Newport Pagnell Canal
Encyclopedia
The Newport Pagnell Canal was a 1.25 mile canal that ran from the Grand Junction Canal
at Great Linford
to Newport Pagnell
through seven locks. Construction was authorised by an Act of Parliament
in June 1814 and it probably opened in 1817. It closed in 1864, with part of the route used for the line of a railway.
was planned in 1791, to provide a direct link between Braunston on the Oxford Canal
and London
. This led to a flurry of canal proposals in 1792 and 1793, all based on the assumption that the Grand Junction would be built. The route was authorised by an Act of Parliament
on 30 April 1793, and the first proposal for a branch from it to Newport Pagnell was made in that year. James Barnes, who had made the first survey for the Grand Junction, also carried out a survey for the Newport Pagnell branch, but the committee for the main canal declined to build it once they had read the report.
On 2 January 1813, a meeting was held at the Swan Inn in Newport Pagnell, which proposed the building of a canal, using the original powers of the Grand Junction Canal, or the construction of a railway along a similar route, which would have required an Act of Parliament. The Grand Junction Canal again refused to construct the branch, and the idea of a railway was dropped. Instead, a meeting held on 20 August 1813 decided to apply for an Act of Parliament to authorise the branch, and the Act was granted in June 1814. The route was surveyed by Benjamin Beven, who was working for the Grand Junction Canal, and work began in early 1815. The canal took two years to build and opened in early 1817. It was 1.25 miles (2 km) long, and the level fell by 50.75 feet (15.5 m) through seven locks as it ran from Great Linford
to Newport Pagnell. Although the Grand Junction was built for wide-beam boats, the locks were built to the same dimensions as those on the Northampton Branch, and were 72 by.
The cost of the project was around £14,200, which included ornamentation where the canal passed through ground belonging to the Rev. W. Uthwatt. The main cargo was coal, brought from Shipley
on the Nutbrook Canal
and Moira
on the Ashby Canal for sale in Newport Pagnelll and the surrounding region. This accounted for some 7,500 tons per year, and another 2,500 tons were made up of lime, manure, bricks and other cargos. Tolls were very high, and were still being maintained at 9 pence (4p) for the length of the canal when tolls on the neighbouring Grand Junction were less than 1 penny (0.4p) per mile. This allowed dividends to be paid throughout the life of the canal, which averaged 2.7 per cent, but reached 6 per cent in 1845, the year in which the canal carried its greatest volume of 14,887 tons.
by building a link to Bedford
. Once the canal was opened, a survey was commissioned by Lord St. John. This proposed a canal for 20-ton boats, from Newport Pagnell via Tyringham
, Sharnbrook
and St Neots
, where it would join the Ouse. The proposal also included a branch to Kimbolton
, but no further action was taken. The idea of a link between the canal and the upper Ouse was revived in 1838, but again, no action was taken.
. The offer was turned down but in 1862 the canal was sold to the Newport Pagnell Railway for £9,000, despite opposition from the Grand Junction, the Oxford Canal
, and the collieries at Moira and Shipley. An Act of Parliament authorising the takeover was obtained in 1863, the canal closed in August 1864, and it was partially built upon by the railway. At Newport Pagnell, the railway re-used several of the warehouses and most of Shipley Wharf.
, which was built while the railway was still open, while Brickhill Street was not built until after the railway had closed. The two lock pounds immediately below Great Linford Wharf were depicted on Ordnance Survey maps until 1968, but disappeared after that.
The location at which the canal joined the Grand Junction Canal, which has been part of the Grand Union Canal
since amalgamation in 1929, is marked by a large winding hole close to Linford Wharf Bridge.
A pub at the entrance to the canal was popular among boatmen until it closed in the 1960s. A section of the Newport Pagnell basin wall was discovered during the redevelopment of the railway station site.
Grand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford...
at Great Linford
Great Linford
Great Linford is a historic village, district and civil parish in the northern part of Milton Keynes, England, between Wolverton and Newport Pagnell.-Great Linford village:...
to Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell is a town in the Borough of Milton Keynes , England. It is separated by the M1 motorway from Milton Keynes itself, though part of the same urban area...
through seven locks. Construction was authorised by an 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...
in June 1814 and it probably opened in 1817. It closed in 1864, with part of the route used for the line of a railway.
History
The Grand Junction CanalGrand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford...
was planned in 1791, to provide a direct link between Braunston on the Oxford Canal
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. This led to a flurry of canal proposals in 1792 and 1793, all based on the assumption that the Grand Junction would be built. The route was authorised by an 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...
on 30 April 1793, and the first proposal for a branch from it to Newport Pagnell was made in that year. James Barnes, who had made the first survey for the Grand Junction, also carried out a survey for the Newport Pagnell branch, but the committee for the main canal declined to build it once they had read the report.
