Charnwood Forest Canal
1791 The Leicester Navigation Company obtained an Act of Parliament to extend the Soar Navigation from Loughborough to Leicester, and to build a branch from Loughborough to the Charnwood Forest coal field.
1794 The Charnwood Forest Canal was opened between Thringstone and Nanpantan, with a further connection to Barrow Hill, near Worthington.
It marked the beginning of the introduction of railways to supplement canals. Due to the considerable height difference between Nanpantan and Loughborough, the canal terminated at Nanpantan where goods had to be transhipped onto a horse-drawn wagonway which connected to Loughborough wharf. The tramway was engineered by William Jessop who used an iron edge-rail railway.
William Jessop pioneered the use of fish-bellied iron edge rails on the Charnwood Forest Canal.
1808 the company sought to abandon the canal but the cost of the necessary Act was prohibitive
1849 Officially abandoned
See Also
Sources of Information
- Wikipedia [1]