The Kennet and Avon Canal restoration programme, started in the early 1960s, culminated with the grand canal re-opening by Her Majesty the Queen on 8th August 1990 at Devizes.
Passing through some of southern England's most beautiful valleys from Bristol to Reading the 'Sleeping Beauty' gradually declined between the wars, and was closed to traffic in 1951. In 1955 popular opposition prevented the canal's complete abandonment and in 1962 the newly-formed Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, a Registered Charity, began the largest civil engineering project ever undertaken by volunteers.
Much of the canal had become dry and reverted to scrub; aquatic wildlife had virtually disappeared. The canal's 87 miles (140 km) included 86 derelict locks, 344 rotting lock gates, leaking canal bed, crumbling aqueducts, abandoned pumping stations, wharves, bridges, buildings and the unique flight of 29 locks at Devizes which had fallen into total disrepair. Of the 86 derelict locks, one, Monkey Marsh, on the Kennet navigation, was rebuilt as a replica of an 1830's turf-sided lock. The rebuild began in March 1988 under a job creation scheme organised and funded through the Berkshire Consortium consisting of Berkshire County Council, Newbury District Council, Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and British Waterways. The main construction work was completed by mid-July 1990, just in time to ensure the re-linking of Reading to Newbury by water as part of the whole canal re-opening programme.
Now the Kennet and Avon Canal is re-opened to navigation, we hope that many people will enjoy using this waterway, exploring on foot or by boat the remarkable engineering triumphs achieved over the last 40 years, not the least the complete rebuild of Monkey Marsh lock. We hope that you will enjoy this account of our endeavours, published in 1991.
The Kennet and Avon Canal restoration programme, started in the early 1960s, culminated with the grand canal re-opening by Her Majesty the Queen on 8th August 1990 at Devizes.
Passing through some of southern England's most beautiful valleys from Bristol to Reading the 'Sleeping Beauty' gradually declined between the wars, and was closed to traffic in 1951. In 1955 popular opposition prevented the canal's complete abandonment and in 1962 the newly-formed Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, a Registered Charity, began the largest civil engineering project ever undertaken by volunteers.
Much of the canal had become dry and reverted to scrub; aquatic wildlife had virtually disappeared. The canal's 87 miles (140 km) included 86 derelict locks, 344 rotting lock gates, leaking canal bed, crumbling aqueducts, abandoned pumping stations, wharves, bridges, buildings and the unique flight of 29 locks at Devizes which had fallen into total disrepair. Of the 86 derelict locks, one, Monkey Marsh, on the Kennet navigation, was rebuilt as a replica of an 1830's turf-sided lock. The rebuild began in March 1988 under a job creation scheme organised and funded through the Berkshire Consortium consisting of Berkshire County Council, Newbury District Council, Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and British Waterways. The main construction work was completed by mid-July 1990, just in time to ensure the re-linking of Reading to Newbury by water as part of the whole canal re-opening programme.
Now the Kennet and Avon Canal is re-opened to navigation, we hope that many people will enjoy using this waterway, exploring on foot or by boat the remarkable engineering triumphs achieved over the last 40 years, not the least the complete rebuild of Monkey Marsh lock. We hope that you will enjoy this account of our endeavours, published in 1991.
The Kennet and Avon Canal restoration programme, started in the early 1960s, culminated with the grand canal re-opening by Her Majesty the Queen on 8th August 1990 at Devizes.
Passing through some of southern England's most beautiful valleys from Bristol to Reading the 'Sleeping Beauty' gradually declined between the wars, and was closed to traffic in 1951. In 1955 popular opposition prevented the canal's complete abandonment and in 1962 the newly-formed Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, a Registered Charity, began the largest civil engineering project ever undertaken by volunteers.
Much of the canal had become dry and reverted to scrub; aquatic wildlife had virtually disappeared. The canal's 87 miles (140 km) included 86 derelict locks, 344 rotting lock gates, leaking canal bed, crumbling aqueducts, abandoned pumping stations, wharves, bridges, buildings and the unique flight of 29 locks at Devizes which had fallen into total disrepair. Of the 86 derelict locks, one, Monkey Marsh, on the Kennet navigation, was rebuilt as a replica of an 1830's turf-sided lock. The rebuild began in March 1988 under a job creation scheme organised and funded through the Berkshire Consortium consisting of Berkshire County Council, Newbury District Council, Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and British Waterways. The main construction work was completed by mid-July 1990, just in time to ensure the re-linking of Reading to Newbury by water as part of the whole canal re-opening programme.
Now the Kennet and Avon Canal is re-opened to navigation, we hope that many people will enjoy using this waterway, exploring on foot or by boat the remarkable engineering triumphs achieved over the last 40 years, not the least the complete rebuild of Monkey Marsh lock. We hope that you will enjoy this account of our endeavours, published in 1991.