The Arun Navigation
As previously mentioned in the introduction, the Arun Navigation Company was formed in 1785 with a share capital of £10,000 divided into £100 shares and the subscription was quickly taken up. So with the capital the company, having decided a course for the canals, started the digging of the canals and the building of three locks. The upper section of the canal between Pallingham and Newbridge Wharf was opened on 1st August 1787 without any ceremony. However in the autumn of that year the work on the lower section between Coldwaltham and Hardham (the Coldwaltham Cut) had to be discontinued until further funds could be raised and it was not until the summer of 1790 that the 375 yard (343 m) and 13 foot high tunnel running under Hardham Hill and the Roman road of Stane Street was opened and the distance between Arundel and Newbridge was shortened by three miles.
The new artificial cut of 4.5 miles (7.2 km) between Pallingham and Newbridge crossed the river by via Orfold Aqueduct at Lordings Lock near Wisborough Green. An undershot waterwheel of a design unique on the waterway system was built into the aqueduct. Driven by the flow of the river this had scoops on the back of the blades which raised a small proportion of the flowing water into the higher canal.
Seal of the Arun Navigation Company
Sketch of Hardham Tunnel: 1868
Reconstructed Orfold (Lordings) Lock with waterwheel on the left: 2009
Southern end of the Hardham Tunnel: 2009
Sketch of Houghton Bridge in 1863. Replaced by new bridge in 1875.
The way the proprietors hoped to make money was by charging tolls for using the river and the canal. Maximum toll rates had been fixed by Act of Parliament at a maximum of 4d a ton-mile or 2d for manure (See Wikipedia for pre-decimal coinage ).
There were also a plethora or different rates levied on different goods depending where they were carried to and from. Another example was, in order to encourage the coal trade, the Arun Navigation Company in June 1819 reduced its charge from 3s to 2s 6d per chaldron of coal (London Chaldron = around 28 cwt, or 3,136 lb (1,422 kg).) on traffic bound from Littlehampton to Elm Bridge Wharf, Cranleigh or 2s if unloaded at Bramley.
There was also a separate charge levied by those vessels using the Coldwaltham Cut which went through Hardham Tunnel, a much complained about levy as the much longer way round the loop in the river Arun was not always navigable and larger masted vessels could not use it as there were two low bridges on it.
Also as the other two canals were opened through rates were charged for cargo moving through more than one of the river navigations. One example was all merchandise carried between Portsmouth and the Thames through the Wey and Arun could be charged at 4s 6d a ton. There were also reciprocal arrangements such as the undertaking by the Portsmouth & Arundel to only charge 3d a ton-mile for goods passing from the Wey and Arun.
Tolls, of course, varied with time and were usually lowered to attract customers or, later on, to try and compete with the railways. For an example of tolls charged on both The Arun Navigation and The Wey and Arun Junction Canal go the Tolls Charged Page.
Finally the limit of the proprietors jurisdiction was between Newbridge and Houghton as defined by the Act of Parliament of 1785 but the river was, by Ancient Royal Charter, toll free up to Pallingham and no toll had ever been charged. When proposing the original bill to Parliament the sponsors of the bill had wanted to levy tolls from Houghton upwards, but after protests by the inhabitants of Pulborough and adjacent parishes to the effect that this stretch of the river had always been toll free, the imposition of tolls was rejected and the river was to remain toll free between those points ‘even if locks have to be, in time, erected between Houghton and Greatham Bridge’. Something of an extra burden on the company.
From being originally a route mainly for shipment of timber from Arundel to Pallingham in the 16th Century it had evolved considerably. Firstly, with the canal extension to Newbridge new markets were opened up and a wharf was built at Newbridge for the storage and distribution of goods though without a connection to London trade remained more, though not entirely, a local affair.
The Arun Navigation Company running the Arun Navigation was also a very local affair with just a few local people, mostly landowners, owning the shares. In 1816 the Wey and Arun Junction Canal opened and along with it new opportunities for trade and profit but by 1820, although trade was reasonable no dividend had been paid out for 25 years as the profits made had been used to to pay off the original mortgage. Dividends were resumed, briefly, in 1821 but any hope of regular dividends were quickly dashed.
