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UK Counties without canal navigations


Heartland

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The Edward Paget Tomlinson once noted that Dorset did not possess a working waterway although he admitted that the Dorset & Somerset Canal had been partly constructed and had the aim to provide a working waterway in that county.

 

Yet are there other cases such as in Wales or Scotland ?

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5 hours ago, Heartland said:

The Edward Paget Tomlinson once noted that Dorset did not possess a working waterway although he admitted that the Dorset & Somerset Canal had been partly constructed and had the aim to provide a working waterway in that county.

 

Yet are there other cases such as in Wales or Scotland ?

Numerous ones in Scotland. Although a lot fewer if you consider salt water to be a working waterway.

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6 minutes ago, MtB said:

I can't recall any canals in Sussex or Kent.

 

Although the term 'working waterways' used in the question is different from the term used in the thread title. 

 

Or any on the Isle of Wight, come to think about it.

 

 

 

Thames and Medway Canal is in Kent. The canal basin in Gravesend is still just about navigable, and there are few miles still in water between there and Higham

dscf7434.jpg 

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10 minutes ago, MtB said:

I can't recall any canals in Sussex or Kent.

 

Although the term 'working waterways' used in the question is different from the term used in the thread title. 

 

Or any on the Isle of Wight, come to think about it.

 

 

 

Wey and Arun in Sussex, Royal Military Canal in Kent.

 

Alec

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1 minute ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Thames and Medway Canal is in Kent. The canal basin in Gravesend is still just about navigable, and there are few miles still in water between there and Higham

 

I went to school near there. The canal has been built over immediately beyond the basin and is under an industrial estate but the other side of the estate it is very much still present. I used to walk a long way down the road beside it every Wednesday lunchtime to the Sea Training School to play badminton.

 

Alec

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Since when were rivers, canals as per the question?

 

And do those canals you mention still exist in regular navigable use? 

 

 

1 minute ago, David Mack said:

River Adur. River Rother. Kentish Stour. Royal Military Canal. River Medway. Thames and Medway Canal. Wey and Arun Canal. River Arun. And probably quite a few others.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, agg221 said:

I went to school near there. The canal has been built over immediately beyond the basin and is under an industrial estate but the other side of the estate it is very much still present. I used to walk a long way down the road beside it every Wednesday lunchtime to the Sea Training School to play badminton.

 

Alec


Yes, here is the start of the long road; then part of the  sea training school; and then the rather fine pier at Gravesend  (June 2022 photos). There has been some talk of redeveloping the industrial estate and so restoring the canal, but last I heard this was looking unlikely

dsc_7250.jpg

dsc_7252.jpg

 

dsc_7239.jpg

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41 minutes ago, MtB said:

Since when were rivers, canals as per the question?

 

And do those canals you mention still exist in regular navigable use? 

 

 

 

The text of the OP refers to "working waterways" which all of those I named were.

The OP did not specify that such waterways still have to be navigable now.

If you want to limit the discussion to waterways that are still working as their original builders intended, then very few English counties will have "working waterways".

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39 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:


Yes, here is the start of the long road; then part of the  sea training school; and then the rather fine pier at Gravesend  (June 2022 photos). There has been some talk of redeveloping the industrial estate and so restoring the canal, but last I heard this was looking unlikely

It's over 30yrs since I last saw the view in that first photograph. It hasn't changed!

 

Alec

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17 hours ago, Heartland said:

The Edward Paget Tomlinson once noted that Dorset did not possess a working waterway although he admitted that the Dorset & Somerset Canal had been partly constructed and had the aim to provide a working waterway in that county.

 

Yet are there other cases such as in Wales or Scotland ?

 It also depends on how you define county! EPT's book was pre-1974 so if we take those as "proper counties" then very few didn't have a working waterway of some kind. Dorset doesn't have what one might regard as a navigable inland waterway although boats can get into Poole Harbour and can get quite a way up the river Stour to moorings in Christchurch. 

Although the Dorset and Somerset was started, none of the work undertaken was done in Dorset, it was all between Frome and Nettlebridge in Somerset

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1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

If we're talking navigable canals I don't think Durham, Nothumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Suffolk or Dorset ever had a navigable canal. If we allow non-tidal rivers and lakes then I think we're down to Durham, Northumberland and Dorset, but stand to be corrected

The Lancaster Canal's northern terminus was in Kendal, Westmorland.

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