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Leominster Canal
Aqueduct over the river Teme at Little Hereford
Specifications
Locks	16
Status	Abandoned, partially built over by railway
History
Original owner	Leominster Canal Proprietors
Principal engineer	Thomas Dadford jr
Date of act	1791
Date of first use	1794
Date completed	1796 (Leominster to Marbrook)
Date closed	1858
Geography
Start point	Leominster (Planned from Kington)
End point	Marbrook (Planned to Stourport)

The Leominster Canal was an English canal which ran for just over 18 miles from Mamble to Leominster through 16 locks and a number of tunnels, some of which suffered engineering problems even before the canal opened. Originally, the canal was part of a much more ambitious plan to run 46 miles from Stourport to Kington.

History

Construction

Following the opening of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal in 1772, which linked the industrial Midlands to the River Severn at Stourport, the engineer Robert Whitworth proposed a canal to link Stourport to Hereford, passing through Pensax and Leominster in 1777. Meetings were held at Leominster and Tenbury Wells in 1789, at which it was decided to survey possible routes from Leominster to Stourport. Thomas Dadford, Jr. carried out the survey, and presented a plan to a meeting in December 1789 for a 31-mile (50 km) canal, costing £83,000, with estimated receipts of £4,300 per year. Three tunnels would be required, at Putnal Field, Southnet and Pensax.

Leominster Canal Act 1791
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act for making and maintaining a Navigable Canal from Kington, in the County of Hereford, by or through Leominster, to join the River Severn near Stourport Bridge, in the County of Worcester.
Citation	31 Geo. 3. c. 69
Dates
Royal assent	13 May 1791

Despite the low estimated returns, a meeting in January 1790 decided to proceed with Dadford's canal. A further meeting was held in Kington in April, and there were calls to build a connecting canal to the town. The two schemes became one, and the total length of the canal would be 46 miles (74 km). From Kington, locks would raise the level of the canal by 48 feet (15 m), and then it would fall by 496 feet (151 m) to reach the River Severn. The lack of major towns or industries did not seem to worry the proposers, and the Leominster Canal Act 1791 (31 Geo. 3. c. 69) was obtained on 13 May 1791, which allowed the Proprietors to raise £150,000, with another £40,000 if necessary.

Dadford was appointed as Engineer, a position which he held until 1795, although he only devoted one-quarter of his time to the Leominster Canal, as he performed the same role for the Monmouthshire Canal and was contracted to them for the remaining three-quarters of his time. Work began soon after his appointment, and by October 1794, the section from Woofferton near Tenbury to Marlbrook near Mamble was open for traffic.

The following year saw most of the section from Leominster to Woofferton completed, while beyond Marlbrook the 1,254-yard (1,147 m) Southnet tunnel was finished and work started on an aqueduct over the River Lugg at Kingsland. Around £90,000 had been spent to reach this stage. There were problems with the Southnet tunnel, part of which collapsed in 1795. The Proprietors sought the advice of John Rennie, who criticised Dadford's work. He estimated that £20,000 would be required to rectify the existing works from Southnet to Leominster, and that another £135,937 would be needed to complete the project.

Undaunted, the proprietors applied for a second act of Parliament, the Leominster Canal Act 1795 (36 Geo. 3. c. 70), which they obtained on 26 April 1796, authorising them to raise or borrow a further £180,000. The 330-yard (300 m) tunnel at Putnall Fields, which had proved very difficult to construct, was completed in July 1796, completing the route to Leominster, and creating a working canal which was 18.5 miles (29.8 km) long. On 1 June 1797, a ceremonial cut was made on the banks of the River Severn, where the canal was eventually planned to join it, but only £62,582 had been raised under the terms of the second act of Parliament, and with some £25,000 owing, all work ceased.

Leominster Canal Act 1803
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	43 Geo. 3. c. cxli
Dates
Royal assent	11 August 1803
Text of statute as originally enacted

In 1803, the proprietors sought the advice of John Hodgkinson, as to how the canal could be completed. As a railway engineer, Hodgkinson recommended that railways should be built at either end of the existing section of canal, to connect to Kington and Stourport. Although another act of Parliament, the Leominster Canal Act 1803 (43 Geo. 3. c. cxli), was obtained, no construction work took place. Nine years later, they again approached Hodgkinson, and this time he suggested that they should abandon the authorised route to Stourport and extend the canal on a new alignment to the River Severn at Worcester. Nothing came of this plan, either.

Operation

v t e Leominster Canal
Legend
To Stourport and River Severn Southnet Tunnel (1,250 yds) Southnet Wharf lock(s) Marlbrook Rea Aqueduct Newnham Tunnel (100 yds) Tenbury Wells Teme Aqueduct Woofferton Woofferton locks (2) Putnall Tunnel (350 yds) Stockton locks (2) Leominster Lugg Aqueduct To Kington

In January 1794 the canal opened from Marlbrook to Woofferton and seven boatloads of coal were transported from the Mamble collieries on the first day. Engineering difficulties delayed the opening of Putnall Tunnel (south of Woofferton) until 1796. By the end of that year an 18.5 miles (29.8 km) stretch of the canal was open between Marlbrook and Leominster and on the first day 14 boatloads of coal arrived in Leominster. Coal from the Mamble collieries was brought down the hill on tramways to Southnet wharf, where it was loaded onto barges and transported to Leominster.