In 1818 John Rennie, a well respected civil engineer, pronounced that the Arun was ‘a very bad navigation and barges navigating it experience great detention from the floods in winter and droughts in summer’. So in order to take advantage of the prospect of substantial through traffic to London, not just from the opening of the Wey & Arun but also from the building of the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal, the Bill for which was passed in 1817, action needed to be taken. If the Arun Navigation Company wanted to charge 1s 6d a ton, instead of 1s, on traffic passing between the two navigations improvements needed to be made. An initial list of improvements needed was drawn up in 1818 but as the the building of the Portsmouth and Arundel was delayed no work was done.
A further survey by James Hollinsworth in the summer of 1820 came up with a slightly amended set of proposals and in May 1821 the second Arun Navigation Act was passed and work was started on in the autumn of that year. Among the long list of work carried out was the raising of the central arch of Stopham Bridge in 1822, deepening the maximum draft of the navigation to 3ft 1in, building a towpath on the east bank of the river round the horseshoe cut at North Stoke to the road at the foot of Burpham chalk pits, erecting guideposts so barges can pass in time of flood, remove shoals along various stretches of the river and quite a few more on top! The estimated cost of the improvements was £4,600 although the final outlay was probably nearer £5,000 and the owners had to borrow £3,000. It was hoped that, with the opening of the Portsmouth and Arundel, this could be quickly paid off and dividends promptly resumed. It was to be ten years before dividends resumed.
But the Arun Navigation was now in a better position to take advantage of any increase in trade and, because of the improvements made, by 1823 cargoes of 40 tons could be carried upriver from Arundel.
Entrance to the Portsmouth & Arundel: c1840
Northern End of the Hardham Tunnel: 2010
Barge No. 64 Below Pulborough Bridge: 1900
The Arun Canal at Newbridge: 2009
The trade on these waterways in West Sussex reached their peak in the 1830’s and the future looked reasonable assured. The 1830’s saw wharves stacked high with timber and coal and the quayside bustling with activity as barges were unloaded. As well as heavy goods such as coal, timber, chalk and manure (as we mustn’t forget that this was mainly a rural navigation unlike their counterparts in the Midlands) lighter goods such as wine and groceries for the village stores were loaded onto carts to be distributed. Anyone visiting the main wharf on the Arun Navigation at Newbridge would have witnessed a scene of great activity, with barges being unloaded, horses waiting patiently whilst their carts are loaded and carted away men, women and children working hard and, in the background, smoke rising from the limekilns burning the chalk bought upriver from Amberley Chalk Pits.
It was also, in 1830 that Arundel reached the height of its prosperity as a port with 45 ships registered. Large quantities of coal from the Welsh coalfields were delivered by lighter to Arundel and off-loaded onto sprit sail barges and carried up to Cranleigh and sometimes as far as Bramley and bringing back stone and timber. Smaller vessels carried the lighter goods such as farm produce and general merchandise and their cargoes rarely exceeded 20 tons. Being less heavy than the coal barges they travelled faster and were sometimes known as ‘fly-boats’, and when on the Portsmouth to London run sometimes travelled day and night using relays of horses.
With all this cargo travelling up and down the navigation local industries began to develop along its banks. As well as the Chalk and limeworks mentioned above a flourishing boat building and repair yard developed at Pallingham. Arundel, obviously, was booming but as the 1830’s progressed its importance started to wane as the importance of the port of Littlehampton started to rise.
Steam crane on the bank, men unloading coal from a barge. Loading cart with coal for lime kilns. C. 1913
There was a lot of chalk moved from the pits at Houghton to canal side wharves where kilns had been established. Also most large farms near the river also had their own kilns as various types of lime can be produced, on being agricultural lime which is a fertilizer for soil. Another type of lime, slaked lime, can be used as an ingredient in whitewash, mortar, plaster, and when hydrated lime is mixed with copper sulphate to make Bordeuax Mixture you get a powerful fungicide used to combat infestations of fungi on farm crops.
Obviously Houghton had its own wharf for the loading of goods and had since the 14th century been quarrying chalk and burning it to create lime. But it wasn’t until early Victorian times that the site really developed into a centre for the quarrying of chalk and burning of lime, using the river first and later the railway and roads for distribution. Originally the chalk was quarried by hand using explosives, and moved by horse and cart. It wasn’t until the mid 20th century that production was mechanised. The earliest kilns found so far are flare kilns, built around the 1850’s. Later these were replaced by bottle kilns and, in 1905 Pepper & Sons constructed a more modern De Witt kiln. In the 19th century several lime producers worked at the chalk pits but by 1876 John & Thomas Cunningham Pepper has bought out all the other producers and expanded their business into the manufacture and distribution of building materials which carried on until 1968 with the last lime being burnt in 1964. The site is now home to the Amberley Working Museum which has many fascinating exhibits on show and is really worth spending some time at.
