Hungerford Virtual Museum

Website produced and maintained for the Hungerford Historical Association
by Hugh Pihlens

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The Kennet and Avon Canal runs through the very heart of Hungerford. Today it is a source of recreation and enjoyment for all ages. In earlier times it played a big part in the town's economic development.

As early as 1708 a Bill to make the River Kennet navigable from Reading to Newbury was introduced into Parliament, firmly supported by Hungerford and several Wiltshire towns which would benefit from cheaper rates of goods transport. There was considerable opposition from Reading, whose tradesmen feared loss of custom when people no longer had to travel to their town to buy and sell. Despite these protests, however, the Kennet Navigation Bill received Royal Assent in September 1715, and the navigation was eventually fully open to traffic in 1723.

In 1770 the management began to study the possibility of linking the river Kennet to the River Avon by means of a new canal. The original planned route was by way of Hungerford, Marlborough, Calne, and Chippenham to Bath. Nothing came of this idea at first, and, on 10th March, 1788, a meeting took place in Hungerford to promote the scheme or, in the parlance of the day, "to consider the Utility of an Extension of the Navigable River from Newbury to Hungerford and as far as further as shall hereafter be thought eligible". The meeting supported the idea, and a further meeting was called, including "gentlemen from Hungerford, Marlborough and their neighbourhoods". This second meeting, chaired by Charles Dundas, JP of Barton Court, Kintbury, followed on 16th April 1788.

At both meetings there was general approval of the scheme, and further meetings were held throughout the year to get the support of local landowners and other interested parties. A pamphlet was published, showing the advantages of the proposed canal: The price of carriage of coals, and other heavy articles, will be greatly reduced; the estates of gentlemen and farmers will be improved at much easier expense by the introduction of freestone, timber, brick, tile, and other building materials; lime, peat-ashes and manure of all sorts. They will find new markets for the produce of their farms and estates; corn, malt, cheese, and other productions, will meet with a ready and cheap conveyance to the great marts.'
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Three engineers were consulted, and they reported the results of their surveys in the summer of 1789. Each favoured the route via Hungerford, Ramsbury and Marlborough to Bath, but even at this stage there was a little anxiety about the adequacy of the water supply to the summit, although further engineers felt it would be satisfactory.

The Western Canal committee asked John Rennie to make a detailed survey of the route, and after he too had declared the water supply was satisfactory, a meeting was held at Marlborough in November 1790, when it was decided to go ahead with the proposed junction canal at an estimated cost of £213,940.

However, the original subscription target of £75,000 was not met, only £17,700 being received, and it was not until 1792 that the money was found to revive the Western Canal. Around this time it actually became quite easy to fund any new canal - during this time of 'canal mania' an enormous number of canals were projected, and an even greater number of sponsors were eager to jump on the band wagon! Soon a sum of no less than £1,000,000 was pledged for the Western Canal.

In July 1793, Rennie reported the results of his latest survey: he had changed his mind about the route, now favouring a more southerly route via Great Bedwyn, Devizes and Trowbridge. Marlborough would still be served, but by a branch canal from Hungerford. A tunnel 4,312 yards long would be required at the new summit level, but he stated that this new route would be cheaper, and would be completed more quickly than the original one. His revised plan was approved at a meeting at the Castle Inn, Marlborough in August 1793, Rennie taking the opportunity to explain his increasing anxiety about the adequacy of water to the summit of the old route. It was at a meeting in September in the same year that the name of the project was changed to the Kennet and Avon Canal.

The year 1793 had seen the outbreak of the French Revolution, and with it a financial crisis in England. Rising costs were the inevitable result, and the estimated cost of the Kennet and Avon had risen to over £375,000 excluding the Marlborough branch. The committee agreed in January 1794 to abandon plans for the branch, agreeing instead to a rebate of 2d per ton on all goods carried on the Kennet and Avon Canal that were destined for Marlborough.

Follow this link to see John Rennie's 1794 plans for the proposed Kennet & Avon Canal through Hungerford, and the list of proprietors affected.
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		Canal Wharf, Apr 2009



The wharf, c.1895



	The canal bridge and canalside, c.1906



	Hungerford Town Lock, c1970



		The canal reopens to Hungerford 1974



	The Queen on board "The Rose of Hungerford" for the re-opening of the canal at Caen Hill, 7th Aug 1990





		Canal Wharf, c1995

In April, 1794, the Bill for cutting the canal received Royal Assent, and John Rennie was appointed engineer in May. A further survey, this time by William Jessop, recommended altering the line of the canal to avoid the 2½mile tunnel. Additional locks would be required at Crofton, together with a steam engine to raise water to the new summit level, but there would nevertheless be a considerable saving in terms of construction time and cost, the new tunnel at the summit level being only 500 yards long.

Work started both at Newbury and Bradford-on-Avon in October 1794, and proceeded steadily. However, the inflationary effect of the Napoleonic Wars resulted in a quarter of the shareholders being behind with their payments by July 1796, and by April 1797 work on the canal had to be slowed considerably.

However, Walter Money, in his History of Newbury 1887, was able to report that 'the first section of the Kennet and Avon Canal between Newbury and Kintbury, a distance of six miles, was opened on June 12th, 1797. A barge of nearly 60 tons, having on board the band of the 15th Regiment of Dragoons, then stationed in Newbury, left that place at twelve o'clock and arriving at Kintbury at half-past two, where the Committee of the Canal, having dined with the Chairman, Mr Charles Dundas, embarked at six o'clock, and arrived at Newbury about half-past nine, the passage of the party affording great interest to a large number of persons assembled at different points on the route.'

