PMP2000 > Places > Charnwood History

TRANSPORT

CANALS:
Although two sizeable rivers pass through the area - the SOAR and the WREAKE, neither is in its natural state suitable for transporting heavy goods. The need for a navigable waterway was recognised from early times but nothing was done about it until the seventeenth century.

THE LOUGHBOROUGH NAVIGATION:
In 1634 THOMAS SKIPWORTH (or SKIPWITH), a landowner from COTES, was granted Letters Patent to make the River Soar "portable for barges and boats up to Leicester" (I.e., from the Soar's confluence with the Trent to Leicester City). These were granted on condition that he took "reasonable tolls" and that the king, CHARLES I, received 10% of the profits. Five or six miles were built before the money ran out and the CIVIL WAR intervened.

A second attempt was made in 1736 but the proposal failed to get Parliamentary approval, due to the opposition of local land and mill owners.

In 1765, powers were granted to a body of Commissioners to make a navigation from the River Trent as far as Loughborough. Their first meeting was held on June 14th where it was resolved that "BRINDLEY* or his agent... be employed to survey the said river and design canals. (This was JAMES BRINDLEY, the "Canal King" and father of the waterways network in England).

BRINDLEY made his report in 1766 but his conclusions were not what the canal enthusiasts wanted to hear. He recommended against making the river navigable from Kegworth to the Trent because of "the many shallows and frequent floods". He concluded that a completely artificial canal was needed. Unfortunately, such a drastic scheme was not covered by the 1765 Act and the project was abandoned again.

The scheme was revived in 1775 by surgeon WILLIAM DOUGLASS and solicitor WILLIAM CRADOCK, who planned a waterway for Trent barges to bring goods to Loughborough and the surrounding villages and take away local produce, notably wool. Their proposal incorporated many of BRINDLEY's recommendations and in April of the next year, an Act of Parliament was passed "to make the river navigable and to build "cuts" to BISHOP'S MEADOW and a canal thence to the RUSHES in LOUGHBOROUGH".

They were empowered to raise £7,000 in £100 shares, and £3,000 more if needed. Tolls were granted at 2/6d per ton (12 1/2p) for the 9 1/4 miles of navigation "for coal and all non-agricultural produce". Coal was a vital player in the scheme, as once the navigation was complete, it would be much cheaper to transport coal from Derbyshire than from the nearer local pits at Coleorton to the West. The EARL OF HUNTINGDON subscribed £1,000 to the scheme and the rest was raised from Loughborough people varying from great landowners to grocers. CRADOCK was appointed Clerk and Treasurer and JOHN SMITH appointed engineer.

The locks and cuts necessary to make the river navigable included a one and a half mile cut with two locks to get into the town at the Rushes. The canal section, from the wharf to Bishop Meadow Lock, was filled by water from the dammed Woodbrook and this continued as the water source until the opening of the LEICESTER NAVIGATION in 1794. Castle Donington stone was used for the edges of the locks and towpaths, while the clay for the bricks was dug and fired at Loughborough and Kegworth.

By August 1777, some boats were getting as far as Kegworth but a lock was needed at REDHILL. JOHN SMITH was thought to be taking too long and was later replaced as engineer by JOHN MAY.

Almost exactly a year later, on August 11th 1778, traders, customers and sightseers gathered from as far afield as Yorkshire and Norwich for the first ever CHEESE SALE at Loughborough Wharf. This marked the beginning of Loughborough Canal Wharf as a true inland port.

REDHILL LOCK was completed in 1779 and with the completion of LOUGHBOROUGH LOCK and the EREWASH CANAL, LOUGHBOROUGH was finally linked with the Derby coalfields. (CRADOCK was also Treasurer of the EREWASH project).