Cottages and chapel at Houghton Bridge. River Arun in foreground with three moored boats. Railway line with telegraph poles and signal. Chalk cliff in background. c1910
Building the De Witt kiln at Pepper & Sons limeworks, Amberley chalk pits. Brick wall partly built in foreground, chalk cliff at rear. c1905
Horses, Carts and Carters. Line up of horses, carts and carters in Pepper and Son's Chalk Quarry. Railway track is shown in the foreground. c1905
As well as the through trade on the river almost every riverside village boasted a barge-master who kept his local area provided with goods. The navigation even had its own type of barge, the Arundel Barge. No accurate pictures of these barges remain but they were simply rigged with either one or twin masts and lug sails. They were rigged with a sprit and foresail but no mizen and, as a result, were able to carry cargo as far up as Pulborough. They also carried 20-25 foot long gangplanks because the considerable rise and fall in the tide made them necessary in order to reduce the angle of pitch for the barrows used to load and unload them. The barges built at Pallingham were just under 70 feet long with a beam of 12 feet. They had open cargo holds and the crew either slept amongst the cargo and under the stars on warm nights or erected a tent in the hold when the weather was not so clement. It was only when the weather was really bad that they sheltered in the canalside inns. These barges never had cabins above deck as they would have interfered with the low bridges. They were functional and plainly decorated, unlike the gaily painted narrow boats designed for the slimmer canal system of the Midlands.
So with trade booming the Arun Navigation Company was doing well. During the 1830’s toll receipts averaged £1,700, the highest being £2,426 in 1839. Being a relatively small navigation the expenditure on maintaining the infrastructure and repairs were significantly less than the Wey and Arun. This enabled the company to pay a higher dividend to its investors, never paying less than 4% between 1831 and 1866 and averaging 11% between 1831 and 1840. Feeling flush the company decided to improve the facilities at Newbridge and, in 1837, built a cottage for the under-wharfinger (a wharfinger is the keeper or owner of a wharf. The Wharfinger takes custody of and is responsible for goods delivered to the wharf) and in 1839 built a large brick warehouse adjacent to the canal. The company was even willing to supply two horses for ‘gratuitously assisting all wagons carrying coal and lime up the hill’ from the wharf. Finally in 1839 a cut was made at the horseshoe shaped loop in the Arun at South Stoke. This was not done at the behest of the Arun Navigation Company, whose writ run only as far as Houghton Bridge, but by the Commissioners of Sewers who had had such a plan under consideration since 1830. When the intention of making this cut was made in 1838 the Arun proprietors were not in favour unless it reduced flooding even though it would shorten the distance to Arundel by over a mile. However after meetings reluctant agreement was obtained and the cut went ahead.
Not everything was totally rosy though. Complaints about the lack of draught on the Arun Canal re-surfaced again in 1838 and the Company’s maintenance costs increased by £800 in 1839. This lack of draught must have resulted mainly from silting as the canal did not usually have a problem with water as a water wheel had been installed at Orfold (Lordings) Lock and a feeder stream dug from Wisborough Green to supply their navigation. In fact, there was often too much water in the system especially in winter when the Arun usually flooded and water undermined the earthworks and whirled and eddied around the abutments of the bridges. There was also, by now, competition from road haulage. In previous centuries the state of the roads in this area had been appallingly bad and the cost of moving goods was quite high and took a very long time. But between 1814 and 1839 the amount of turnpike roads in Surrey and Sussex had increased by 40% and the road surfaces and modes of transport had improved making the transport of goods by road quicker and the canal owners had to consider reducing their tolls in order to compete more effectively although canal transport remained the faster mode of transport.
The real dark clouds appearing on the horizon were those of the gathering pace of locomotion in the late 1830’s. In 1829 the agent for the Wey Navigation, Charles Hodgson, proposed introducing steam power onto the canals to help combat the projected competition from the railways and had even written a paper and had drawings made for a steam driven barge but none of the proprietors were interested and the project never got off the drawing board. In 1830 the Liverpool and Manchester railway opened heralding a new form of transport, and by 1838 the first steam-hauled trucks to run on rails appeared in Surrey as far south as Woking and on the London & Greenwich line. In 1839 the London & Croydon Railway, which had bought and closed the old Croydon Canal in order to build part of its line along the bed, was opened and the halcyon days of the canals were over.
