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In this fourth section of the canal walk, we continue along Stroudwater Navigation. Although the canal is in working condition along most of this section it is not yet connected to any other navigable waterway except for part of the Thames and Severn Canal that we’ll cover later.
This walk is 5.0 km (3.1 miles)
In the previous article we passed under the new Jubilee Railway Bridge and reached The Ocean. (Hint: Click the map icons for larger, draggable and scalable versions. Click the photos for full size, too.)
From the The Ocean to Stonehouse Bridge
This section is 1.3 km (0.8 miles)
The map marker points to The Ocean at the end point of the previous walk. You can access the towpath from the A419 via Court Farm Mews, but if you arrive by car I suggest parking on Baker’s Drive or one of the roads connected to it. You can walk past St Cyr’s church to the canal, and cross the Ocean swing bridge to reach the towpath. All of this will be clear if you expand the map.
While you’re in this area you might like to walk through the nature conservation area. There are good views of the canal from Nutshell Bridge as well, accessible by footpath from the towpath (more on that shortly) or from the churchyard. When you are ready, walk east along the towpath, leaving The Ocean behind and passing under Nutshell Bridge.
There is no direct access to the bridge from the towpath, but about 60 m beyond the bridge, look for a narrow footpath leading away from the canal. If you want to access the bridge from here, take this footpath, turn right onto a similar path at the four-way crossing, then right again to cross the bridge. Retrace your steps to return to the towpath. Next you’ll pass Boakes Drive (photo below) where modern, brick-built homes have enhanced surroundings provided by the canal, you might even see boats in the canal at this point, although currently they can only travel moderate distances.
A little further on again you pass under Stonehouse Bridge with its murals. This modern bridge carries the Stonehouse to Leonard Stanley, Dursley and Nailsworth road. It was built by Gloucestershire County County in 1999.
Stonehouse to Ebley Mill
This section is 2.0 km (1.2 miles)
After one further bridge and some woodland on the left bank, look out for ‘Skew Bridge’. This is an old iron Midland Railway bridge that crosses over the canal at an angle (hence ‘skew’). The railway was closed in 1966 and now the bridge carries a cycle route. Immediately after Skew Bridge, the A419 passes over the canal, as does Ryford Road North, this time on a fine, slightly humped, stone bridge with a brick parapet (photo above). As you continue, look for the Ryeford footbridge with white, criss-cross pattern sides, and then you’ll pass under the black gantry of a pipeline bridge.
The next point of interest is a little further on; the Ryford double-lock with three lock gates was built to allow a greater rise in a short distance. Walking on from the double lock brings you to a part of the canal undergoing dredging (at the time of writing).
Dredging is an essential form of maintenance because canals typically get shallower over time due to a build up of silt on the bottom. Dredging when necessary restores the full depth of the canal allowing deeper draught vessels to use the canal.
In the event of active dredging, signs will re-route you to the towpath further along to avoid dangerous areas and allow the work to continue uninterrupted.
Passing under Oil Mills Bridge brings you to an attractive housing development with homes and gardens along the opposite bank. After the canal was opened, industry spread to this area (Ebley) from the Stroud direction, you’ll see plenty of evidence for this. The chimney of Ebley Mills is particularly impressive, and even the newer, residential blocks echo the shapes of the warehouses of the past. This is a good place for a coffee and a snack with pleasant indoor and outdoor seating. Cross the Ebley Wharf Bridge to the little square (expand the map, the pointer marks the bridge) and you’ll find Kitsch coffee-bar (K coffee-bar on the sign). Check it out on Trip Advisor or just take my word for it.
One other feature you might wonder about is the single lock gate across the canal, but there’s no lock! It’s part of an ingenious flood-prevention measure, diverting flood water to the River Frome whenever that becomes necessary.
Ebley Mill to Stroud
This section is 1.8 km (1.1 miles)
Now for the final section of this canal walk. Continue walking east from Ebley Mill along the towpath which takes you between the canal and the River Frome. You will pass Queen Elizabeth II Playing Field on your right, quite likely you’ll see the children’s play area with its ‘canal boat’. I walked over to take a look at this, it’s evidently inspired by Stroudwater Navigation and no doubt much enjoyed by younger children.
Hilly Orchard Footbridge is another, black, girder structure on brick piers; the towpath passes underneath. This is followed by Dudbridge Road Bridge carrying the A419; as you walk underneath this large, concrete bridge you’ll see a lot of fine murals painted by local schoolchildren, many of them showing refreshing, young humour at its best. One of my favourites is ‘Ella’s Boat’ making big waves washing over the sides of a bridge. It’s hard to work out which way the boat is moving, but it’s definitely travelling much too fast for the Stroudwater Navigation!
After the A419 bridge and its memorable artwork you will reach Dudbridge Lock and then Foundry Lock. This pair of locks needs further repair after initial restoration some time ago. Several other things are going on here, there’s a turbine generating electricity between the two locks as well as a water discharge to Ruscombe Brook and two weirs. Continuing the walk you will pass Chestnut Lane Bridge and then Lodgemore Lane Bridge, many of the opening bridges can be operated by anyone holding the correct key. With the canal in its present state the bridges rarely need to be opened, but in a few year’s time, when the canal is navigable all the way back to Saul Junction, there will be significant canal traffic and the bridges as well as the locks will need to be used fairly frequently. This will bring new challenges with water supply and traffic management.
As you return to a more industrial area, you will pass through an opening in a dressed-stone wall. As you do so, look carefully at the stonework on the left side of this entrance. The deep, horizontal grooves in the stone were caused by the rubbing of barge tow ropes over many years of use. They are a visible relic of the passing of countless barges, bargees, horses and ropes over a couple of centuries!
Just a short distance more and you will come to a monument by the towpath (open the map below, the marker points to the monument). This is the end of the Stroudwater Navigation. We are now in Stroud where coal from South Wales and the Forest of Dean would have been brought by barge from the north and west bank of the River Severn for use in Stroud’s many spinning and cloth weaving mills. Traditionally these had been water powered, but the arrival of steam power required coal, and this could be obtained more cheaply than before once the canal had been built with some of the cost savings providing profit for the canal owners and barge operators.
The Thames and Severn Canal was constructed to continue the waterway further east to make it possible to take goods from Stroud to Lechlade on the River Thames. It opened in 1789, ten years after the Stroudwater Navigation. The next part in this series will continue eastwards from the shaking hands monument as we explore the Thames and Severn Canal.
Canal walk 4 is complete, so thanks for coming along.
See also:
- Historic maps online – National Library of Scotland
- Map images © OpenStreetMap – OpenStreetMap
- More about the Stroudwater Canal – Cotswold Canals Trust*
- Recent events – The Restoration Blog
- Photos, history and more – Cotswold Canals in Pictures
*This is a great source of canal images, history and all sorts of detail. Highly recommended and well worth exploring!
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