The Newport Pagnell Canal and Great Linford
As early as 1793, a proposal was made by interested parties in Newport Pagnell to build a branch canal to the Grand Junction at Great Linford. Perhaps because they thought the very short extension would be of of little worth, the Grand Junction company rejected the idea, and would do so again in 1802 when the idea was revived, but the people of Newport Pagnell were clearly a single-minded bunch. At a meeting in 1813 the canal plan was again debated, with consideration also given to the alternative idea of building a railway line instead. The canal won the day, but the Grand Junction again rejected the petition, leaving the frustrated townsfolk no choice but to attempt the connection themselves.
At a public meeting held on August 20th, 1813, it was agreed that an Act of Parliament would be applied for. A subscription list was opened with £7,825 immediately raised, not far short of the £12,500 cost that their surveyor Benjamin Bevan would subsequently estimate as the construction cost. By odd coincidence, like James Barnes of Grand Junction fame, Bevan was another engineer who had started out professionally as a brewer, and would eventually succeed Barnes as principal engineer on the Grand Junction, where he would build one of the earliest cast iron aqueducts, after the original William Jessop designed brick and stone crossing over the river Ouse had collapsed.
The act of parliament received royal assent in June of 1814, with 64 promoters listed as “The company of proprietors of the Newport Pagnell Canal.” Meanwhile, the Grand Junction company had finally come around to the idea, with conditions. One of the reasons they had rejected the plan in 1802 was that they were suffering water supply problems at the time between Fenny Stratford and Wolverton, and since they would still have to be the ones to fill the Newport Canal from their own precious supplies, made sure that in times of shortage, it was enshrined in the agreement that their stretch of waterway was to receive priority.
A contract to build the canal was awarded in December of 1814, with a design that called for a one and quarter mile navigation with 7 locks. The two canals were joined in May 1816 and the Newport Pagnell branch officially opened to traffic in January of 1817. There was already a Wharf in operation at Great Linford, to facilitate the loading and offloading of cargo, and another was built in Newport Pagnell, but though the great profits imagined did not materialise, the business still did reasonably well for a time, with a steady flow of commodities such as coal from Derbyshire and Leicestershire, as well as all manner of other things from near and far, such as bricks, manure, grain, timber and even cheese.
When the idea of the Newport Canal was first proposed, the ambitions of the builders was far grander, with plans to extend to Olney or Bedford, thus opening up even more possibilities to extend waterborne trade further across the country, but the age of the canal was not to be a long one, as a new technology was nipping at its heels. The additional extension therefore never came to be, and in due course the canal network that had so transformed the country would be largely superseded by a marvellous new innovation, the steam train. The Newport Pagnell Canal was no exception, bought out and closed by the Newport Pagnell Railway company in 1867.
As early as 1793, a proposal was made by interested parties in Newport Pagnell to build a branch canal to the Grand Junction at Great Linford. Perhaps because they thought the very short extension would be of of little worth, the Grand Junction company rejected the idea, and would do so again in 1802 when the idea was revived, but the people of Newport Pagnell were clearly a single-minded bunch. At a meeting in 1813 the canal plan was again debated, with consideration also given to the alternative idea of building a railway line instead. The canal won the day, but the Grand Junction again rejected the petition, leaving the frustrated townsfolk no choice but to attempt the connection themselves.
At a public meeting held on August 20th, 1813, it was agreed that an Act of Parliament would be applied for. A subscription list was opened with £7,825 immediately raised, not far short of the £12,500 cost that their surveyor Benjamin Bevan would subsequently estimate as the construction cost. By odd coincidence, like James Barnes of Grand Junction fame, Bevan was another engineer who had started out professionally as a brewer, and would eventually succeed Barnes as principal engineer on the Grand Junction, where he would build one of the earliest cast iron aqueducts, after the original William Jessop designed brick and stone crossing over the river Ouse had collapsed.
The act of parliament received royal assent in June of 1814, with 64 promoters listed as “The company of proprietors of the Newport Pagnell Canal.” Meanwhile, the Grand Junction company had finally come around to the idea, with conditions. One of the reasons they had rejected the plan in 1802 was that they were suffering water supply problems at the time between Fenny Stratford and Wolverton, and since they would still have to be the ones to fill the Newport Canal from their own precious supplies, made sure that in times of shortage, it was enshrined in the agreement that their stretch of waterway was to receive priority.
A contract to build the canal was awarded in December of 1814, with a design that called for a one and quarter mile navigation with 7 locks. The two canals were joined in May 1816 and the Newport Pagnell branch officially opened to traffic in January of 1817. There was already a Wharf in operation at Great Linford, to facilitate the loading and offloading of cargo, and another was built in Newport Pagnell, but though the great profits imagined did not materialise, the business still did reasonably well for a time, with a steady flow of commodities such as coal from Derbyshire and Leicestershire, as well as all manner of other things from near and far, such as bricks, manure, grain, timber and even cheese.
When the idea of the Newport Canal was first proposed, the ambitions of the builders was far grander, with plans to extend to Olney or Bedford, thus opening up even more possibilities to extend waterborne trade further across the country, but the age of the canal was not to be a long one, as a new technology was nipping at its heels. The additional extension therefore never came to be, and in due course the canal network that had so transformed the country would be largely superseded by a marvellous new innovation, the steam train. The Newport Pagnell Canal was no exception, bought out and closed by the Newport Pagnell Railway company in 1867.
|
|