The first rail bridge at Ford. Open for shipping: 1846
Barnham Station: c1864
The present rail bridge at Ford: 2009
Arundel Station: C1910
Atlantic Class Train on the L.B. & S.C.R. c1906
Train Heading Up the Arun Valley: 2009
Within a decade of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825 serious consideration was being given to a London to Brighton link and in 1835 as many as six projects were laid before parliament for approval. In July 1838 an Act was passed in Parliament for a London to Brighton line but it was not until May 1840 that the first section was opened between Shoreham and Brighton.
Not long after this it was proposed to extend the line westwards towards Portsmouth. Naturally traders and townspeople along the proposed route from Brighton, Bognor and Chichester approved of the idea but there was, obviously, opposition from the navigation companies (though not the Portsmouth & Arundel who had insufficient funds for a legal challenge), big landowners, trustees of turnpike roads between Brighton and Worthing, the Littlehampton Ferry, towns such as Arundel and Petworth who feared a loss of trade and finally the Littlehampton Harbour Commissioners, all who felt their revenues were under threat.
Despite the likelyhood of the success of the Brighton and Chichester Bill in Parliament the Arun Navigation Committee decided to oppose it in the hope of receiving compensation and the clerk of that company had a very busy spring in 1844 writing to various parties seeking support. However, other opposing factions reached agreement with the rail company, including the Dukes of Norfolk and Richmond. In the end the only arguments that could be put forward were that the construction of a rail bridge at Ford would obstruct the progress of large vessels up the Arun, that this bridge would also adversely affect the flow of water and that the line was unnecessary as the existing means of communication in the area were good enough. Unsurprisingly the case for compensation was unsuccessful and the the bill was passed in July 1844, but not without amendment. Various clauses had been inserted relating to the bridge across the Arun concerning its construction, opening and closing, fines for delaying barges and many more! In June 1846 the Shoreham to Chichester line was opened.
Despite the opening of these lines and others further north meaning that both the northern and southern perimeters of the London and Portsmouth water route were circumscribed by railways by 1850 this did not much affect the local traffic on the navigation (nor on the Wey & Arun). What was more worrying was the loss of through traffic from the Wey Navigation which had suffered the most, so far, from the coming of the railways. This resulted in the loss of a third of its receipts between 1840 and 1843. The opening of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1846 did not immediately have a deleterious effect but in 1849 tolls fell by another 20% and by 1852 had fallen by another third. This final fall meant that the Arun Navigation ‘s receipts had fallen below £1,000 for the first time since at least 1820 (possibly 1795). In order to hopefully retain business tolls were reduced but the writing on the wall was becoming ever more clear.
The building of the Mid-Sussex Railway Line (from Horsham to Pulborough and Petworth) in 1859 actually helped increase revenue for the Arun Navigation and even when completed took little traffic away. What proved to be the more fatal blow was the approval, in July 1860, of the L.B. & S.C.R (Deviations) Act, which authorized a new line from
Hardham through the Arun Valley to Ford. The only advantage for the Arun Navigation Company from this was that, in order to avoid the expense of building two new swing bridges across the sharp bend in the Arun at Offham they cut a new channel for the river, reducing the distance, by water, from Bury Wharf to Arundel by three quarters of a mile. August saw another rail bill approved for the extension of the railway from Horsham to Guildford. These lines opened in 1863 and 1865 respectively and meant that both the Arun Navigation and the Wey and Arun Junction Canal were now in direct competition with the railways and looked like being condemned to a minor role in the system of communications in West Sussex and Surrey. Click here for a map of railway growth in Surrey and West Sussex.
As well as the dawning of the rail era, the 1840’s also saw the closing of the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal. By 1840 the trade between Portsmouth and London had virtually ceased and the canal was slowly becoming derelict. In 1847 the barge canal between Hunston and Ford ceased to be commercially used and gradually became unnavigable thus breaking the link between Portsmouth and London permanently, although it was not officially abandoned until much later. This was not much of a blow as the Portsmouth and Arundel had been pretty much a failure from the outset, failing to attract sufficient cargo to make it profitable and the tonnage carried was not great. For more information on this go the the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal section of this site.