THE LOUGHBOROUGH NAVIGATION was completed in 1780 at a cost of £9,200. It had six locks and each £100 share was now worth £120. It was to become one of the most prosperous canals in Britain due to its position relative to the Nottingham and Derby coalfields and the EREWASH CANAL. Trade expanded quickly and wharves and warehouses were built at Loughborough. A trip from the Derby coalfields to Loughborough took 3 1/2 days and coal prices were greatly reduced due to cheaper transport the cost of a hundredweight of coal went down from 8 1/4d to 6d.(2 1/2p). Such was the size of commercial enterprise on the wharf that Loughborough's first bank - MIDDLETONS - was built here to cope with it. Share values soared right up to the opening of the railway in 1840.

THE LEICESTER NAVIGATION:
1780 was also the year in which a campaign began to extend the navigation as far as LEICESTER itself. Again, land and mill owners objected, led by LORD RAWDON, who had extensive local mining interests so naturally did not Derbyshire coal to flood the Leicester markets. In favour of the scheme were Leicester merchants and bankers, led by THE EARL OF HARBOROUGH of STAPLEFORD HALL, near MELTON. He also campaigned for another extension on to the RIVER WREAKE as far as MELTON.

Surveyors for the new project were WILLIAM JESSOP and CHRISTOPHER STAVELY who recommended not only a link from LOUGHBOROUGH to LEICESTER (the RIVER LINE), but also a second line through CHARNWOOD FOREST to access the coalfields of west Leicestershire (the FOREST LINE). In this way, they would be linked to the main waterways network and be able to compete with the rival coalfields of Derbyshire. But again, mill and landowners opposed the scheme and in 1786 the LEICESTER NAVIGATION ACT was defeated in Parliament.

One of the main objectors was SIR CHARLES HUDSON of WANLIP HALL, who was worried that he would lose part of the Hall grounds. His objections were only overcome by a radical, not to mention illogical and costly, rerouting of the canal around the grounds to keep the canal out of sight from the Hall! (Ironically, the Hall which caused all these problems was itself demolished in 1938, leaving no visible reason today for the canal's sudden lurch to the East!).

But eventually even LORD RAWDON was persuaded as to the merits of the plan and most opposition was overcome providing that no coal passed between LOUGHBOROUGH and LEICESTER until the FOREST LINE was completed. The LEICESTER NAVIGATION ACT was finally passed in 1791, as was a separate ACT for the building of the MELTON NAVIGATION, so championed by LORD HARBOROUGH. The LEICESTER NAVIGATION was completed in 1794, carrying it's first cargo down the RIVER LINE into the city on February 21st. However, coal was not carried until October 24th, with the official "opening" of the FOREST LINE. However this was an opening which was forced on the FOREST LINE before it was ready.

Unable to carry coal, the financial pressures on the Loughborough-Leicester navigation had become very bad, so much so that they decided to force the company's hand. They formally "opened" the Forest Line with their own boat on October 24th, loaded with 10 tons of Coleorton coal. The water for the canal was taken from local streams and the boat successfully made the journey to Loughborough. But as the feeder reservoirs were not in place, this was an opening in the strictly legal sense only.

By 1814, the RIVER LINE was part of a network of canals which extended from Yorkshire to London and from the east to west coasts. 1820 saw 56,000 tons of coal transported into Leicester, with a further 59,000 tons going further afield. The canal was also well used by local industries such as the MOUNTSORREL quarries, SWITHLAND slate and all manner of consumer goods reached new markets all along the route of the canal.

The line prospered and turned a healthy profit until 1832 when the LEICESTER AND SWANNINGTON RAILWAY made a rail link between the coal fields and the city. This was swiftly followed by the MIDLAND RAILWAY in 1840, sounding the death knell for the canals.

The MELTON NAVIGATION was abandoned in 1877 but the LEICESTER and LOUGHBOROUGH NAVIGATIONS struggled on until 1932, when they were bought up by the new GRAND UNION in an attempt to unify the nation's canals and build up traffic again. By this time, waterways were beginning to get a new lease of life as part of the leisure industry and a venue for holidays.

