Basingstoke Canal
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The Basingstoke Canal passing through Woking |
The
Basingstoke Canal is one of the
waterways in the United Kingdom. It is a man-made navigation channel joining
Basingstoke to the
River Thames at
Weybridge via the
Wey Navigation. From Basingstoke it passes through or near
Odiham,
Fleet,
Aldershot,
Mytchett,
Brookwood,
Woking ending at
Byfleet where it connects to the Wey Navigation. This, in turn, leads to the
River Thames at
Weybridge. Its original intention was to allow boats to travel from the docks in East
London to Basingstoke.
The canal was conceived as a way to stimulate agricultural development in Hampshire. Following a Parliamentary Bill in
1778, construction began in that same year and was completed on 4th September
1794. One of the main cargos carried from Basingstoke was timber.
[Britain's lost waterways Michael E Ware page 40 ISBN 0 86190 327 7]The canal was never a commercial success and fell into disuse even before the construction of the
London and South Western Railway, which runs parallel to the
canal along much of its length. Commercial use ended in
1910 but low level of the use of the canal continued. In 1913 Mr A.J.Harmsworth tried to navigate the canal in a boat called
Basingstoke. The journey was motivated by a desire to keep the canal open since the canal act of 1778 specified that is the canal was not used for 5 years then the land the canal was built on would be returned to the original owners. It is thought that it proved impossible to navigate the entire canal but despite this the canal was not abandoned.
[Britain's lost waterways Michael E Ware page 43 ISBN 0 86190 327 7]During World War 1 the Royal Engineers took over the running of the canal and used it to transport supplies from Woolwich. The canal was also used to train soldiers in boat handling
[The Great Days of the Canals Anthony Burton page 169 ISBN 0 7153 9264 6]Mr A.J.Harmsworth latter purchased the canal (in 1922) and ran a number of boats on it for a mixture of limited commercial carrying and pleasure cruising. The canal was sold upon his death in 1947 and by 1950 was in the hands of the New Basingstoke Canal Co Ltd. the company did not maintain the canal and by the mid 60s it was essentially derelict.
[http://www.basingstoke-canal.org.uk/history.htm]A notable feature of the canal is the large number of concrete
bunkers known as
pillboxes still visible along its length; these were built during
World War II as part of the
GHQ Line to
defend against an expected German invasion.
After about 18 years of restoration, 32 miles of the canal were formally re-opened on 10th May
1991. The western section from
North Warnborough to Basingstoke remains un-navigable from the point at which it enters the Greywell Tunnel. The tunnel is partially collapsed and is inhabited by a protected
bat colony making it unlikely that the tunnel will ever be restored.
Odiham Castle is also situated at the Greywell end of the canal.
There is an information centre for the canal at Mytchett.
Image:Greywell tunnel inside.jpgImage:Greywell tunnel 3.jpgImage:Canal boat.jpgImage:Basingstoke canal 2.jpg*
Canals of the United Kingdom*
The Basingstoke Canal*
Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society*
The River Wey and Wey Navigations Community Site — a non-commercial site of over 120,000 words all about the adjacent Wey Navigation with a section about the Basingstoke Canal