The 1850’s and early 1860’s continued to see a slow decline in traffic and revenue. The company was finding it difficult to maintain the infrastructure and pay the wages of its various employees, but they were still in profit even if economies had needed to be made. Then in August 1866 the Management Committee of the Wey and Arun Junction Canal resolved to recommend to the shareholders that the company be wound up. Although that resolution was rejected at the shareholders meeting a Committee of Investigation was set up and, after only four weeks, reported back that they also
thought the Wey & Arun should close. If this happened it would be a big blow to the Arun Navigation as they would loose 4,000 tons of traffic and tolls equivalent to a 2% dividend, which was exactly the dividend that it was paying its shareholders at the time. So eager were they to keep it open that they offered to vote a subsidy of £120 p.a. to the Wey & Arun, this being an amount thought sufficient to keep the Wey and Arun solvent, and for a while it looked as this agreement was going to be accepted . But, in 1867, the deal fell through and after various legal wranglings the Wey and Arun Junction Canal was officially closed on July 22nd 1871 and London lost her only inland water link with the English Channel and the Arun Navigation’s future looked bleak. For more information on this go the the Wey and Arun Junction Canal section of this site.
After the failure in 1867 of the bail-out of the Wey & Arun the Arun Navigation was forced to try and make savings in anticipation of further falls in revenue. Jobs were lost, salaries cut and property and equipment disposed of where possible. In 1874 the Company ceased to act as wharfingers at Newbridge and also declared its final dividend of 1%. Although in 1870 tolls were nearly £500 they had fallen over the next five years to less than £200. Further economies were made but tolls continued to fall and between 1876 and 1885 averaged only £138. In June of 1882 the proprietors took a barge down the whole navigation to assess its condition in order to determine if there was still a future for it. The news was not good, parts of the canal section were beginning to weed up and the infrastructure was beginning to decay. Some farmers complained that the bridges were unsafe even for a horse and cart, with Greatham Bridge coming in for particular criticism. It must be remembered that although tolls could only be charged on the canal sections between Pallingham and Newbridge and on the Coldwaltham Cut through Hardham Tunnel the company was responsible for maintenance all the way down to Houghton Bridge. Expenditure now exceeded income and something needed to be done. In early 1883 a meeting decided to try and keep the canal open although there was no real expectation of a revival. An invitation to landowners and proprietors to subscribe £50 or so for the next two years to help with the costs met with a poor response and between 1853 - 5 only £65 was donated. In 1884 it was again suggested that the company be wound up but no-one seemed willing to bite the bullet and a final attempt at reviving the coal trade was made by reducing tolls yet further from January 1885. This experiment lasted two years but by 1887 the Arun Navigation carried only just over 2,000 tons and tolls dropped to less than £50. Only two barges were left that used the canal section of the navigation.
The centenary year of 1887 saw income of £102 and expenditure of £137. A final appeal to shareholders for contributions met with almost no response and in December of that year notices were put up along the navigation informing people of its impending closure on 1st January 1889.
Despite these notices of closure the navigation did stay open for any traffic which presented itself. However the last barge from Houghton carrying 10 tons of chalk for Lee Farm and 20 tons for
Houghton left on 20th June 1888 and in January 1989 the last barge carrying chalk passed through the Hardham Tunnel. The company was desperate to close the canal and go into liquidation itself. But this was easier said than done. Many landowners did not want to be saddled, without compensation, with maintaining the canal on their land. But in 1890 a new Companies (Winding Up) Act came into force and it was learnt that three years after the last tolls were collected it was possible to apply for a warrant of abandonment. An application was made to the Board of Trade in December 1882. However there were plenty of objectors with various reasons to oppose this and the case rumbled on with the navigation falling into an ever more derelict state. It was not until all objections were overcome and yet another application to the B.o.T in March 1896 was made for a warrant of abandonment. Finally on 23rd September 1896 the paper arrived from the B.o.T. announcing that the navigation was officially abandoned.
After the last barge passed through the Hardham Tunnel it become quite an attraction for the more adventurous Victorians who organized boating parties and expeditions down the derelict navigation with the tunnel an intriguing site of exploration. All this came to an end in 1898 when the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway which was concerned about subsidence decided to block it where the railway lines to Petworth and Arundel crossed. They drilled down to the crown of the tunnel, broke through and tipped chalk and gravel into it until the tunnel was full to the roof. So ended any boating adventures through the tunnel although you can still find the south entrance to it today.
