Opening the Sapperton tunnel

The Thames & Severn Canal tunnel was opened in April 1789. The work was a major engineering achievement at the time.

There had been serious difficulty with the contractor originally chosen to do the work. But now it was complete, and barges were able to move goods of all kinds between London and the River Severn via Oxford, Cirencester and Stroud.

Here’s a short extract from the Gloucester Journal from 4th May 1789.

By a letter from Cirencester, dated the 19th ult., we learn that a great undertaking of conveying a tunnel sixteen feet high and sixteen feet wide, under Sapperton-hill and Hayley-wood (very high ground) for two miles and a quarter in length, through a very hard rock, lined and arched with brick, is entirely completed, and boats were to pass through it on the 21st ult.

By this opening communication is made between the river Severn, at Framiload, and the Thames near Lechlade, and will be continued over the Thames below St. John’s Bridge, and so to Oxford, etc., and London, for conveyance of coals, goods, etc.

It is now navigable from the Severn to Themsford by way of Stroud, Cirencester, Cricklade, being filled with water for the purpose near forty miles.

At the time of its execution the tunnel was considered a great undertaking; old King George III visited and expressed himself astonished with it, and that part of the canal at the east end of the tunnel is called “The King’s Reach,” probably in consequence of the visit.

The opening of the canal did not take place until the month of December, 1789, and the Journal of Monday, the 30th of that month, gives the following description of the event: —” On Thursday last was effected the greatest object of internal navigation in this kingdom. The Severn was united with the Thames by intermediate canal, ascending by Stroud, through the Vale of Chalford, to the height of 343 feet, by locks there entering a tunnel through the hill of Sapperton, for the length two miles and three furlongs, and descending 22 [sic 16] locks, it joined the Thames near Lechlade.

(Read the entire article from Cotswold Canals in Pictures)

See also:

A canal walk through Chalford

Cirencester Wharf

From the web:

• Restoring Lechlade to Saul Junction – Cotswold Canals Trust
• Sapperton Canal Tunnel – Wikipedia
• The Thames & Severn Canal – Inland Waterways Association

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