Bridges Bridges over the canal

Ongoing Project It is intended to expand this section to include items of interest along the route of the canal. Eventually all bridges across the canal may be included. As new pages are added they may become a useful guide to the canal. See the list of bridges (below) for more information.

If it proves possible, it is intended to add pages on the Surrey bridges and canal tour. This should then provide a complete tour of the whole canal. Meanwhile, pages at the western end of the Hampshire section will be added until this section is complete. Ready are the pages on all the bridges in Hampshire up to Greywell Tunnel. Then will follow those beyond the tunnel, and on to Basingstoke, where the canal used to end.   Among the most attractive features on any canal are the brick-arch accommodation bridges.     Often found in remote parts of the waterway, they served to link small communities whose tracks and footpaths were severed when the navigation was cut.     They have a particular importance on the Basingstoke Canal because of its rural nature and lack of other canal architecture, such as warehouses or other industrial buildings, associated with the majority of inland waterways.     The value of restoring accommodation bridges was emphasized dramatically when the Canal Society undertook the restoration of two brick built bridges long disused and derelict.

These were Broad Oak Bridge near Odiham, and Cowshot Manor Bridge on the Deepcut flight at Pirbright, both of which had been reduced to eyesores. Cowshot Manor Bridge in June 1973 [photo: P.Bond]     When the canal was being built all the accomodation bridges were of brick-arch construction. With the increase in traffic and the requirements of modern roads a number have since been replaced, those during the years of dereliction at a lower than desirable headroom for comfortable navigation. The lowest on the canal is that at Reading Road, Fleet, with a navigation headroom of a little over 5 feet.     Since the restoration of the canal, and its Royal re-opening in 1991, work on bridges, when necessary to rebuild or repair, has been carried out with due regard for the canal's heritage, maintaining navigation headroom and widening where necessary. NEXT - Dredging Tour of the Canal Until the Surrey section has been completed, the canal tour, East to West, begins at the county boundary at the Blackwater River. A list of bridges on the canal provides links to available pages on individual bridges.   BACK

Last updated Sept 04, Jan 06