In March 1778, a group of Gentlemen from Hungerford met to discuss plans to extend the River Kennet navigation upstream from its western limit at Newbury an extra 15 miles to Hungerford. Further discussions involving representatives from Marlborough then took place and, before the year was over, a scheme had been born which would eventually link Newbury with Bath and become the Kennet and Avon Canal.

In 1798, the first cargo to be carried from Newbury on the canal arrived at Hungerford. This consisted of dressed stone for a staircase at Chilton Lodge and casks of Russian tallow. Trade continued on this section until, a year later, the next section westwards was ready and both cargoes and passengers were carried as far as the village of Great Bedwyn.

Hungerford wharf was once an important canal trading centre although, due to housing and other developments, little of the original structure remains today. For over a century, the wharf was partially occupied by the building firm of J Wooldridge and Son. When, in 1852, ownership of the canal passed to the Great Western Railway Company, Wooldridge and Son were contracted to maintain the eastern end of the canal from Wootton Rivers to Reading. The company remained in business on the wharf until 1962 but, by then, the canal had become unnavigable.

Some miles east of Hungerford is the village of Froxfield and here also a canal wharf once existed. The site is now mostly covered by the railway embankment but at one time it was a busy centre for trade, and had workshops for both a blacksmith and a cooper located on it. With some searching, it is still possible to see the remains of part of the wharf wall under the trees alongside the canal.

In the 17th century, in the valleys of Wiltshire and Berkshire, the problem that farmers faced of providing feed for their livestock when the hay was used up and spring grass was not yet available was solved by creating water meadows. This was achieved by a network of channels and drains with weirs and hatches that caused water from a stream or river to flow over a meadow and protect it from the frost whilst at the same time encouraging the early growth of young grass shoots. When the canal was being planned, local landowners along the rivers Kennet and Dunn were quick to impress on John Rennie the importance of not disrupting the water meadow system. As a consequence, clauses were included in the Act that authorised the canal to be built, and these carefully specified the way that water meadows were to be protected when the canal was cut across them. In practice these requirements were in the main achieved by diverting the canal around such features or by ensuring the route was kept to higher ground.

Today the channels and hatches of the old water meadows can still be seen, both in the Bedwyn valley and on the north side of the canal between Hungerford and Kintbury.

For further information on the Canal’s history, follow this link to view the Canal Heritage pages.