Narrowboat to Inglesham

Friday, 01 April 2011 17:43

Inglesham is about as far as a narrowboat can go on the upper River Thames. Here at the junction of the Severn and Thames Canal there is just room to turn.

Round House and cottage at the junction

Other boats can and do go further up the Thames to Cricklade and when we walked there the other day we saw a cruiser coming downstream. The IWA Inglesham Lock Appeal aims to restore and recommission Inglesham Lock with the ultimate aim of the canal being restored by the Cotswold Canals Trust.

Today we boated to Inglesham and tested the winding hole!

The Severn and Thames Canal was built in 1789 to meet the Stroudwater Navigation and take the Severn Trows from Wallbridge in Stroud to Brimscombe Port where the cargo was transhipped onto Thames Barges for the onward journey to the Thames.

Approaching Inglesham Junction

Sadly the railway put paid to the canals, despite a short lived reopening by the Cotswold Canals Trust in 1899. Gloucester County Council reopened it again and for the early years of the 1900s it stayed open - with many stoppages due to leaks. The Thames and Severn canal was formally abandoned by 1933. The Stroudwater navigation lasted a little longer - 1954. Now there are various riparian owners, Sapperton tunnel has collapsed and swing bridges fixed, locks are filled in and the line of the canal is only just visible.

Inglesham Lock gates through bridge

The Round House (one of five on the canal) and the land around it is now owned privately and fenced off so we were glad we walked down to take some photos.

The Round House through the trees from the River Coin

Cruiser at the Junction

We winded with our bows just into the unnavigable River Coin that comes into the Thames from the west. The Thames turns towards the south and the canal goes roughly south west! The flow from the Coin turned the bows but John had to watch the stern carefully as there is a large sandbank on the inner corner. It is just visible in the photo below. We also just missed a couple of trees at the front! A longer narrowboat might have had "a bit of trouble".

Inglesham Junction, click on photo to enlarge

We took our last look back, wondering if we would ever emerge at the junction from the Thames and Severn Canal onto the Thames.

Footbridge to a seven-stiles path back to Lechlade