans for a tunnel under the A1 as part of a cycle route to improve access to Grantham, and the basin could be redeveloped in due course.
There is also a 5-mile (8-kilometre) dry section between Cotgrave and Kinoulton
, which has presented problems since construction in the 18th century: gypsum
in the soil reacted with the waterproof clay leading to leaking. Following closure, this section then became colonised by an invasive shrub.
In early 2005, British Waterways appointed a full-time Grantham Canal restoration manager, Kevin Mann, for an initial 18-month trial period. He would be responsible for planning and managing funding schemes for the restoration, identifying development opportunities and the promotion and interpretation of the canal. The trial proved to be successful, as he was still doing the job in 2009.
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
that runs for 33 miles (53 km) from Grantham
Grantham
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...
, falling through 18 locks to West Bridgford where it joins the River Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
. It was built primarily to allow for the transportation of coal to Grantham. It opened in 1797, and its profitability steadily increased until 1841. It was then sold to a railway company, after which it declined, and was finally closed in 1936.
Because it was used as a water supply for agriculture, most of the channel remained in water, although bridges were lowered. Since the 1970s, the Grantham Canal Society have been working towards its restoration, and two stretches are navigable to small vessels. Full restoration will require a new route where the canal joins the Trent, as road building has effectively severed the original route.
History
The concept of a canal from the River Trent to Grantham was first raised on 27 August 1791, as a way of supplying the district with cheaper coal. The intent was for the navigation to join the Trent below Nottingham at Radcliffe-on-Trent. As William JessopWilliam Jessop
William Jessop was an English civil engineer, best known for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.-Early life:...
was surveying the Nottingham Canal
Nottingham Canal
The Nottingham Canal was a long canal between Langley Mill in Derbyshire and Nottingham, England. It opened in 1796, and most of it was closed in 1937. The southern section is now part of the River Trent Navigation, and the northern section is a nature reserve.-Origins:The idea for the canal first...
at the time, he was aked to survey the Grantham route as well, and a bill was put before Parliament in 1792. It was defeated, as there was opposition from coal suppliers, who delivered coal by road to Grantham, and from those who thought that the River Witham
River Witham
The River Witham is a river, almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire, in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham, at SK8818, passes Lincoln at SK9771 and at Boston, TF3244, flows into The Haven, a tidal arm of The Wash, near RSPB Frampton Marsh...
would be damaged by the project. A revised route was developed, with the junction now at West Bridgford
West Bridgford
West Bridgford is a town in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies immediately south of the city of Nottingham, delimited by the River Trent; this proximity means that it forms a continuous urban area with Nottingham, effectively makes West Bridgford a suburb of the city, and...
, and an additional 3.6 miles (5.8 km) branch to Bingham
Bingham, Nottinghamshire
Bingham is a market town in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England.-Geography:With a population of around 9,000 people it lies about nine miles east of Nottingham, a similar distance south-west of Newark-on-Trent and west of Grantham. It is situated where the A46 intersects the A52...
. A second bill was put forward and the act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
received the Royal Assent on 30 April 1793. Building work on the canal started in 1793, with Jessop in overall charge, but with James Green and William King as resident engineers: Green, who was from Wollaton
Wollaton
Wollaton is an area in the western part of Nottingham, England. It is home to Wollaton Hall with its museum, deer park, lake, walks and golf course...
, was appointed engineer for the section of canal from the Trent to the Leicestershire border, while King, who was the agent for the Duke of Rutland
John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland
John Henry Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland, KG , styled Lord Roos from 1778 until 1779 and Marquess of Granby from 1779 until 1787, was a British peer....
, was responsible for the rest of the canal, including two reservoirs, one at Denton
Denton, Lincolnshire
Denton, Lincolnshire, England, is an ancient Roman settlement south west of Grantham and west of the A1. It may also be a site of the Beaker culture, based on some archeological finds made. The parish is around 2,600 acres in size...
and the other at Knipton
Knipton
Knipton, is a small village in the English county of Leicestershire. It is located around six miles from the town of Grantham just off the A607, and ten miles from Melton Mowbray...
on the River Devon
River Devon, Nottinghamshire
The River Devon is a tributary of the River Trent, which rises in Leicestershire and joins the Trent at Newark in Nottinghamshire, England. In its upper reaches, it supplies Knipton Reservoir, which was built to supply water to the Grantham Canal, and Belvoir Lakes, designed by Capability Brown...
.
The act authorised an initial £75,000 (£ as of ),to be raised to pay for construction, together with an option to raise a further £30,000, of which £20,000 should be raised by shares of £100 each among the initial subscribers, and £10,000 by mortgaging the future income of the canal. However, this amount proved insufficient, and there was also disagreement between the shareholders as to their liability to raise the additional £20,000. As a result a second act was sought. This received the Royal Assent on 3 March 1797, and made clear the obligations of existing shareholders to pay the extra subscription, and also authorised an additional £24,000 to be raised. The second act also removed restrictions in the first act, and allowed the company to set whatever rates it chose for using the canal.