THE LEICESTER NAVIGATION FOREST LINE
CHARNWOOD'S LOST CANAL:
The purpose of this section, as has been said, was to link up the coalfields of west Leicestershire with the markets in Loughborough and Leicester. Coal had been mined in this area since the 13th century - hence names such as COALVILLE and COLEORTON - and was traditionally brought to the towns and villages on carts. This was severely under threat from 1779 when the LOUGHBOROUGH NAVIGATION opened, bringing coal from Derbyshire into the area.

As has been seen, the LEICESTER NAVIGATION gained parliamentary approval in 1791. However, in order to placate local landowners - especially those with local colliery interests - no coal could pass between LOUGHBOROUGH and LEICESTER until the FOREST LINE was completed.

The plan was for a canal to run between THRINGSTONE and NANPANTAN and for cargo to then be transferred to a rail link for the last part of the journey to LOUGHBOROUGH WHARF.

But work on this section seems to have progressed much more slowly than anticipated and when the RIVER LINE between LOUGHBOROUGH and LEICESTER was completed in 1794, the FOREST LINE still did not have it's reservoirs in place. As has been seen, it was financially vital for the survival of the RIVER LINE that coal should be carried as soon as possible. But before that could happen, they were legally obliged to wait for the FOREST LINE to become operational. The company had little choice but to force matters along. With no reservoirs in place, they diverted stream water to give just enough depth for one tiny 10 ton load of coal to make the journey from THRINGSTONE to LOUGHBOROUGH. Once this had happened, the FOREST LINE was officially "open" and coal carrying could begin in earnest along the RIVER LINE.

However, the reality was that very little else travelled the FOREST LINE until 1796 when the reservoirs were finally completed. The Forest Line was now officially - and in reality - operational. But there was much worse to come for this ill-starred project.

The winter of 1798-9 was exceptionally severe, with heavy snow and freezing rain. In February, a thaw set in and the melting snow started to discharge into the streams and rivers. By 11.00am on February 20th, the volume was so huge that the dam of the Blackbrook reservoir burst with a noise like a huge explosion. In just eleven minutes. it had emptied, wreaking heavy damage on the Forest Line, flooding surrounding farmland, sweeping away bridges and destroying the canal aqueduct. The whole area from Derby Road to Ashby Road was completely covered. The driver of the TELEGRAPH COACH on Derby Road saw the advancing water just in time and had to go at full gallop to save the lives of his passengers.

The event was described by a member of the HERRICK family of BEAUMANOR HALL in a letter to his sister:

"We were all going to GARENDON... to take leave of the family who were going into town but when we got to LOUGHBOROUGH the town was in a consternation. Coaches, horses and all were stopped by a deluge of water... When we got within a mile of GARENDON it was like the sea which roared as if to be heard a mile away and swept all before it - cattle, sheep, houses, hedges, cornfields and large oak trees were torn up by their roots and thrown down... it carried away the bridge at GARENDON and came close to the park wall... it extended to THORPE and covered the Derby Road for a mile and a half in length... a more dreadful sight I have never beheld... Another house newly built.. was swept away in a moment... Water ran over the tope of the aqueduct... it then burst all the aqueduct down and the navigation and carried all away... My brother and I set off for the BLACKBROOK RESERVOIR about five o'clock that evening to see it. The whole reservoir was empty in about eleven minutes, all the fields there were like the sands of the sea shore, not a blade of grass to be seen or a vestige of the buildings, not one stone left upon another.... Forty men were at work to make the Turnpike road passable. The man that stood on the bank of the reservoir moved just a minute before it fell, (they told me) it burst like a clap of thunder and flew nearly fifty feet in the air... I fear Mr Thomas will have no dividend from the Navigation for some years. Now all this damage is done, it will cost many thousands of pounds to repair - so send word of this"

The Forest Line did indeed have to pay out huge amounts of compensation - and from very small reserves. The Leicester Navigation company was willing to repair the damage but by this time, the Leicestershire coalfield owners had had enough. With little or no profit for years, some of the coalfields were closing down and most of those remaining decided to switch to the ASHBY CANAL and, later, the LEICESTER SWANNINGTON RAILWAY. The FOREST LINE was left with nothing to transport.

