can a single structure be responsible for the entire destruction and abandonment of a canal a 52
mile long canal join us today as we try and find out my name is Paul and I'm Rebecca and I'm Matt
did did you did you invite I didn't invite him
right no potty mouth this time all right no insulting the entire population
we told a number of stories now from the wilts and Berts Canal the 52 mile long connection that was
built during Canal Mania opened in 1810 spanning from semington down in Wiltshire up to Abingdon
with its connection to the Thames this won't be the last story We Tell from its topaz but
it was certainly the last story for the Wilkes and Barks Canal itself today's question can be
answered completely within this one shot and as we slowly pan backwards everything we need
comes into view in this one shot so how exactly can this spot cause a closure of the canal a
junction with its Branch down to calne two locks and an aqueduct let's try and find out [Music] The
Marden as you can see was flowing very high today and because a lot of the fields around here were
flooded meant that we had to come in from the junction side and work our way back towards
the aqueduct closest to the river that worked out quite well for the story anyway so one one
place we can't get to is Stanley Junction which is about 100 yards that way we're very close to
the junction we think this here is the site of Stanley top block now we know this is filled in
you can tell from the lidar the farmer told us it's also filled in but right there you can see
the taper of the the brickwork on the bottom of that lock down there you've just got a huge pipe
which presumably allows the water this Brook certainly in this weather to allow the water
down into the river Marden so right there you would have seen a very impressive lock [Music]
looking at the map it looks like there is a bridge first now all down here there's all
this lovely masonry hidden away and highly likely you're able to Moor up here if you were waiting
to get in the lock ahead of you certainly all this here looks very um straight edged to allow
a reasonably long vessel and then on the same part of the Walling there we found this which
we assume was part of that bridge just before the top lock okay now we're going to um head
further down this way and I can already see it ahead of us about 50 yards what looks to
be Stanley bottom log it's quite spectacular how long I can stay in the canal for though [Music]
I have some stood now on the top end of Stanley bottom lock and uh in terms of scary sights
you can see down into the look at how well it'll come out on camera but it's incredibly bowed you
can see from the top of the Gap looks about three foot and uh incredibly dangerous you
wouldn't want to be down there especially in this weather that's highly liable that
a uh a further collapse Could Happen um but it is everything to see here you've got the
uh the place where the the sluice would have taken the water down and in there and filled
the lock itself another one right behind me as well just a really really gorgeous sight
so the Wilts and Berks Canal opened by 1810 sections of it were open before that and like
many canals it saw its Heyday in that period thereafter when this Canary itself ironically
helped build the railway that would then take away its main core of traffic that main core
being coal from the somerset coal Fields inwards up towards Abingdon and a little bit of trade
going the other way but not a lot I think it was more agricultural going the other way [Music]
you can tell why it subsided you've got huge structures of brick here and the land next
to where the lock would have been here has sunk her down around about two feet down so we avoid
the brambles right here we're about a foot and a half lower than what we should be we should
be level with the canal so the wall has been pushed out this is sunk down um thereafter and
here you've only got three foot section on the top of the canal and you can see that Gap you
almost saw that you could just jump across it wouldn't want to do that fairly obvious reasons
[Music] walking to the bottom of Stanley bottom not now and how is it possible
that a one structure can be responsible for the entire destruction of a can have
the entire abandonment of this canal well as I said 1850s onwards this canal saw a lot of
significant traffic to the railway so already by that stage it was uh struggling economically
so 50 years on from that point in fact 1901 the Stanley Aqueduct was breached and what that
meant is disaster for a significant chunk of the canal from here all the way down towards melksham
explain the reason why in a second when we get to the aqueduct and the structure in question
well this is probably as far in as I'm prepared to go and can hopefully
make out by the shots we've taken the pieces we've taken of how bold that is
there and what I was talking about up the top makes for a very beautiful picture a little
waterfall at the end of Walker skating into the lock and uh yeah there's some work here
to be done in the future should this open as uh I probably haven't mentioned yet but the Wilkes and
box Canal Trust are making some good headwear to a lot of different projects and I should
imagine here is one of those projects that will be uh on the cards fairly soon [Music]
so Rebecca's taking the high road on the canal path I'm about to jump over a little Brook
Matt and I are going to try and walk down the canal towards the aqueduct
that we've been harping on about and that is the structure in question
that structure was breached in 1901 and no longer economical to repair it and rebuild it but what
that also meant was disaster for the rest of the canal it wasn't past that point already
because the river Marden back at calm were that fed into the canal and gave it its water I think
a significant chunk of the the length of the canal I was fed by the river modern here so
in the Stanley Aqueduct being breached and uh collapsing well that meant that the rest of the
canal down towards melksham was pretty much out of water and therefore unusable [Music]
ow scrubbles look at the farmer traps uh set some traps for us so the other YouTubers just
sort of corpses lying around right so we knew we were close to the river Martin and
here is ahead of us the aqueduct or what remains of the aqueduct and uh
as with the lock back there we've got masonry sides to this Aqueduct and uh yeah definitely
don't want to end up in the river modern today so we need to be super careful
um now we tried ahead of us but here is a site of the structure that was in responsible for the
entire abandonment of the Wilson Barts Canal maybe a bit of a strong phrase for it but in essence it
is we've been told by the lovely farmer chap that uh invited us here over this side is where that
breach happened um coming on so part of the brook that comes down Canal now here goes down there and
into the river modern that way but this is where the original breach was on the Eastern side of
of the uh of the canal and the aqueduct itself so this
right here is a spot where the breach occurred [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
right so we've just stepped away from the aqueduct itself and we're in a field now next to the canal
Max has made a really good point in terms of the undulating nature of this area of land look
up there I know it's like a 10 20 meter Hill ahead of us we've got this massive embankment
here next to us it's like a railway embankment it's so big and then it goes off into the hill
up there and you can see why they needed two locks up before the junction because it's quite
a significant Hill there but this is like it's like a railway structure it's hugely significant
imagine the workforce it would have gone into this and then built the aqueduct just back there
so this has been the the story of the the end of the wilts and box Canal the story of its
abandonment and the reason why and it's because of the aqueduct there it was missing so that's
the end of today's Journey big thanks to the the very kind farmer that um allowed us permission
to come and walk on the canal that crosses his land thanks to Matt for joining us in his usual
Canal point I can't even see the sun's so bright I can't see you two so yeah come come in thanks
for that for his usual historian um get closer closer hi um you'd be surprised how many video
ideas I steal off of Matt's a fair credit to Matt anything Canal related I completely plagiarized
and say yeah thanks man and we'll see you this time next week 5 PM go in the meantime [Music]