Despite growing financial problems with the company, progress at the eastern end was good: the Kintbury to Hungerford section was opened in October 1798. The Bath Chronicle reported that 'on Tuesday the ninth instant, a Barge, having on board a staircase of wrought Portland Stone for J. Pearce, Esq., of Chilton Lodge, several casks of Russian tallow, . . . making in the whole about 40 tons weight, was navigated on the Kennet and Avon Canal from Newbury to Hungerford.''
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Progress continued, and within a few months 'the navigation of the Kennet and Avon Canal was opened from Hungerford to Great Bedwyn on July 2nd, 1799, when a barge of 50 tons, laden with coals and deals, arrived at the latter place. The barge, having on board a large number of inhabitants of Hungerford, was accompanied on its passage by a vast concourse of people, and received at Bedwyn with great demonstrations of joy. An entertainment was provided at the Town Hall, and a quantity of beer distributed to the populace and the labourers employed on the canal. The evening concluded with great festivity.' (Money ibid).

Although progress at both the western and eastern ends of the canal was good, the central portion, from Devizes to Great Bedwyn was not completed for another ten years. The first barge to ascend the Caen Hill flight at Devizes, which was the last part of the canal to be completed, did so on 28th December, 1810, and after 40 hard years, the dream of a through passage connecting Reading and Bath was realized.

At the time of the opening of the canal, Hungerford was enjoying the prosperous years of the coaching period. The building of a new wharf right in the very centre of the town, of which the stone warehouse, now converted into two houses, is the only remaining sign, brought further trade and prosperity to the town.

Two important buildings were erected at this time, and it is interesting to note the utilization of Bath Stone, brought by canal, and previously unused in the town. Firstly the new parish church, built between 1814-16, and also the schoolmaster's house for the new National School in the High Street (built 1814).
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A chart of trade on the Kennet and Avon in 1814 shows the most important cargoes being carried at the time: coal from Wales, Somerset and Gloucestershire was being carried eastwards along the whole length of the canal, as was building stone from Bath. Limestone from Bristol and Bath was carried to Newbury and Reading, as were slates from the port at Bristol. Flints came west from Reading, as did peat ash from Aldermaston. Tin plate, iron, copper, and salt, timber and pitch from the West Indies, and tea from the East Indies, were all carried.

The wharf at Hungerford was especially busy loading gravel, chalk and whiting for the westerly route, and timber for the east. Grain and flour were very plentiful here, and a fairly equal volume went in both directions.

In 1818, over 200 boats were using the canal, some seventy of these were barges of over 60 tons capacity. The average time taken to travel the 57 miles journey from Newbury to Bath was 3 days 9 hours.
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The period of peak prosperity of the Canal was between 1824 and 1839. Toll receipts exceeded £42,000 per year. Dividends on shares averaged 3%. The Canal Company owned many wharves, including Hungerford wharf, where there was a crane and gauging station.

The canal engineer Charles Dundas died (from cholera) on 30 June 1832 (aged 81). He had been an MP for over 50 years, and served in ten successive parliaments. There is a memorial tablet on the chancel arch in Kintbury church.

The prosperous years were soon to come to an end. The first proposal for a railway from London to Bristol came in 1824. The Canal Company sent an engineer, Mr John Blackwell, to investigate. He gave a reassuring report - "there are limits to their powers, which are nearly approached". How wrong he was! Incidentally, there is a memorial John Blackwell (28 September 1840) in St Lawrence church.

In 1832 Isambard Kingdom Brunel was appointed to survey route. By August 1835 the Great Western Railway Act was passed, and building began.

For a while between 1835 and 1840 the canal continued to prosper – partly due to supplying building materials for railway! Such was the speed of railway construction that the line from London to Bristol was fully open by June 1841.

Local canal traffic continued for several years because the route of the railway was some way to the north, through Swindon, but the long distance trade virtually stopped overnight. However, the prosperous years of the Kennet and Avon ended in 1852. The Canal Company was taken over by the GWR in 1852, and thereafter the canal succumbed to the inevitable neglect

The canal trade limped on. During the 1870s and 1880s repeated leaks and progressive silting up led to increasing delays, but despite these complications several steamboats battled to ply a speedy service. C. Evans & Co. operated 'Spitfire' and 'Express' between Hungerford and Reading. In 1877, though, the Canal Company made its first deficit, and it was never to make a profit thereafter. The table shows the trade figures in various years for the canal as a whole, and also the tonnage loaded at Hungerford wharf.

During the Second World War, the near derelict canal was used where possible to transport materials for the construction of pillboxes and other defences along what was known as GHQ Stop Line Blue. Tom Rolt stayed on 'Cressy' at Hungerford when working at Rolls Royce Swindon, and wrote "The last of the K & A boatmen was dragged from retirement and put in charge of a leaking maintenance boat hauled by a broken down horse led by a dim-witted youth" to carry materials and men to build pillboxes. Eventually the overloaded boat sank"!

In the 1960s, however, enthusiasts were able to promote the restoration of the Kennet and Avon Canal, and on 20th July 1974 the canal was opened again for navigation to Hungerford, by Cdr the Rev the Rt Hon Lord Sandford.

The final achievement for the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust came when the Queen celebrated the reopening of the entire canal in on 7th August 1990, on board "The Rose of Hungerford".

The canal in the present day is enjoyed by a great number of people - walkers, fishermen, cyclists, and boaters. The challenge is to maintain the fabric of the canal within the budget available.

See also:
- Plans for Kennet & Avon Canal through Hungerford, and proprietors affected, 1794.
- The Kennet & Avon Canal, Kenneth R. Clew, David & Charles 1973.

Updated: 18.1.2011