Newport Pagnell Canal

Newport Pagnall Canal
The Wharf at Great Linford. The canal passed between the building and the wall on the left.
Specifications
Length	1.25 miles (2.01 km)
Maximum boat length	72 ft 0 in (21.95 m)
Maximum boat beam	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Locks	7
Status	Used for railway (now dismantled)
History
Date of act	1814
Date of first use	1817
Date closed	1864
Geography
Start point	Great Linford
End point	Newport Pagnell
Connects to	Grand Union Canal

The Newport Pagnell Canal was a 1.25 mile canal that ran from the Grand Junction Canal at Great Linford to Newport Pagnell through seven locks. Construction was authorised by an Act of Parliament in June 1814 and it probably opened in 1817. It closed in 1864, with part of the route used for the line of a railway.

The Grand Junction Canal was planned in 1791, to provide a direct link between Braunston on the Oxford Canal and London. This led to a flurry of canal proposals in 1792 and 1793, all based on the assumption that the Grand Junction would be built. The route was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 30 April 1793, and the first proposal for a branch from it to Newport Pagnell was made in that year. James Barnes, who had made the first survey for the Grand Junction, also carried out a survey for the Newport Pagnell branch, but the committee for the main canal declined to build it once they had read the report.

On 2 January 1813, a meeting was held at the Swan Inn in Newport Pagnell, which proposed the building of a canal, using the original powers of the Grand Junction Canal, or the construction of a railway along a similar route, which would have required an Act of Parliament. The Grand Junction Canal again refused to construct the branch, and the idea of a railway was dropped. Instead, a meeting held on 20 August 1813 decided to apply for an Act of Parliament to authorise the branch, and the Act was granted in June 1814. The route was surveyed by Benjamin Beven, who was working for the Grand Junction Canal, and work began in early 1815. The canal took two years to build and opened in early 1817. It was 1.25 miles (2.0 km) long, and the level fell by 50.75 feet (15.47 m) through seven locks as it ran from Great Linford to Newport Pagnell. Although the Grand Junction was built for wide-beam boats, the locks were built to the same dimensions as those on the Northampton Branch, and were 72 by 7 feet (21.9 by 2.1 m).

The cost of the project was around £14,200, which included ornamentation where the canal passed through ground belonging to the Rev. W. Uthwatt. The main cargo was coal, brought from Shipley on the Nutbrook Canal and Moira on the Ashby Canal for sale in Newport Pagnelll and the surrounding region. This accounted for some 7,500 tons per year, and another 2,500 tons were made up of lime, manure, bricks and other cargos. Tolls were very high, and were still being maintained at 9 pence (4p) for the length of the canal when tolls on the neighbouring Grand Junction were less than 1 penny (0.4p) per mile. This allowed dividends to be paid throughout the life of the canal, which averaged 2.7 per cent, but reached 6 per cent in 1845, the year in which the canal carried its greatest volume of 14,887 tons.