Уилтс және Беркс каналы: Тарихы мен қайта жаңғырту жобасы

Canal linking the Kennet & Avon Canal to the River Thames

The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a branch to the Thames and Severn Canal at Latton near Cricklade. Among professional trades boatmen, the canal was nicknamed the Ippey Cut, possibly short for Chippenham. The 52 mile (84 km) canal was opened in 1810, but abandoned in 1914 – a fate hastened by a breach at Stanley aqueduct in 1901. Much of the canal subsequently became unnavigable: many of the structures were deliberately damaged by army demolition exercises; parts of the route were filled in and in some cases built over. In 1977 the Wilts & Berks Canal Amenity Group was formed with a view to full restoration of the canal. Several locks and bridges have since been restored, and over 8 mile (13 km) of the canal have been rewatered.

The official name of the canal is the "Wilts & Berks Canal" as cited in the Private Acts of Parliament that authorised its building and abandonment. The "Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal" is incorrect. Neither is it correct to refer to the "North Wilts Canal" as the "North Wiltshire Canal". The canal's original name is retained for historical reasons despite local council boundary changes in 1973 that transferred part of Berkshire through which the canal passes (mostly the Vale of White Horse) to Oxfordshire.

A plan for the canal was published by Robert Whitworth Snr. and William Whitworth in 1793. The bill empowering construction of the canal received royal assent in 1795 as the Abingdon to Trowbridge Canal Act 1795 (35 Geo. 3. c. 52). It allowed the company to raise £111,900 through 1,119 shares at a cost of £100 each for the construction of the canal. Another act of Parliament, the Wilts. and Berks. Canal Act 1801 (41 Geo. 3. (U. K.) c. lxviii), was passed allowing the company to raise a further £200,000 to complete the canal. The canal was cut during the years 1796 to 1810. Robert Whitworth Snr. remained as an engineer on the canal from 1796 to 1799. The Wilts & Berks thus became a link in the chain of canals providing a transport route between the West Country and the Midlands. Water supply was always a problem and a reservoir was constructed near Swindon to supply the canal, now known as Coate Water. From the reservoir, a feeder meandered northwards and eastwards, to feed water into the canal near Marston Locks. Competition from the railways, especially the Great Western Railway from 1841, meant that the Wilts & Berks Canal was never a great commercial success. In addition, long stretches of the canal were through a type of clay that is unsuitable for lining a canal, so there was a constant need for puddling, making maintenance costs prohibitive. Despite this, the Wilts & Berks Canal operated for more than a century, though traffic had pretty much ceased by 1901. In that year a breach occurred at Stanley Aqueduct over the River Marden, an event that proved to be the death knell of the canal.

The canal was formally abandoned by the Swindon Corporation (Wilts and Berks Canal Abandonment) Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. cviii). The act was sponsored by Swindon Corporation, which gained control of all the land within its boundary. In other areas ownership returned to the owners of adjacent land. From the early 1930s much of the canal was filled in and generally used for dumping rubbish. Chippenham Wharf, once home to Brinkworth's Coal Depot, was used by residents as a refuse tip, and council minutes from 1926 show a decision to dump pig offal in the disused waterway. A bus station was built on the site, the buried wharf being uncovered briefly during redevelopment in 2006. During the Second World War many of the locks and other canal structures were used for army exercises and damaged by explosives. Very little of the old canal survived in usable form, but long rural stretches are clearly delineated.