Just a few miles over Hampshire's northern border with Wiltshire is the beautiful Kennet & Avon Canal, a continuous waterway joining the River Thames at Reading to the River Avon at Bath. The 57-mile long canal joining these two rivers was completed in 1810. The Great Western Railway took over the running of the Kennet & Avon in 1846, maintenance standards declined and traffic was discouraged by high tolls. By the start of the last century, little canal traffic remained and declined even more with the increase in road traffic after the end of the First World War. In the early 1950s parts of the canal closed when some of the locks fell into a dangerous condition, and more followed through disuse and its future was threatened by closure. This inspired the founding of what is now called the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and in 1956 they successfully fought against the closure of the canal.
The newly-formed British Waterways Board took over responsibility for the canal in 1963 and a number of restoration projects were begun with the assistance of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust. The first phase of the restoration project finished in 1990 when Her Majesty the Queen declared the canal re-open to navigation. Although open between Bristol and Reading, there still remains much to be done to complete the canal's full restoration.            Photo: David Packman

A contrast in style and speed - A boat pulls into the Sam Farmer lock near Crofton on its journey towards Newbury, while a few yards away a First Great Western high speed train heads towards London.

Photo: David Packman

Sam Farmer was an agriculturalist and philanthropist who lived at Little Bedwyn Manor between 1874 and 1926. In 1987 the Sam Farmer Trust provided funds towards the restoration of the lock.

Photo: David Packman

Photo: David Packman

A relic of the Second World War, this pillbox is one of many that were built along the line of the canal.

Photo: David Packman

Some of the Canada Geese that use the canal as a convenient watering hole and food source.

Photo: David Packman

Great Bedwyn Wharf is on the south east of the village. The Kennet & Avon canal was opened from Hungerford to Great Bedwyn in 1799, from Great Bedwyn to Devizes in 1809.       Photo: David Packman

Photo: David Packman

The tow path and one of the many cottages that line the canal.                           Photo: David Packman

One of the hundreds of geese that live on the canal.                                           Photo: David Packman

Long lenghts of the canal run parallel to the main railway line to the south west. Above, a First Great Western train passing Crofton Pumping Station. For more pictures of Crofton Pumping Station please click on the image above. There will be more photographs of the Kennet Avon Canal, from Little Bedwyn to Oak Hill Down on November 1st.

Photo: David Packman