Some of you might recall my Monday Walk alongside this canal last year. It was glorious day’s hike from Bradford-on-Avon to Bath, and it helped make my mind up that Bradford was where I want to live long term. The plans to make that a reality are now slowly coming to fruition. I’ll tell you more about those plans another day.

As today I hoping to walk this walk the other way, and thought it might be lovely to share with you a watery reconstruction for Squares, for Jez’s “I am a fan of“!

The Kennet and Avon Canal is 87 miles in length, connecting the River Thames in Reading to the River Severn in Bristol. Only 57 miles of it are actual canal, the remaining 30 miles, consisting of the sections from Bath to Bristol and from Newbury to Reading, are navigable rivers.

Following a parliamentary act of law in the 1700’s work began on the canal section in early 1790s and it opened in 1810. For the first 30 years trade was burgeoning (sorry I know I should probably say flourishing but we are in the middle of squares!) but then in 1847 Great Western Railway opened their railway line.

Five years later this transport competitor had charge of the canal, and unsurprisingly didn’t make a huge effort to either maintain the canal or promote it as an alternative to their own railway. Within a decade profits had declined significantly, and within less than 20 years wharfs were closing and locks were becoming inoperable. There was an attempt in the mid 1920s to close the canal but the government rejected the application and the railway was charged with improving their maintenance of the canal. Transport though continued to decline and by the 1950s parts of the canal were no longer navigable. And actually today a section east of here is blocked again as a boat sunk over the weekend!

Dundas Aqueduct is a Scheduled Ancient Monument!

Fortunately however for all of us there is a Trust clearing today’s issue and there were also a lot of canal fans out throughout the 1950s and 60s who ran campaigns to restore the canal were fought in parliament. Eventually those campaigns were successful and restoration began in the mid 1970s, however it wasn’t until 1990 that the whole length of it was fully restored. The canal was formally re-opened that year by Queen Elizabeth II, and I travelled on it three years later with friends. We didn’t sink our boat, and I even managed to steer it round the sharp turn to get onto this aqueduct!

106 thoughts

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  5. I do remember your Monday walk along the canal, Becky, and I’m thrilled for you that Bradford is where you’ll be living long term 🥰

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      1. Not sure that I still have any. Many prints were culled when I moved to the US, and even less made it here to Hawaii. I just have a single old album now!

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  14. I love our canal system and admire the efforts that have been made in recent years to revive some waterways. This looks beautiful and I can absolutely see why you would like to live nearby. I have fond memories of Bradford-on-Avon having spent four weeks living there during a university fieldwork placement in Trowbridge 🙂

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      2. My then-boyfriend was staying in Trowbridge but spent most of his free time with me in Bradford as we both liked it better. He was a keen fisherman so a lot of the time was passed down by the river – him fishing, me watching and eventually getting a bit bored! My most vivid memory is of when he dropped a jar of maggots on the bridge in the town and we spent ages scrabbling around for them to the puzzlement of passers-by! But I do remember loving the overall ‘feel’ of the place and the river, and the old Saxon church.

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        1. I definitely prefer Bradford to Trowbridge – the latter has potential but at moment it is still a town that is struggling despite being the county town of Wiltshire. Hee hee on the maggots!

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        3. hee hee I have never attempted legging, nor would I want to. Too much hard work – however I would happily travel on a motorised boat with you!

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