The eastern section from the Leicestershire border was opened on 1 February 1797, with the rest of the canal later that year. The canal was built with locks 75 by, the same size as those on the Nottingham Canal
Nottingham Canal
The Nottingham Canal was a long canal between Langley Mill in Derbyshire and Nottingham, England. It opened in 1796, and most of it was closed in 1937. The southern section is now part of the River Trent Navigation, and the northern section is a nature reserve.-Origins:The idea for the canal first...
to allow boats to use both. The branch to Bingham authorised by the first act was not built. The 18 locks raised the level of the canal by 140 feet (42.7 m) from the Trent to Grantham. Eleven of them were located in the first 4 miles (6.4 km) above the Trent, after which there was a level pound of around 20 miles (32.2 km) before a flight of seven locks at Woolsthorpe, and a much shorter upper pound to Grantham. At Harlaxton
Harlaxton
Harlaxton is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the edge of the Vale of Belvoir and just off the A607, south-east from Grantham and north-east from Melton Mowbray.-History:...
, the canal passed through a deep cutting, which was only wide enough for a single boat, but this situation was partially rectified in 1801 when the cutting was widened in two places to allow boats travelling on opposite directions to cross. At Cropwell Bishop
Cropwell Bishop
Cropwell Bishop is a village in the borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire.It is two miles to the east of the A46 in the NG12 postcode. The next village to the north is Cropwell Butler. Both villages form part of the Vale of Belvoir....
and Cropwell Butler
Cropwell Butler
Cropwell Butler is a village in the borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom, one mile to the east of the A46 in the NG12 postcode. The next village to the south is Cropwell Bishop....
, the route passed through gypsum beds, which resulted in problems with leakage.
Operation
The canal made sufficient money to repay substantial debts in 1804 and 1805, after which dividends were paid to the shareholders, beginning at 2 per cent in 1806, rising to 5 per cent in 1815, and reaching their highest level of 8.6 per cent in 1839. The tolls brought in an income which remained below £9,000 until 1823, but then rose steadily to reach £13,079 in 1841. Traffic towards Grantham included coal and coke, lime, groceries and building materials. Some of it supplied villages along the line of the canal, and some of that which travelled the full distance was distributed by land to villages beyond Grantham. Downward traffic was largely agricultural produce, including corn, beans, malt and wool. Such produce was normally loaded at Grantham or Harby.Initially, some of the coal carried on the canal had been transported in boats owned by the canal company, but they had given up this practice in 1812. They resumed carrying coal in 1827, because they felt that coal stocks at Grantham were not adequate, but were accused of price-fixing. Although the penalty imposed by Lincoln Assizes was small, they ceased this trade, and the coal merchants agreed to maintain stocks of 2,660 tons at Grantham. In 1833, J. Rofe and his son made a proposal for a canal to connect Grantham and Sleaford, but this was not pursued.
Decline
In common with most canals, competition from railways posed a major threat, and in 1845 the canal owners agreed to sell it to the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction RailwayAmbergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway
The Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway was an early British railway company, which opened in 1850.The original aim was to link to the proposed Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway at Ambergate to link Manchester with Boston and the East Coast...
when their line from Ambergate to Grantham was opened. Although the railway was completed in 1850, the railway company did not honour the agreement. The canal company brought a large number of cases against the railway company, and successfully opposed several bills which the railway were trying to get passed in Parliament. Eventually the railway company agreed to pay, and shareholders received £45 per share in cash, with the balance being in railway mortgages. The agreement was reached on 1 June 1854, and the transfer of ownership took place on 20 December. Railway mergers meant that the canal came under the control of the Great Northern Railway
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....
in 1861, and later the London and North Eastern Railway
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
.
Traffic declined as the railway companies neglected the canal, and were down to 18,802 tons in 1905, on which the tolls amounted to £242 and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1936, formally closing the canal, though there had been no boat traffic for ten years. The closure act stipulated that water levels should be maintained at 2 feet (60 cm) to support agricultural needs. This effectively guaranteed the continued existence of the canal channel, but structures such as locks and bridges deteriorated, and in the 1950s 46 of the 69 bridges over the canal were lowered as part of road improvement schemes. Although the low bridges act as barriers to navigation, large parts of the canal are still in water.
In 1948 Britain's railways, and hence the canal, were nationalised. In 1963 control of the canal passed to British Waterways
British Waterways
British Waterways is a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom, serving as the navigation authority in England, Scotland and Wales for the vast majority of the canals as well as a number of rivers and docks...
. In 1968 the canal was placed into a "remaindered" state, which involved maintenance of the water level and general maintenance of the line.
Restoration
A plan to fill in a section of the canal in Nottingham resulted in a number of letters appearing in the local press in 1963, and a student at Kesteven College produced a report on the state of the canal, which was presented to the Grantham Civic Society. In 1970, the British Waterways Board attempted to obtain an act of parliament which would have allowed them to cease maintaining the water levels of the canal. The Inland Waterways AssociationInland Waterways Association
The Inland Waterways Association was formed in 1946 as a registered charity in the United Kingdom to campaign for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of British Canals and river navigations....
campaigned against the bill, and the clause was amended. The Grantham Canal Society was formed soon afterwards, to promote restoration of the waterway. In 1974, a National Boat Rally was held at Nottingham, to gain support for the restoration scheme, and to promote the idea of a new link to the Trent, which would pass through old gravel workings.