The newly repaired Forest Line Canal reservoir was emptied in 1804 and the dam dismantled.

The final nail in the canal's coffin came in 1808 when the land on which the canal had been built was compulsorily enclosed at a cost to the company of £1,900. By 1819, the tram tracks had been taken up and these were sold off between 1825 and 1836.

By 1840, Potter's book "The Antiquities of Charnwood" called the remains of the line "an unsightly ditch". Sections of the canal, are still clearly visible today and parts of it are frequently used as a walkway and nature trail.

A survey of the old canal was held 100 years later, when waterworks at BLACKBROOK RESERVOIR were being extended. It reported that the original dam had ben made of totally unsuitable materials and the waste weir was only a fifth of the size needed to cary away flood water.

THE ROUTE OF THE "FOREST LINE":
The canal itself ran began at THRINGSTONE BRIDGE, running north as far as OSGATHORPE before turning sharply south again to pass behind GRACE DIEU PRIORY. Here it turned east to run (roughly) along the line of ASHBY ROAD, before passing under TICKOW LANE and coming into SHEPSHED. From here, it continued south east under Ashby Road and the line of the present M1, and on across the site of LONGLIFFE GOLF COURSE. The canal part of the line ended at NANPANTAN, in an unloading wharf just behind the PRIORY pub. Here, goods would have to be transferred to trams and pulled by horses along the track way into LOUGHBOROUGH WHARF.

The route of the tramway went down the north side of NANPANTAN ROAD (then called Loughborough Lane) and turned down what is now VALLEY ROAD. It then turned east again and ran parallel with the WOODBROOK along parts of LINFORD ROAD, SANDALWOOD ROAD, BROOKFIELD AVENUE and OUTWOODS DRIVE to return to FOREST ROAD. It then continued into town through the LOUGHBOROUGH TENNIS COURTS behind EMMANUEL CHURCH, through the LEISURE CENTRE on BROWNS LANE and along FREDERICK STREET towards SAINSBURY'S. From here, it ran diagonally along the SAINSBURY's car park and crossed THE RUSHES opposite BRIDGE STREET into LOUGHBOROUGH WHARF. Special permission had to be obtained from the DERBY TURNPIKE TRUST to sink the rails into what is now the A6 in such a way as to not impede the road traffic.

This tramway system was adopted as it was thought too expensive to build the locks needed to take the canal all the way into town. However, the need to unload every boat and reload the cargo onto trams also proved very expensive. Perhaps an initial outlay on locks would have been more cost-effective in the long run.

There has been much discussion about the significance of the design of the trackways used by the FOREST LINE. According to some sources, their gauge was supposed to have been the first ever use of what was to become the country's standard track gauge. However, there is no contemporary evidence for this but the contract detailing the construction of the tracks indicates that the gauge was between 4ft 8 ins and 4ft 10 ins. The rails themselves were cast iron "fish bellied" edge rail types, 3 ft long and weighing 28-30lbs. What is significant, however, is that the rails used trucks with a flanged wheel like modern rolling stock, probably the first time this had been done on such a scale.

Houses still exist on NANPANTAN ROAD, close to Longcliffe nursing home, which were originally canal cottages and a pub serving the boat people.

At the other end of the line, there was a canal spur running north from the canal head in THRINGSTONE to Barrow Hill, just beyond OSGATHORPE. An intended track way link taking it on to Breedon Quarry was never completed.

THE LEICESTER NAVIGATION RIVER LINE:
The RIVER LINE ran south from LOUGHBOROUGH to LEICESTER, passing through the parishes of QUORN, BARROW ON SOAR, MOUNTSORREL, SILEBY, ROTHLEY, COSSINGTON, WANLIP, THURMASTON and BIRSTALL. It was over 15 miles of mixed canal and river navigation with initially ten and later eleven locks making a 50 foot rise between LOUGHBOROUGH and Leicester.

