SP6989 : Weight Limit Plate, Foxton Canal Museum
taken 2 years ago, near to Foxton, Leicestershire, England

Displayed adjacent to SP6989 : Weight Limit Plate, Foxton Canal Museum.
Inscription includes: Heavy Motor Car & Five Tons
Milestone Society National ID: LE_FOXTON02br
These images are from Link
The Grand Union Canal was formed from an amalgamation of several formerly separate canals. Until the 1920s these had been independently owned and operated. The original part of the system was the Grand Junction Canal between Braunston and Brentford, constructed to reduce the route from the Midlands to London by sixty miles. This had locks fourteen feet wide, many branches to major towns and broad beam boats carrying up to seventy tons. Earlier linking canals were built with seven foot wide locks.
The Regent's Canal acquired the Grand Junction and other canals in 1929 and created the new Grand Union Canal Carrying Company (GUCCC). In 1932, with government aid, extensive modernisation was carried out, including the widening of 52 locks between Braunston and Birmingham (Camp Hill), and the demolition and replacement of many 18th and early 19th century bridges; then the money ran out - and the World War II started, so the task was never completed.
Waterways absorbed into the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company include:
London area:
Regent's Canal – original company
Hertford Union Canal – bought by the Regent's Canal in 1857
Main Line*:
Warwick and Napton Canal – bought by the Regent's Canal in 1927
Warwick and Birmingham Canal – bought by the Regent's Canal in 1927
Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal – bought by the Regent's Canal in 1927
Grand Junction Canal – bought by the Regent's Canal in 1927
Leicester Line:
Old Grand Union Canal – bought by the Grand Junction in 1894
Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal – bought by the Grand Junction in 1894
Leicester Navigation – bought by the Grand Union in 1932
Loughborough Navigation – bought by the Grand Union in 1932
Erewash Canal – bought by the Grand Union in 1932
*The current main line starts in London and ends in Birmingham (Digbeth), stretching for 137 miles (220 km) with 166 locks.
For more details, a good start is: Link
The 78 mile Oxford Canal links Oxford with the Coventry Canal near Bedworth, via Banbury and Rugby. It connects to the River Thames at Oxford, and even combines with the Grand Union Canal for 5 miles near Braunston.
The canal was constructed in stages over about twenty years from 1769 to 1790. James Brindley surveyed and began the work with Samuel Simcock, but following Brindley's death, Simcock took over. By 1774 the canal had reached Napton, and by 1778, Banbury. Lack of money meant that the final stretch to Oxford was not started until 1786. That took three years and the completed canal was finally opened on 1 January 1790.
Being an early canal, it was built to be contour hugging, avoiding changes of water level wherever possible. As a result of increasing competition from the Grand Union Canal, by the late 1820s it was decided that the meandering course needed reducing in mileage, so the northern section was to be reduced by more than 14 miles. Construction, supervised by Sir William Cubitt, started in 1829, and was finished by 1834. A parallel doubling up of the lock flight at Hillmorton was built and the route was straightened in many places, and a new tunnel at Newbold was dug. Not all the planned improvements were made; the final reduction in mileage being nearer 11 miles.
Evidence of the original course can still be seen by perusing aerial images and OS 1:25000 maps. The section south of Napton was never straightened. The railways had arrived and canal decline had started.
Information reduced from Wikipedia Link