Together with British Waterways, the Inland Waterways Association and the Waterway Recovery Group
Waterway Recovery Group
The Waterway Recovery Group , founded in 1970, is the national co-ordinating body for voluntary labour on the inland waterways of the United Kingdom.-Activities:...
, the Society began the work of restoration
Waterway restoration
Waterway restoration is the activity of restoring a canal or river, including special features such as warehouse buildings, locks, boat lifts, and boats. In the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, the focus of waterway restoration is on improving navigability, while in Australia the term...
of the canal to navigation, a process which is still ongoing. A major development was the granting of permission in 1992 to remove an old railway embankment, which blocked the route near the top of the Woolsthorpe
Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir
Woolsthorpe, also known as Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir, is a small village in the English county of Lincolnshire, about 5 miles from the town of Grantham...
flight of locks. The task was completed by a number of Waterway Recovery Group workcamps. New gates were fitted to the top three locks, and rebuilding of Casthorpe bridge was funded by Lincolnshire County Council, opening up 4.4 miles (7.1 km) of the canal for navigation. Further down the canal, restoration of a 2.3 miles (3.7 km) section between Hickling Basin and Hose was funded by a derelict land grant of £400,000, received in 1993. The Grantham Canal Partnership was formed in 1997, as a way to take the project forwards. It consisted of representatives from each of the six local authorities through which the route passes, British Waterways, the Inland Waterways Association, the Grantham Canal Restoration Society and the Grantham Navigation Association, a group which had split off from the Canal Society in 1992. As a result of the co-operation, British Waterways formulated a draft business plan for the canal.
Following the restoration of the top three locks at Woolsthorpe in the 1990s, a 10-mile (16-kilometre) section from the A1 to Redmile
Redmile
Redmile is a village and civil parish in the Melton district of Leicestershire, England, about north of Melton Mowbray and west of Grantham, in the Vale of Belvoir....
will be completed once the four locks at Stenwith are restored. The Polser Brook Aqueduct was restored in 2003, and five locks have so far been restored. Approximately one quarter of the canal is now to navigable standard, and much improvement of the towpath has taken place.
A major setback occurred in 2007, when one of the walls of Woolsthorpe top lock had to be propped to prevent it collapsing, and British Waterways took the decision to fill it in, as funding was not available to rebuild it. The Inland Waterways Association received a legacy of £100,000 from the estate of Fredrick Woodman, designated for the Grantham Canal, but British Waterways ruled that no work could start until the whole cost of £175,000 had been found. The balance was made up by grants of £40,000 from Lincolnshire County Council and £35,000 from the East Midlands Development Agency
East Midlands Development Agency
East Midlands Development Agency is the regional development agency for the East Midlands region of England formed in 1999.-Structure and function:...
. The wall was demolished and rebuilt in three sections, utilitising 290 cubic yards (221.7 m³) of concrete and 7,500 new bricks.
Restoration of most of the canal does not present major problems, but challenges are presented by the final sections at both ends. The original route to join the Trent has been severed by the building of the A52 road
A52 road
The A52 is a major road in the East Midlands, England. It runs east from the junction with the A53 at Newcastle-under-Lyme near Stoke-on-Trent via Ashbourne, Derby, Stapleford, Nottingham, West Bridgford, Bingham, Grantham, Boston and Skegness before terminating on the east Lincolnshire coast at...
. A route was identified which followed the course of the Polser Brook, which passes under the A52 to the north of the canal, but by 2009, three possible solutions were under consideration. These pose additional problems in finding funding, since they do not count as restoration, and many of the traditional funding sources are not then available. At Grantham, an embankment carrying the A1 road blocks the line of the canal, and the terminal basin has been filled in. There are plans for a tunnel under the A1 as part of a cycle route to improve access to Grantham, and the basin could be redeveloped in due course.
There is also a 5-mile (8-kilometre) dry section between Cotgrave and Kinoulton
Kinoulton
Kinoulton is a village in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located 10 miles south east of the city of Nottingham. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,037.2004 estimates indicate a population of 990...
, which has presented problems since construction in the 18th century: gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
in the soil reacted with the waterproof clay leading to leaking. Following closure, this section then became colonised by an invasive shrub.
In early 2005, British Waterways appointed a full-time Grantham Canal restoration manager, Kevin Mann, for an initial 18-month trial period. He would be responsible for planning and managing funding schemes for the restoration, identifying development opportunities and the promotion and interpretation of the canal. The trial proved to be successful, as he was still doing the job in 2009.
Points of interest
See also
- Canals of the United KingdomCanals of the United KingdomThe canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a colourful history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role for recreational boating...
- History of the British canal systemHistory of the British canal systemThe 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...