For the next 60 years, the canal carried coal to Leominster, enabling the Mamble collieries to prosper. However the traffic from Mamble Colliery was not sufficient to run the canal at a profit, so the owners were constantly seeking to extend it eastwards to meet the River Severn, although this never materialised.

Decline

The canal never paid a dividend. What little money was collected was mostly paid for tolls on the transport of coal. In 1858, after sustained pressure by the Canal Company, the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway paid £12,000 for the canal, which valued each £100 share at £16, and drained it soon after to sell the land. Part of the route was subsequently used for the Tenbury and Bewdley Railway that connected Woofferton to Bewdley via Tenbury Wells station, which was actually in Burford, Shropshire, not Tenbury Wells.

Remains

Although the canal has been closed for over 150 years, there are some remains left, including an aqueduct over the River Rea, and parts of a three-arched aqueduct over the River Teme. The centre arch of the latter was destroyed as part of an explosives exercise during the Second World War, but the remains became a Grade II listed structure in 2000. The Rea aqueduct consisted of a single brick span of 45 feet (13.7 m) with a brick-lined trough to carry the canal over it. It was thought to be the largest brick span at the time of its construction, and like the Teme aqueduct, it was Grade II listed in 2000. It has become a right of way across the River Rea, but the footpath was closed in 2014 following a partial collapse of the canal trough. The Friends of the Leominster Canal exists to raise awareness of the waterway and holds visits to the canal and associated features.

Points of interest

Download coordinates as:

• KML
• GPX (all coordinates)
• GPX (primary coordinates)
• GPX (secondary coordinates)

See also

• Canals of Great Britain
• History of the British canal system

Bibliography

• Hadfield, Charles (1967). The Canals of South Wales and the Border. David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-4027-1.
• Priestley, Joseph (1831). "Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, of Great Britain". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
• Skempton, Sir Alec; et al. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 2: 1830 to 1890. Thomas Telford. ISBN 978-0-7277-3504-1.

References

1. Hadfield 1967, p. 191.
2. Hadfield 1967, pp. 191–192.
3. Priestley 1831, p. 410.
4. Skempton 2002, p. 166.
5. Hadfield 1967, p. 192.
6. ^ Hadfield 1967, p. 193.
7. Priestley 1831, pp. 410–411.
8. Skempton 2002, p. 324.
9. ^ "Chronology". Herefordshire through Time. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
10. Poyner, David; Robert Evans. "Mamble Colliery" (PDF). SCMC Journal. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 February 2016.
11. "The Leominster and Stourport Canal". Herefordshire through Time. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
12. Hadfield 1967, pp. 197–198.
13. "Backwaters and Bygones". Waterscape.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
14. Historic England. "Teme Aqueduct (1383773)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
15. Historic England. "Rea Aqueduct (1383584)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
16. Slater, David. "Leominster canal aqueduct collapses". Waterways World. Archived from the original on 1 June 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.

External links

Media related to Leominster Canal at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Transport in Worcestershire
Road	Motorways M5 M42 M50 A-roads A38 A44 A46 A422 A435 A441 A442 A448 A449 A456 A491 A4025 A4536 Service stations Frankley services Hopwood Park services Strensham services Other Icknield Street List of settlements on the A38
Rail	Main lines Cross-City Line Cross Country Route North Warwickshire Line Birmingham to Worcester via Bromsgrove Line Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster line Cotswold Line Closed lines Oxford–Worcester–Wolverhampton line (Dudley to Wolverhampton section) Stations Alvechurch Barnt Green Blakedown Bromsgrove Droitwich Spa Evesham Great Malvern Hagley Hartlebury Honeybourne Kidderminster Malvern Link Pershore Redditch Worcester Foregate Street Worcester Shrub Hill Wythall Closed stations Astwood Bank Aston-under-Hill Beckford Bengeworth Bredon Eckington Foley Park Halt Hinton Littleton and Badsey Malvern Wells Ripple Upton-on-Severn Wadborough Heritage stations Arley Bewdley Kidderminster Town Northwood Halt Heritage railways Severn Valley Railway Under construction Broadway Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
Buses	Routes Worcestershire bus route 144 Companies Diamond West Midlands First Midland Red Other Bus transport in Bromsgrove
Waterways	Rivers River Arrow River Avon River Severn River Stour River Teme Canals Droitwich Canal Leominster Canal Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Worcester and Birmingham Canal Other Diglis Basin Hampton Ferry Tardebigge Engine House Tardebigge Locks
Footpaths	Long-distance footpaths Cotswold Way Monarch's Way Severn Way Worcestershire Way Wychavon Way
Cycle paths	Route 5 Route 54

52°18′48″N 2°40′56″W / 52.3134°N 2.6821°W / 52.3134; -2.6821

• Canals in Herefordshire
• Canals in Shropshire
• Canals in Worcestershire
• Canals opened in 1794
• 1794 establishments in England