Baughurst Canal and Railway Mania

Introduction

In 2013 Stan Terrett (a long serving councillor of Baughurst Parish Council) published his book “Baughurst..a history” which provided some fascinating insights into Baughurst and the people who lived here up until the around 1940s.  We wanted to pay tribute to this fine work and the earlier “Memories of Baughurst” – a collection of reminiscences – by extracting stories about places and people of Baughurst for you.

In this article we look at how canals and railways almost came to Baughurst.

Canal Mania

In the eighteenth century, trade between towns and villages increased due to improvements in transportation, horses and carts for conveying people and goods were being superseded.

Canal building gripped the country in the second half of the eighteenth century when many were constructed as a means of carrying goods in bulk at a cheap price in order to maintain the impetus of the Industrial Revolution.  Canals were needed locally to export agricultural products to the large towns, such as London and Bristol, and import coal and finished goods.

The important waterways in this area were the River Thames (although navigation was difficult), Kennet and Avon Canal (from Bath to Newbury opened in 1810), the River Kennet (navigable from Newbury to Reading from 1723, but very costly to use), the Thames (difficult and intermittent navigation) and the Basingstoke Canal (opened from the River Wey to Basingstoke in 1796).  These carried much trade, especially during the wars against Spain and Napoleon when coastal trade was too risky.

The Basingstoke Canal had changed the face of local agriculture with a market for local produce and the carriage eastwards of lime (from the chalk downlands) to sweeten (reduce the acidity) the areas of heathland.  On the return journey it carried coal, metals and ashes (as manure for root crops).  However, it became a failure as after the Napoleon Wars in 1815, the coastal routes were open again and soldiers and horses back from the wars started up as cheap carriers.

Not many canals in the south were successful, the route from Bristol and Bath to London was plagued with problems. The Thames below Reading had few locks and exorbitant fees.  Therefore, alternatives were sought by the Kennet and Avon Company. Firstly, John Rennie was engaged to survey a 21-mile-long by-pass line from Enborne to Basing via Brimpton and Wolverton, but this was soon abandoned.  Alternately a scheme was devised with the Basingstoke Canal Company which would be much shorter.  The survey for a Berks and Hants Junction Canal was carried out in 1824 by Francis Giles, a colleague of John Rennie.  He proposed a canal nearly 13 miles long from Midgham to Basing with 12 or 13 locks.  The summit level was to be fed by an engine raising water 50 ft from the River Enborne via a one mile long pipe.

The route of the proposed canal started near Woolhampton, over an aqueduct over the River Kennet, then Brimpton, another aqueduct over the River Enborne (A), across the road from Brimpton to Brimpton Common (B), then the Ashford Hill road near the Ship Inn (C).  It continued north of the Water Meadow, by Great Haughurst Copse, across Wolverton Road above Axmansford (D), across the stream on Violet Lane then into a ½ mile long tunnel under the Baughurst Road near Oak House (E).  Past Church Brook in Tadley and over the Basingstoke Road (F) where it turned south passing Pamber End, the Vyne, Chineham and Basing, joining the Basingstoke Canal near Basing House.

Opposition to the scheme was fierce as a new canal meant other carriers losing trade (eg the Commissioners for the Thames Navigation), local towns/parishes not near the canal feared they would be isolated and landowners didn’t want their estates bisected.  A Bill dated 1825 was submitted on grounds giving a direct inland communication between South Wales, Bristol, Bath and London but was rejected because of the strong opposition, inaccurate costing and low dividends paid by the proposed canal.