Leominster Canal

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)

[ ] Leominster Canal
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

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.

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 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.

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 an Act of Parliament 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.