Coventry Canal Towpath Trail: Bridge 5 to Bridge 6
Bridge 6. Navigation Bridge.
Stoney Stanton Road
Gallagher Retail Park which occupies the site of the former Alfred Herbert machine tool factory.
The Coventry Canal dates from the early pioneering days of canal building in Britain and was promoted by a group of local business men with the chief aim in enabling the export of coal from their mines in north Warwickshire. In 1767 the Coventry Canal Company committee engaged James Brindley, the foremost canal engineer of the day, to survey a 38.5 mile route from Fradley to Coventry via Tamworth, Atherstone, Nuneaton and Bedworth. The construction of the canal required an Act of Parliament, which received Royal Assent on the 29th January 1768. The canal company appointed Brindley as engineer and surveyor and work began in Foleshill Parish, probably at Longford, in May 1768. The work proceeded in both directions and within six months coal was being transported from Bedworth to Longford. The canal reached the Coventry Basin on the 10th August 1769 where according to the Coventry Mercury newspaper;
"two boats laden with coal were brought to this city from this side of Bedworth. Being the first ones, they were received with loud cheers by a number of people who had assembled to witness their arrival".
James Brindley was also the engineer and surveyor of the Oxford Canal which was under construction at that time; Brindley anticipated that both canals would join together near Coventry to create a canal linking the Thames to the Mersey. The site of the junction was intended to be at Gosford Green to the east of Coventry City Centre, but the Oxford Canal Company decided that they wanted a junction at Bedworth instead. This would have saved the Coventry Canal Company the expense of building a branch to Gosford Green, but would also have deprived them of several miles of toll revenues. The dispute between the two companies dragged on and resulted in the Coventry Canal Company dismissing Brindley in September 1769 for his perceived clash of interests. A compromise was eventually agreed whereby the junction was built at Longford in 1777 with the canals running parallel alongside one another for a mile from Hawkesbury.
The Coventry Canal had reached Atherstone in 1772 but financial problems resulted in a lengthy break in construction and the final link to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Fradley was not completed until 1790. The completion of the link enabled goods traffic to travel from northern England to the south through Longford and meant that the four and a half miles from Longford to Coventry effectively become a branch serving the city.
Coventry Canal Towpath Trail: Bridge 5 to Bridge 6
Bridge 6. Navigation Bridge.
Stoney Stanton Road
Gallagher Retail Park which occupies the site of the former Alfred Herbert machine tool factory.
The Coventry Canal dates from the early pioneering days of canal building in Britain and was promoted by a group of local business men with the chief aim in enabling the export of coal from their mines in north Warwickshire. In 1767 the Coventry Canal Company committee engaged James Brindley, the foremost canal engineer of the day, to survey a 38.5 mile route from Fradley to Coventry via Tamworth, Atherstone, Nuneaton and Bedworth. The construction of the canal required an Act of Parliament, which received Royal Assent on the 29th January 1768. The canal company appointed Brindley as engineer and surveyor and work began in Foleshill Parish, probably at Longford, in May 1768. The work proceeded in both directions and within six months coal was being transported from Bedworth to Longford. The canal reached the Coventry Basin on the 10th August 1769 where according to the Coventry Mercury newspaper;
"two boats laden with coal were brought to this city from this side of Bedworth. Being the first ones, they were received with loud cheers by a number of people who had assembled to witness their arrival".
James Brindley was also the engineer and surveyor of the Oxford Canal which was under construction at that time; Brindley anticipated that both canals would join together near Coventry to create a canal linking the Thames to the Mersey. The site of the junction was intended to be at Gosford Green to the east of Coventry City Centre, but the Oxford Canal Company decided that they wanted a junction at Bedworth instead. This would have saved the Coventry Canal Company the expense of building a branch to Gosford Green, but would also have deprived them of several miles of toll revenues. The dispute between the two companies dragged on and resulted in the Coventry Canal Company dismissing Brindley in September 1769 for his perceived clash of interests. A compromise was eventually agreed whereby the junction was built at Longford in 1777 with the canals running parallel alongside one another for a mile from Hawkesbury.
The Coventry Canal had reached Atherstone in 1772 but financial problems resulted in a lengthy break in construction and the final link to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Fradley was not completed until 1790. The completion of the link enabled goods traffic to travel from northern England to the south through Longford and meant that the four and a half miles from Longford to Coventry effectively become a branch serving the city.