Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, of Great Britain/Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal

by Joseph Priestley

ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH CANAL.

34 George III. Cap. 93, Royal Assent 9th May, 1794.

This canal commences from the Coventry Canal, at Marston Bridge, three miles south of the town of Nuneaton, all in the county of Warwick, and after proceeding in a north-easterly direction, for about five miles, it crosses Watling Street, at the Plough Inn, where it enters the county of Leicester. A mile further, there is a cut of two hundred yards in length, to Hinckley Wharf, one mile from the town of Hinckley. Hence the canal proceeds in a northerly direction by Shenton Hall: crossing Bosworth Field, and leaving the town of Market Bosworth a mile to the east, it continues its course to Shackerston, where it crosses the River Sence, passing, on the north of Gopsall Hall, to Snareston Tunnel; a mile beyond which it enters a detached portion of the county of Derby: passing through the village of Measham, it makes a considerable detour, and again enters Leicestershire, near Donisthorpe, and terminates at Oakthorpe Fire Engine, on Ashby Wolds, one mile north-west of the Moira Baths, in the parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

This canal is twenty-six miles and a half in length, and level throughout. It was, together with several railways branching from it, constructed under the authority of an act of parliament, entitled, 'An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal, from the Coventry Canal, at or near Marston Bridge, in the parish of Redworth, in the county of Warwick, to a certain Close in the parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the county of Leicester; and for continuing the same from thence, in one Line, to the Lime Works, at Ticknall, in the county of Derby; and in another Line, to the Lime Works, at Cloudhill, in the said county of Leicester, with certain Cuts or Branches from the said Canal.'

The proprietors of this canal are incorporated under the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal," with power to raise £150,000, in fifteen hundred shares of £100 each, and a further sum of £50,000, if the proper execution of the canal and other works should require it.

TONNAGE RATES.

	d.
For Coal, Lime and Slate	1¼	per Ton, per Mile.
Iron-stone, Building-stone, Grinding-stone, Lime-stone, Bricks and Tiles, and for all Cattle, Sheep, Swine and other Beasts.	¾	ditto. ditto.
For Cotton, Wool, Hops, Corn, Timber, Bark, Wrought Iron, Cheese, &c	2	ditto. ditto.

Fractions to be paid as for Half a Mile and as for Half a Ton.

Dung, Ashes, Marl, Clay for Manure, Gravel, Sand, &c. for the purpose of making or repairing any public or private Road, are exempt from Toll.

Boats, only half the Width of the Locks, are to pay for Twenty Tons, unless Two shall pass together; then, not less than Ten Tons each.

By a Clause in the Act, the Coventry Canal Company are entitled to Five-pence per Ton for all Coals, Goods, and Merchandize, carried out of, or into, this Canal, from the Coventry, Oxford, or Grand Junction Canals.

Corn, or other Grain; Sheep, or other Cattle; Iron-stone or Wrought Iron, got or made upon the Banks of the Canal; Dung, Ashes, Marl for Manure, Gravel, Sand, and Stone for Roads, are exempt from the charge of Five-pence per Ton to the Coventry Canal Company.

It appears, that by arrangement with the Leicester Navigation Proprietors, and as an Indemnification for the great Expense they have been at in constructing Railways, &c. to the Coal Works on Thringstone Common, and to those in the parishes of Swannington and Coleorton, that they shall receive Two Shillings and Sixpence per Ton for all Coal, which shall pass a certain place in the lordship of Blackfordby, about Three Miles west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, to be carried on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal.

The estimate for the whole of the proposed works, made by Messrs. Jessop and Whitworth, February 24th, 1794, amounted to £138,238; but the estimate from Ashby Wolds, to the Coventry Canal, was only £27,316, 11s. 4½d.

The line was set out by Mr. Robert Whitworth, and the whole length was opened in May, 1805.

It is worthy of remark, that the level, from Ashby Wolds, continues uninterrupted along the whole length of this canal, the Coventry, and part of the Oxford Canal, to Hill Morton, a distance of full seventy miles. The company are under a penalty of £50,000 if they abstract any water from the Gopsall Park Estate, or in any way deteriorate the same.

The principal object of this navigation is the export of the produce of the extensive coal and lime works in the neighbourhood of Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

When authority was first obtained, for the making of this canal, it was the intention of the company to have continued the canal to the places mentioned in the title of the act, which would have made the total length of canal about fifty miles, with 252 feet of lockage. They, however, adopted railways for all the branches where lockage was necessary.

RAILWAYS CONNECTED WITH THIS CANAL.

The railway to Ticknall Lime Works, commences at the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal, three quarters of a mile south-west of the village of Willesley, in the county of Derby, and at the distance of two miles and a half, passes through the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. One mile and a half further, the railway passes under a tunnel, at the end of which the Cloudhill Branch commences; and one mile and three quarters further it enters Derbyshire: whence it is rather more than two miles and a half to Ticknall Lime Works, making the whole distance from the canal eight miles and a half.

The Cloudhill Branch Railway, commencing from the tunnel on the Ticknall Railway, runs in a westerly direction for one mile and a quarter, where a railway, more than half a mile in length, branches northwards to a colliery. A quarter of a mile further, there is another branch, running southwards, about three hundred yards, to a colliery near Park Wood. From hence it takes a northerly course, passing to the west of the village of Worthington, to the Cloudhill Lime Works, a distance of two miles and three quarters, where it terminates. The total distance of this branch is four miles and a quarter.

There is also a railway, of half a mile in length, from a colliery near Moira, to the canal, opposite the Moira Baths.