Traffic continued on the lower reaches of the navigation and the principal traffic on the Arun before the First World War in 1914 was between Pulborough and the sea and it was reported that considerable tonnage was carried between Arundel, Amberley and Greatham. There was strong demand for chalk and lime from the Houghton Bridge Agricultural Limeworks. With the outbreak of the war the crane from Houghton was removed to Littlehampton and Littlehampton port was requisitioned by the government for the shipment of munitions and stores to France. So all trade ceased on the river at the outbreak of war and after the end it was decided to use only land transport at Houghton, this being easier as the lorries could be loaded at the cliff face. A few barges continued to bring goods up the Arun but in March 1929 Mr George Henly who owned three barges and shipped coal, sand and timber up river to Bury Wharf decided to switch to using lorries and it wasn’t long before the quays along the Arun above Arundel became deserted and overgrown. Indeed it was the motorised lorry that finally put paid to the barges. Any hope of a revival ended when the Admiralty agreed to Southern Railway’s proposal to replace the drawbridge at Ford with a fixed bridge on the electrification of the Brighton - Havant line. The bridge opened one more time on 5th April 1936 and became a fixed structure in April 1938 thus finally bringing down the curtain on commercial activity on the river.
The Arun Navigation was the first to open and the last to close in West Sussex.
Blockage in the Hardham Tunnel: 1953
Bridge over the dry canal bed at Pallingham: 2009
Dredged section of the canal: 2009
Signs that the river Arun was a commercial river are difficult to find in its lower reaches. All signs that Littlehampton was a bustling port and shipbuilding centre have disappeared with the exception of the aggregate wharf. However, Littlehampton Museum and the Look and Sea Visitor Centre have exhibitions about Littlehamptons past. Near Ford there are the excavated remains of the base of the first lock chamber of the entrance to the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal.
At Arundel all the wharfs and quays have disappeared and at Houghton the chalk pits and limeworks have long since closed and all signs of a wharf here have also disappeared. But here the past has not been forgotten and the Amberley Working Museum is on the site of the old chalk pits. The museum is situated in 36 acres and is dedicated to the industrial heritage of the south-east. The Museum contains a wide range of exhibits, ranging from transport-based collections, such as the Southdown bus collection & the village garage, to industry-based collections, such as the Print Workshop & Wheelwrights. A number of resident craftspeople,who work to traditional methods also work here. The museum is staffed mainly by volunteers.
That is not to say that the river does not have charm, it most certainly does and it is a very pleasant to stroll along its banks where footpaths allow See my section on Walks along the River.
It is not until you reach the vicinity of Greatham Bridge that you come across some signs that there was once commercial activity on the river. Near here there are footpaths that follow the path of the Coldwaltham Cut although the canal bed is now dry. And there is plenty of exploring to be done along this section and around Pulborough.
Beyond there having crossed the dry bed of the canal at Pallingham bridge there is a long dry section running from here to the newly refurbished Haybarn Swing Bridge. Sadly all this section is on private property and the owners obviously don’t want people walking along the towpath of the canal as the Wey South Path (which was devised in the early 1970’s on behalf of the Wey and Arun Canal Trust) has had to take a long deviation away from the path of the canal and river and after briefly crossing the canal near Lee Farm does not regain its banks until Haybarn Swing Bridge. This is a great pity and I hope that one day access will be granted.
Past Haybarn the canal is alternately dry in places and ‘in water’ in others. Here you start coming across some of the work done by the Wey and Arun Canal Trust. Finally after Lordings Lock the canal is either dry or infilled until you get near to its end at Newbridge.
You can find more information and photographs about these sections of the canal in my Houghton Bridge to Stopham Bridge and Stopham Bridge to Newbridge walks.
Acknowledgements
I make no claims to ownership of this information. A lot of the historical information is taken from P.A.L.Vine’s London’s Lost Route to the Sea as are the maps of the route of the Arun Navigation and the Hardham Tunnel, the company seal, and the Notice of Closure. If you found this interesting I cannot recommend Mr Vine’s book highly enough. It is a truly fascinating account of the canals in Surrey and Sussex and not in the least bit ‘dry’. Unfortunately it is out of print but I got my copy from Amazon the online retailers. Other books that are still in print by him are “The Wey & Arun Junction Canal" and “The Arun Navigation”. Both of these are historical picture books but also show some of the restoration work done by the W.A.C.T. and are available from the “Canal Goods by Post” section of their website amongst other places. They also have plenty of other books and items for sale.
Most of the old pictures are from West Sussex Past Pictures, the official database of heritage photographs, prints, drawings and paintings provided by local museums and the County Library Service and its parent site West Sussex Past. All of the colour photographs are taken by me on my walks.
Should you wish to contact me I can be emailed at: christopher246@btinternet.com. All the best and happy exploring. Chris Richardson. TOP
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