Sleaford Navigation

Sleaford Navigation
The derelict chamber at Haverholme Lock awaiting restoration
Specifications
Maximum boat length	70 ft 0 in (21.34 m)
Maximum boat beam	15 ft 0 in (4.57 m)
Locks	7 (2 operational)
Status	Part operational
Navigation authority	none
History
Original owner	Sleaford Navigation Co
Principal engineer	William Crawley
Date of act	1792
Date of first use	1794
Geography
Start point	Sleaford
End point	Chapel Hill
Connects to	River Witham

[ ] Sleaford Navigation

River Witham Chapel Hill North Forty Foot Bank bridge Flood gates Lower Kyme Lock B1395 Clay Bank bridge, South Kyme Old course of River Slea Head of navigation Cobblers Lock Haverholme Lock Papermill Lock Corn Mill Lock A17 Road Bridge Bone Mill Lock Railway bridge Cogglesford Mill Lock Old course of River Slea Lift bridge (2010) Navigation Wharf, Sleaford Castle Causeway River Slea and Nine Foot Drain

The Sleaford Navigation was a 12.5 mile (20.1 km) canalisation of the River Slea in Lincolnshire, England, which opened in 1794. It ran from a junction with the River Witham, near Chapel Hill to the town of Sleaford through seven locks, most of which were adjacent to mills. Lack of finance meant that it stopped short of its intended terminus, but it gradually grew to be successful financially. The coming of the railways in 1857 led to a rapid decline, and it was officially abandoned by an act of Parliament in 1878, but remained open for a further three years. The lower part of it remained navigable until the 1940s, when it was blocked by a sluice.

Interest in restoring the canal began in 1972, and navigation was restored to the first 8 miles (13 km) with the re-opening of Lower Kyme lock in 1986. The Sleaford Navigation Trust has been working towards restoring the whole waterway, and succeeded in purchasing the Sleaford end of the river bed in 2004. A short section at Sleaford was opened in 2010, following the installation of a lift bridge.

Nearby, Navigation House, which served as the clerk's office, has been restored as a visitor centre about the canal, and the adjacent seed warehouse has been turned into The National Centre for Craft & Design.

The River Slea rises to the west of Sleaford, near Ancaster, and flows in an easterly direction, passing through Sleaford on its way to South Kyme, beyond which it is called the Kyme Eau, joining the River Witham at Chapel Hill. Kyme Eau had been navigable since at least the reign of Edward III, for in 1375 Gilbert d'Umframville was accused of illegally collecting tolls on boats carrying food products to the people of Kesteven. He had been doing so for 12 years, and he defended his case before the king, explaining that the river was navigable from Dog Dyke to Brent Fen, but that it suffered from silting and the banks were in a poor state of repair. Having agreed to carry out repairs, he was granted the right to levy tolls by letters patent.

With influential local landowners such as Sir Jenison Gordon of Haverholme Priory and Sir Christopher Whitchcote of Aswarby wanting to improve communications to the area, a proposal to link Sleaford by canal to Grantham was considered in 1774, but was replaced by a scheme to provide a navigable link along the Slea and the Kyme Eau to the Witham in 1783. Following a public meeting in Sleaford on 16 January, a committee was formed to promote the scheme, and in order for it to be profitable, negotiations began with the Commissioners of the River Witham, to reduce the tolls on that river for traffic to and from the Slea. Although initially rebuffed, the committee persisted, and the Commissioners eventually agreed to terms.