The Decline of the Canal
For thirty years traffic on the canal grew
and grew, with annual receipts between 1824 and 1839 for example
in excess of £42,000 with a dividend of 3%.
Railway competition
However as soon as the Great Western Railway
started operating from London to Bristol in 1841, the competition
started affecting canal trade.
Ironically much of the canal company's profit
in the late 1830's, came from transporting those self same materials
that were used to build the railway.
Fighting back
For the next ten years the canal company
fought back against railway competition by reducing tolls and introducing
its own fleet of barges.
New services
Increasing fly-boat services and extending
passenger carrying facilities were other methods of remaining competitive
that were tried.
Losing out to the GWR
Later as matters got worse there were staff
cuts and wage reductions, and canal traders increasingly turned
to the railway, viewing it as a more economical means of transporting
their goods.
Railway Take-over and Operation
GWR takes over
In 1852, the GWR obtained Parliamentary approval
to take over the whole canal.
The canal company shareholders were guaranteed
an annual payment, and the GWR promised to keep the canal in good
repair and try to run it in a business like way.
However as profits gradually disappeared,
they too began to cut staff and reduce repairs.
Toll charges
By 1906 tolls on the K&A were higher
than those on similar waterways.
By 1914 railway competition had closed both
the Somerset Coal Canal and The Wilts and Berks.
By 1920 some trading still existed on the
K&A, although tolls had by then been raised by 150%.
Maintaining the canal
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Pill Box on the Kennet and Avon at Bishop's Cannings, Wiltshire. |
Obligations in the Act, together with local
opposition prevented the canal being closed in 1926 and in 1929,
the last major canal trader forced the GWR to honour its maintenance
obligations, although trade was not encouraged.
The Kennet and Avon during World War Two
During the Second World War, the K&A
was used as a second line of defence against possible invasion.
Pill boxes were strategically sited along
the whole length of the canal, and concrete obstructions placed
across canal bridges.
Much of the material used for these structures
was carried on canal boats.
Canal Abandonment
Lack of maintenance
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Higg's Lock, March 1955 |
During the years 1945 to 1948, the canal suffered even further decline due to a lack of maintenance and use
although a number of smaller traders still used the waterway.
New management
As a consequence of railway nationalisation
in 1948, the K&A came under the management of the Railway Executive
and later under the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive (DIWE).
For a short while there was an upsurge in
canal trading, when a number of enterprising businessmen found cargoes
to carry.
Closure
However from the early 1950's the DIWE effected
a number of closures for repairs, and this made trading more and
more difficult.
These repairs were never satisfactorily
carried out, and in 1955 the Transport Commission went to Parliament
to close the canal.
A few years later and after considerable
campaigning, the restoration of the Kennet and Avon Canal was started
and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust formed.
After several decades of fundraising and
hard work, the Kennet and Avon was eventually re-opened by Her Majesty
The Queen in August 1990.
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Copse Lock |
- We are looking forward to continuing the story of the Kennet and Avon Canal by dedicating further pages of this website to its restoration.
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