The line begins as a spur at right angles to the LOUGHBOROUGH NAVIGATION just north of LOUGHBOROUGH WHARF and under the CHAIN BRIDGE. This was so called after the practice of placing a chain across the mouth of the bridge at night to prevent boatmen sneaking their vessels from one navigation to another without paying tolls! The original CHAIN BRIDGE collapsed in the 1980s after a canal leak and the modern replacement no longer has a towpath underneath. Immediately to the north of the bridge there used to stand a three storey toll house for the LEICESTER NAVIGATION but this was demolished in 1938. A little further north is the still thriving ALBION INN.

But the route to LEICESTER goes east, through what is now a beautifully landscaped area through which pedestrians can walk along SCHWABISCH HALL WAY, named after LOUGHBOROUGH'S German twin town. A few hundred yards along this curving path lies THE BOAT INN, newly expanded but originally an old boatmen's house with stabling for tow horses. Opposite here was once a busy wharf which gave access to MEADOW LANE and the town. The canal then passes under the MEADOW LANE BRIDGE. Rebuilt early in the 20th century, this was formerly called TURNERS BRIDGE after an old landlord of THE BOAT and boasted decorative lamps. Just beyond the bridge on what is now a redbrick housing estate was once the BRITANNIA FOUNDRY and, opposite this is BEAUMANOR HOUSE, an extremely attractively situated nursing home opened just a few years ago.

The next bridge south is THE DUKE OF YORK BRIDGE, named after the now demolished DUKE OF YORK INN which used to be nearby. There was also once a wharf here, the site of which is now LOUGHBOROUGH DYE WORKS. The very attractive cottage right next to the bridge once had a right of way right through it to take horses to the stables of the DUKE OF YORK INN just beyond it!

Where 3M now stands was once the site of William Henson's boatyard. This boasted not only a coal and timber wharf but also a dry dock for repairs to canal boats. A curve in the bank here also acted as a "winding hole" or turning place for vessels. A little further along, the canal passes beneath a girder bridge which used to carry the GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY and then under LITTLE MOOR LANE BRIDGE. The rebuilt MOOR LANE BRIDGE is next on the route, just beyond which is the base of the PETER LE MARCHANT TRUST, which takes disabled people on short canal trips and holidays. The canal now emerges into open countryside, passing under MILLERS BRIDGE, WOODTHORPE BRIDGE and BLACKWATER (or TOP) BRIDGE before reaching the river at PILLINGS LOCK. It is from here that then SOAR supplies the water for the canal so far, which is why the gates are almost always open except in time of flood. From here, travel is on the river SOAR itself as far as the RIVERSIDE INN and the BARROW BRIDGE.

The landing stage of the RIVERSIDE INN was once the coal wharf for BARROW ON SOAR and the granite bridge replace a medieval one whose arches were too narrow to take canal boats. It is here that the route splits in two. the river is navigable as far as QUORN, but not beyond, while the canal itself proceeds south through BARROW LOCK to MILL LANE BRIDGE and the NAVIGATION INN.

The spur off to QUORN passes under the A6 bypass bridge and close to QUORN HALL, former home of HUGO MEYNELL and the QUORN HUNT. Just upstream from here is a private, arched footbridge, beyond which is MEYNELL ROAD, formerly the QUORN COAL WHARF. The house next to this is still called WHARF HOUSE. Almost all of the village's coal passed through this site, supplying not only the FARNHAM family but also M WRIGHT AND SON, the large elastic and webbing factory and major village employer.

Back on the canal proper, MILL LANE BRIDGE falls directly on the line of the SALTWAY. This ancient track is thought to have carried salt from the Lincolnshire coast, through SIX HILLS, BARROW and QUORN, on up to BEACON HILL and probably beyond. The mill referred to in the bridge name was demolished in 1938 but two wheel sluices still survive.