On 2 January 1813, a meeting was held at the Swan Inn in Newport Pagnell, which proposed the building of a canal, using the original powers of the Grand Junction Canal, or the construction of a railway along a similar route, which would have required an Act of Parliament. The Grand Junction Canal again refused to construct the branch, and the idea of a railway was dropped. Instead, a meeting held on 20 August 1813 decided to apply for an Act of Parliament to authorise the branch, and the Act was granted in June 1814. The route was surveyed by Benjamin Beven, who was working for the Grand Junction Canal, and work began in early 1815. The canal took two years to build and opened in early 1817. It was 1.25 miles (2 km) long, and the level fell by 50.75 feet (15.5 m) through seven locks as it ran from Great Linford
Great Linford
Great Linford is a historic village, district and civil parish in the northern part of Milton Keynes, England, between Wolverton and Newport Pagnell.-Great Linford village:...
to Newport Pagnell. Although the Grand Junction was built for wide-beam boats, the locks were built to the same dimensions as those on the Northampton Branch, and were 72 by.
The cost of the project was around £14,200, which included ornamentation where the canal passed through ground belonging to the Rev. W. Uthwatt. The main cargo was coal, brought from Shipley
Shipley, Derbyshire
Shipley is a village in the south-east of Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. Since 1974 it has been part of the Borough of Amber Valley.Shipley separates the Ilkeston and Heanor urban areas, which are linked by the main A6007 road...
on the Nutbrook Canal
Nutbrook Canal
The Nutbrook Canal was a canal in England which ran between Shipley, Derbyshire and the Erewash Canal, joining it near Trowell. It was built to serve the collieries at Shipley and West Hallam, and was completed in 1796. It was initially profitable, but from 1846 faced competition from the railways,...
and Moira
Moira, Leicestershire
Moira is a former mining village about west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in North West Leicestershire, England. The village is about miles south of the Derbyshire town of Swadlincote and is close to the county boundary....
on the Ashby Canal for sale in Newport Pagnelll and the surrounding region. This accounted for some 7,500 tons per year, and another 2,500 tons were made up of lime, manure, bricks and other cargos. Tolls were very high, and were still being maintained at 9 pence (4p) for the length of the canal when tolls on the neighbouring Grand Junction were less than 1 penny (0.4p) per mile. This allowed dividends to be paid throughout the life of the canal, which averaged 2.7 per cent, but reached 6 per cent in 1845, the year in which the canal carried its greatest volume of 14,887 tons.
Expansion
While the canal was being promoted, the committee had in mind that it might be possible to extend the canal to Olney, and to connect to the River Great OuseRiver Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
by building a link to Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
. Once the canal was opened, a survey was commissioned by Lord St. John. This proposed a canal for 20-ton boats, from Newport Pagnell via Tyringham
Tyringham
Tyringham is a village in the Borough of Milton Keynes and ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about a mile and a half north of Newport Pagnell.The village name is an Old English language word, and means 'Tir's home'...
, Sharnbrook
Sharnbrook
Sharnbrook is a village and civil parish located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a parish within the Hundred of Willey but was probably first developed in Saxon times. The oldest surviving building, St Peter's Church, is...
and St Neots
St Neots
St Neots is a town and civil parish with a population of 26,356 people. It lies on the River Great Ouse in Huntingdonshire District, approximately north of central London, and is the largest town in Cambridgeshire . The town is named after the Cornish monk St...
, where it would join the Ouse. The proposal also included a branch to Kimbolton
Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire
Kimbolton is a large village in Cambridgeshire, England. It is approximately east of Higham Ferrers, west of St Neots and west of Cambridge, north of Bedford and south of Peterborough.-Castle:...
, but no further action was taken. The idea of a link between the canal and the upper Ouse was revived in 1838, but again, no action was taken.
Decline
In 1845 an approach was made to buy the canal by the London and North Western RailwayLondon and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
. The offer was turned down but in 1862 the canal was sold to the Newport Pagnell Railway for £9,000, despite opposition from the Grand Junction, the Oxford Canal
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...
, and the collieries at Moira and Shipley. An Act of Parliament authorising the takeover was obtained in 1863, the canal closed in August 1864, and it was partially built upon by the railway. At Newport Pagnell, the railway re-used several of the warehouses and most of Shipley Wharf.
Route
The canal left the Grand Junction Canal just to the east of Lindford Wharf Bridge, and ran along a relatively straight course eastwards to Newport Pagnell. The locks appear to have been the main engineering features, as there were no significant roads which crossed the course. Although the 1881 Ordnance Survey map shows the railway, rather than the canal, there were no crossings, and this remained the case in 1925. Even today, there are only two routes which cross the path of the canal. The first is the M1 motorwayM1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
, which was built while the railway was still open, while Brickhill Street was not built until after the railway had closed. The two lock pounds immediately below Great Linford Wharf were depicted on Ordnance Survey maps until 1968, but disappeared after that.
The location at which the canal joined the Grand Junction Canal, which has been part of the Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...
since amalgamation in 1929, is marked by a large winding hole close to Linford Wharf Bridge.
A pub at the entrance to the canal was popular among boatmen until it closed in the 1960s. A section of the Newport Pagnell basin wall was discovered during the redevelopment of the railway station site.
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...