Information for record number MWA4300:
The Grand Union Canal

Summary The Grand Union Canal, a waterway used for transporting goods. It dates to the Imperial period, when it was the Warwick and Napton Canal, and part of the link between Birmingham and London.
What Is It?  
Type: Canal
Period: Modern (1793 AD - 2050 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Baddesley Clinton
District: Warwick, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 36 64
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Picture(s) attached

  
Description

  
Source Number  

1 The W and N C was authorised in 1794 and was built and opened simultaneously with the Warwick and Birmingham Canal in 1800. It was therefore an essential link in the route from Birmingham to London which was completed by 1805. Initially prosperous, it was badly hit first by the opening of the Fazeby - Coventry Canal to Oxford Canal route to London, and later by the railways. By 1845 Warwick Canal was in the hands of the receiver, but struggled on. By 1929 the Canal was absorbed into the Grand Union Canal Company who invested in new locks, bridges and warehousing in the hope of rejuvenating the Canal. It was the GUCCo who gave the Canal its characteristic wide concrete locks, often leaving the old narrow locks alongside as overflow channels. There is a good deal of evidence of the type of trade the Canal indulged in along the banks. Most notable are the wharves at Emscote (WA 2154) and the spurs and wharves serving the cement and lime works near Stockton. The Canal has 25 locks from Warwick to Napton serving to first lower and then raise the level into and out of the Avon Valley. There are 34 numbered bridges and three aqueducts. The Canal is 14.5 miles long.
3
4
5 "The Grand Union Canal is an amalgamation of 4 earlier Canals linking London with Birmingham. A single company, the Grand Union Company, was formed in 1929 out of the Grand Junction Company, the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Company, the Warwick and Napton Company, and the Warwick and Birmingham Company. The earliest Canal linking London with the Midlands was the Grand Junction Canal built between Brentford and Braunston in Oxfordshire between 1793 and 1805. It connected with Birmingham via: a short section of the Oxford Canal between Braunston and Napton, The Warwick and Birmingham Canal between the Birmingham Canal at Digbeth, to Warwick, built between 1793-1800, The Warwick and Napton Canal built between 1794-1800. The Birmingham and Warwick Junction extended it to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal from Bordesley to Salford bridge between 1840-4. The route was modernised between London and Birmingham in the 1930's. The Grand Junction had been built as a barge Canal between London and Braunston, the remainder being narrow. 51 locks between Braunston and Birmingham were widened to take 2 narrow boats at once. In order to work 14 foot beam barges through the system, so many bridges would have needed to have been rebuilt that it was decided to retain the 14 foot width between London and Berkhampstead, and a 12 foot 6 inch standard thence to Sampson Road, 1 mile from Birmingham, and the nearest point to which practical improvements could be made."
6 Details of the flight of 21 locks spread over a length of 3400 yards from Hatton Top lock (no. 46) to Hatton Bottom lock (no. 26), bridges, lock houses and maintenance yard.
7 A Canal running from the end of the Warwick & Birmingham Canal and Napton. Some notable engineering works. Canal and locks widened in 1932-34.
 
Sources
Source No: 5
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: British canals : an illustrated history
Author/originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: The canals of the East Midlands (including part of London)
Author/originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: The Stratford upon Avon and Warwick Canals
Author/originator: Elwin G & King C
Date:
Page Number: 2,10-26
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Waterways to Stratford
Author/originator: Hadfield C & Norris J
Date: 1984
Page Number: 78,84,100
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 6
Source Type: Building Survey
Title: Panel for Historical Engineering Works
Author/originator: Institution of Civil Engineers
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 7
Source Type: Building Survey
Title: Panel for Historical Engineering Works
Author/originator: Institution of Civil Engineers
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Digital Data
Title: Data imported from the NRHE to HERs Project
Author/originator: Historic England
Date: 2016
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
A view of the Grand Union Canal at Kingswood
Copyright: Warwickshire County Council
Date: 1920s
Click here for larger image  
 
back to top

Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
period Modern The Modern Period, about 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
more -> 		back
period Imperial 1751 AD to 1914 AD (end of the 18th century AD to the beginning of the 20th century AD)

This period comes after the Post Medieval period and before the modern period and starts with beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1750. It includes the second part of the Hannoverian period (1714 – 1836) and the Victorian period (1837 – 1901). The Imperial period ends with the start of the First World War in 1914.
more -> 		back
period modern About 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
more -> 		back
monument YARD * A paved area, generally found at the back of a house. back
monument HOUSE * A building for human habitation, especially a dwelling place. Use more specific type where known. back
monument LOCK * A section of the water channel on a canal or river shut off above and below by lock gates provided with sluices to let the water out and in, and thus raise or lower boats from one level to another. Use more specific type where known. back
monument CANAL * An artificial navigable waterway used for the transportation of goods. Nowadays also used for recreational purposes. back
monument ROAD * A way between different places, used by horses, travellers on foot and vehicles. back
monument BRIDGE * A structure of wood, stone, iron, brick or concrete, etc, with one or more intervals under it to span a river or other space. Use specific type where known. back
monument LIME WORKS * A site where lime (calcium carbonate) is made. back
monument ENGINEERING WORKS * Any factory or site using machine tools in a manufacturing or processing capacity. back
monument AQUEDUCT * An artificial water channel for carrying water over long distances. Use also for bridge-like structures that carry the channel or canal across a valley, river or other obstacle. back
monument RAILWAY * A line or track consisting of iron or steel rails, on which passenger carriages or goods wagons are moved, usually by a locomotive engine. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record