The canal and the river join up again at BARROW WEIR, fro before coming into MOUNTSORREL. The canal was extremely important to the village's quarrying industry, transporting granite as far as London and beyond, before being overtaken by the railways. The impressive single spanned ECHO BRIDGE crossing the canal just north of the village is a reminder of the waterways' fate, carrying as it does the mineral rail link to the main line. The main wharf for granite lies just beyond this bridge, followed by another coal wharf on the approach to MOUNTSORREL LOCK. Just before this is an old humpback bridge which carries a road link between MOUNTSORREL and SILEBY. Next to the lock is the SOAR VALLEY BOATYARD and the WATERSIDE INN, formerly called the DUKE OF YORK.

The canal then passes under the A6 bypass for the third and final time before starting it's approach past SILEBY MILL BOATYARD to SILEBY MILL itself. This is one of two such mills mentioned in DOMESDAY BOOK and was extensively rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries. After passing through SILEBY LOCK, the canal continues south past APPLEYARD'S ISLAND to COSSINGTON.

Today, the navigation bypasses the black and white COSSINGTON MILL and passes under a modern road bridge to COSSINGTON LOCK on the opposite side. An arched sandstone bridge crosses the river itself. In between these two bridges, there used to be a house - OSIER VILLA - which was built in the 1870s. This had a wall plaque depicting osiers and a basket: basket making was once a thriving COSSINGTON industry. Next to it is the MILL HOUSE, built some time later.

COSSINGTON MILL itself lies on the east bank of the River Soar and was at least partially built in the 17th century. It is of black and white timber frame construction and is now used as a restaurant. There has been a mill here since at least 1248 and it is possible that one of the three mills mentioned in DOMESDAY BOOK was also on this site.

In 1448, the mill was valued at 20 shillings per year. A description of 1477 says it was "a corn and fulling mill under one roof with fishing in the water called Le Sore; and willows growing on the pond called Le Milnedame".

Ownership of the mill changed many times during the 14th and 15th centuries and by the 1600s, it was both a corn and a paper mill. This situation which continued until the early 20th century, when it reverted to corn only. The final miller, HENRY GARDNER, left in 1928, after which the machinery was removed. In the 1930s and 1940s, the building was used as a tea room by MR AND MRS DICK and later became a more "up-market" restaurant.

Beyond COSSINGTON, the canal now reaches the junction of the RIVER SOAR with it's main tributary, the RIVER WREAKE. It is at this point that the navigation turns east along the WREAKE rather than taking the more logical southward route along the SOAR. The reason for this was SIR CHARLES HUDSON of WANLIP HALL, who would only give permission for the canal to cross his lands provided it could not be seen from the Hall! As the Hall was itself demolished in 1938, there is no visible reason today for this odd- and costly - diversion.

The canal passes under a metal bailey bridge carrying gravel and through JUNCTION LOCK before reaching the junction with the now disused MELTON NAVIGATION. A tollhouse would once have stood at this point but there is no trace of it today. Travelling south, the canal now passes the OLD JUNCTION HOUSE - a building which is older than the navigation itself - under HILL'S BRIDGE and the A46 WESTERN BYPASS to the HOPE AND ANCHOR INN. This is the site of the BARKBY WHARF and is today the base of the RAINBOW TRUST boat belonging to the EAST MIDLANDS CHILDRENS' HOSPICE.

From this point until it reaches BIRSTALL, the canal passes through countryside which bears obvious signs of gravel extraction. One old bridge has been removed and a winding hole added, allowing gravel boats to turn round easily between loads. The very last working boats on the SOAR operated on this stretch of canal. Two gravel quarries on the west bank now have a very new sort of working life. The first is now a sport and sailing centre known as WANLIP PARK, while the second is a nature reserve called KING LEAR'S LAKE. This is a reference to the legend of KING LEAR, KING OF BRITAIN who was supposedly buried in an underground chamber somewhere along the SOAR by his daughter CORDELIA. Tradition (and GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH!) states that LEAR founded the City of Leicester, the original name of which was KAERLEIR, later changed to LEIR-CESTER and, eventually, LEICESTER. A strong and still upheld tradition also says that LEIRE was the original name of the SOAR.

