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The State of the Canal in Swindon

In latter years, the Wilts & Berks Canal and North Wilts Canal in Swindon became so stagnant that the local authorities demanded that they improve or face closure. Eventually, it was Swindon Corporation that obtained an Act of Parliament to close the canals in 1914.

Outside of Swindon, however, these canals did serve a useful purpose in land drainage and water supply long after canal transport ceased, and there were fewer voices calling for their closure on sanitary grounds; indeed, there were calls to nationalise the canals to keep them open.

Related Articles

1864: The Drought and the Canal

1879: Fishing

1880: Sewage Disposal into the canal at Swindon

1891: Tender for dredging the Canal

1897: Proposed Closing of Wilts & Berks Canal

1906: Letter to the Editor - Christmas in Swindon 

1906: Cleaning the Canal in Swindon

1907: M.P. on State Ownership

1908: Medical Health Report

1911: Swindon Town Council

1911: An American in Swindon

1913: Swindon's Derelict Canal

1918: Cultivation of the Canal

1918: The filling in of the Canal

1918: A Dream of a Letter to the Editor - written in 1928

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