The Wilts & Berks Canal: Restoring a Waterway for Good

The Wilts & Berks Canal is one of southern England’s great canal restoration stories — a lost Georgian waterway being brought back to life for local communities, wildlife and leisure.

The work is led by the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, a registered charity formed in 1977. Its mission is a simple one: “a waterway for good.”

The Wilts & Berks Canal at a glance

Length: 52 miles (84 km) on the original main line
From: Semington, on the Kennet & Avon Canal
To: Abingdon, on the River Thames
Opened: 1810 — Closed: 1914
Restoration led by: the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, since 1977
Organised into: five local branches

Why the canal was built

The reason was thoroughly practical: coal. The towns of Wiltshire and Berkshire needed fuel, and the Somerset coalfields had it in abundance.

Surveyed in 1793 and opened in 1810, the Wilts & Berks Canal ran 52 miles from Semington — on the Kennet & Avon Canal — all the way to the River Thames at Abingdon, passing through Melksham, Royal Wootton Bassett, Swindon and Shrivenham. Branches reached out to Chippenham, Calne and Wantage, and the North Wilts Canal struck north to join the Thames & Severn Canal near Cricklade.

For a few decades it thrived, carrying coal one way and corn the other. But the Great Western Railway, opening in 1841, was faster and cheaper. Traffic fell away, and when an arch of the Stanley Aqueduct collapsed in 1901 the canal was severed for good. It was formally abandoned in 1914.

Why restore it?

A century on, the vision is for far more than a boating route. The restored Wilts & Berks Canal is intended to be:

A green corridor for wildlife and biodiversity
A place to walk, cycle and enjoy the water
A community asset woven through the towns and villages it passes
A living link to the region’s industrial heritage

More than eight miles have already been re-watered, and new lengths of canal are being built directly into modern housing developments. The work is delivered on the ground by five local branches, each looking after its own stretch of the route.

Restoration Video’s

The five branches of the Wilts & Berks Canal

1. Melksham, Chippenham, Calne, Foxham & Lyneham (MCCFL)

This branch covers the western end of the canal — from Semington, at the junction with the Kennet & Avon Canal, eastwards to Wick Bridge near East Tytherton, and on towards Royal Wootton Bassett.

Key site: Pewsham Locks — a restoration hub with three locks, a dry dock, saw pit, carpenters’ workshop and a lime kiln
Achievements: around 1.5 miles of towpath reopened; active “clean and dirty boots” work-party teams
Wildlife: roughly 100 bird boxes monitored along the canal corridor
Restoration around Foxham and Dauntsey Lock is supported by the Wessex Waterways Restoration Trust

2. Royal Wootton Bassett

Centred on Templars Firs, this branch is home to one of the very first stretches of the Wilts & Berks Canal to be restored and re-watered, back in 1995.

A focus for public boat trips, events and family visits
A popular, accessible spot to see restored canal in water
A showcase for what the wider restoration is working towards

3. Swindon

The Swindon branch looks after the canal through the town — once a village on the route, later a great railway town.

Key sites: the restored section at Wichelstowe / East Wichel, built alongside new housing; navigable water from King’s Hill to Wichelstowe
Boat trips: the Dragonfly trip boat runs weekends from Easter to September, plus Christmas cruises
Visitor Centre: a Canal Visitor Centre in Swindon offers information, secondhand books and puzzles
Work parties: most Wednesdays and Sundays
The vision: a new route south of the town, passing near M4 junction 15, reconnecting with the original line near Shrivenham and eventually running north along the old North Wilts Canal

4. West Vale

The West Vale branch covers the Vale of White Horse, taking in Wantage, Grove, East Challow, Shrivenham and Longcot — the area served by the historic Wantage branch of the canal.

A largely rural stretch rich in heritage and wildlife
Focused on protecting the historic line and reconnecting communities along the Vale

5. East Vale & Abingdon

This branch covers the eastern end of the canal, around Abingdon, where the Wilts & Berks Canal originally met the River Thames.

Key site: Jubilee Junction, a newer connection to the River Thames near Culham
The gateway between the canal and the wider Thames waterway network

The obstacles ahead

Restoration on this scale takes decades, and real challenges remain:

The M4 motorway — the single biggest barrier, cutting across the historic line
Swindon — taking the canal through the town is estimated at around £50 million
Melksham — much of the original course has been lost to housing, so the plan involves routing the canal through the River Avon and building around two miles of new waterway with a towpath and cycleway

How you can help

The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust runs on the energy of its members and volunteers. You can get involved through:

Restoring the Wilts & Berks Canal is, in every sense, a community endeavour — a Georgian waterway being rebuilt, lock by lock and mile by mile, as a waterway for good.