SP3379 : Warehouses, Coventry Canal basin
taken 3 years ago, near to Coventry, England
The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England. Which starts in Coventry and ends 38 miles (65 km) north at Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It also has connections with the Oxford Canal, the Ashby Canal, and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.
The canal starts at Coventry Canal Basin. The unusual, Y-shaped basin was initially constructed and opened in 1769 and later enlarged to its current form in 1788. It is situated just north of Coventry City Centre and just outside the city's inner ring road. Many of the buildings and the site were restored between 1993 and 1995. A footbridge over the ring road gives pedestrians access from the basin to the town centre.
The Coventry Canal enabling Act was passed in 1768 to connect Coventry with the Trent and Mersey Canal. Coventry to Bedworth was completed in 1769 for the revenue earning coal traffic but by 1771 when the canal reached Atherstone all authorised capital had been spent and James Brindley the first engineer was sacked. The canal didn't reach Fazeley, 12 miles short of its intended terminus, until 1790. The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal continued along the proposed line of the Coventry Canal to Whittington brook. The Trent and Mersey Canal (Grand Trunk Canal Co.) completed the section to Fradley and later sold it to the Coventry Canal which explains the disjointed section. It was one of the most profitable canals ever built in Britain paying dividends up to 1947. Coventry basin to Fradley junction is 38 miles with 13 locks.