Just beyond KING LEAR'S LAKE, the canal passes under the rebuilt JOHNSON'S BRIDGE and rejoins the river just north of THURMASTON. The three once busy wharves in THURMASTON have now been replaced by a boatyard and "NIMBUS NARROW BOATS", the boatyard being on the site of demolished THURMASTON MILL. Bought by the LEICESTER NAVIGATION COMPANY in 1860, the mill was still in use in the early twentieth century but was destroyed by fire in 1930.

As the canal approaches BIRSTALL, it passes through WATERMEAD COUNTRY PARK, reclaimed from disused gravel workings into a highly attractive and extremely popular nature reserve. The WHITE HORSE INN marks the site of the BIRSTALL WHARF, where the landlords usually doubled up as coal merchants. Beyond this, the LEICESTER NAVIGATION passes through the BIRSTALL LOCK, under the WATERMEAD WAY BRIDGE and out of CHARNWOOD on it's way to LEICESTER.

LEICESTER TO MELTON CANAL:
An act to make to the RIVER WREAKE and the RIVER EYE navigable was finally passed in 1791 after a few earlier setbacks. The initial proposal had been made in 1785, supported by Lord Harborough whose estate was in the WREAKE valley. This act gave the authority to make the WREAKE and the EYE navigable from the junction with the Leicester Navigation at Turnwater Meadow, SYSTON to Melton Mowbray. The first shareholders of the new company included the DUKE OF RUTLAND; the DUKE OF NEWCASTLE; EARL FERRERS and the EARL OF HARBOROUGH. The new canal would be 14 miles long, with 12 locks and was to cost £51,000.

The first stretch opened in 1794 and was between SYSTON to REARSBY WHARF. Also known as HOPKINS WHARF, this was easily the most important intermediate point between Leicester and Melton Mowbray. It ws located at the bottom of Broome Lane, EAST GOSCOTE and although it is now filled in, it is still marked by a line of trees in a marshy hollow.

The second section took the canal on to Melton and was opener in 1797. When operational, the Wreake would be plied by boats up to 70 feet long and 14 feet wide. Each could carry a load of 47 tone and a fully laden boat would have a draught of 3 feet. It joined up with the RIVER LINE of the LEICESTER NAVIGATION just south of SYSTON MILL, where a toll house would once have stood.

In 1840, almost 40,000 tons of coal were unloaded at REARSBY WHARF. But the fortunes of the Canal went into a sharp decline after the opening of the SYSTON AND PETERBOROUGH RAILWAY in 1846. Canal tolls were cut in an effort to maintain trade but to no avail. The canal was offered first to the Soar Navigation and then to the Midland Railway but neither firm wanted it. With conditions worsening, there was no choice but to close the canal down and the final Act of Abandonment was passed on August 1st 1877.

From the junction with the RIVER LINE, the tow path can still be walked as far as the FOSSE WAY (A46). Just beyond the A46 BYPASS bridge is a twin arched canal bridge which was a noted feature of the canal. To the north of this is a group of buildings around SYSTON MILL which the canal bypassed by means of a lock. The canal then passes under the MIDLAND RAILWAY and eventually reaches the modern bridge which carries the FOSSE WAY itself over the WREAKE. This replaced the original four arched LEWIN BRIDGE which was demolished in 1956. Opposite this bridge is the GATE HANGS WELL pub, long a favourite with both watermen and road travellers but now rather "out in the wilds". Apart from some other lock chambers and bridges, little more now survives on the MELTON NAVIGATION.