Dauntsey Lock to Seven Locks
City Bridge to Dauntsey Lock 1.2 km/ 0.75m
Dauntsey Lock to Bowds Lane 2.4 km/ 1.5m
Bowds Lane to Trow Lane 0.6 km/ 0.4m
Much of the towpath has "No public access" Click Here to check the interactive map for access, snapshot below:
Dauntsey Lock - Canal Settlement
Preservation or Redevelopment?
a report
Prepared by P.H. Boyce dated 25th November 1985.
Dauntsey Lock History
The Wilts & Berks Canal was promoted as a means of providing cheap transport to Wiltshire and West Berkshire, an area poorly served by navigable rivers. Towards the end of the 18th Century turnpike roads in the area were not suitable for the bulky materials, coal and building stone, that the expanding rural population demanded. In 1793 the first meetings promoting the canal were held. A northern extension of navigation from the proposed Kennet and Avon, and Somerset Coal Canal, into North Wiltshire and beyond, was mooted. The Bill received Royal Assent in 1795, empowering the construction of a canal from Trowbridge to the Thames at Abingdon, with branches to Wantage, Calne and Chippenham.
The construction started with the Calne branch, and proceeded southwards, a feeder from the River Marden filling the canal progressively as locks were completed. The start in the south was planned to take advantage of the demand for Somerset Coal in Melksham, Calne and Chippenham, and to earn tolls from this as soon as possible.
The dimensions of the locks, 72 ft by 7 ft, were taken from those of the Somerset Coal Canal narrow boats. There was none of the Grand Design of the K & A with its barge locks from Reading to Bristol. The Wilts and Berks was built economically, using local clay for bricks made in its own brickworks along the route, local stone where possible, and the minimum of engineering works.
The turnpike road at Dauntsey was reached in June 1800. The lock and bridge being constructed in July, Above Dauntsey, a flight of seven locks, a cutting and an embankment below Tockenham House were under way. By 1802, boats were reaching Wootton Bassett, Swindon, and the lock cottage at Dauntsey was complete. Swindon was reached in 1805, and the Thames in 1810, completion being delayed by the war against Napoleon.
Delays in the opening of the Coal Canal and the K&.A prevented early income from coal tolls, and the Canal company even contributed money to a lock fund for the replacement of a faulty incline plane on the Coal Canal.
Coal traffic increased from 1810 to 1840, and Dauntsey Lock played an important distribution role in North Wiltshire. As well as coal, stone, salt and agricultural produce were carried. Cottages, warehouses, and public houses were built at Dauntsey over this period, it being an important turnpike crossing point. A new lane was also built to serve the village of Dauntsey proper, some mile and a half from the bridge.
With the coming of the Great Western Railway, the canal saw a boom time while transporting materials, for this rival system, then lost most local traffic to the railway, Brunel built stations near to all the canal wharves, but none so close as Dauntsey Lock, a mere 200 yards down the road. However, Somerset coal was still cheaper by canal, as the railway kept away from the coal field, and long distance coal traffic supported traders at the western end until 1863, when the Somerset & Dorset Railway bought the Radstock Tramway. An average of 43,000 tons were being carried each year at this time.
In the 1850s and 60s Joseph Barnes had built up a carrying business, renting the house and wharf at Dauntsey, and later at Hay Lane, between Wootton Bassett and Swindon. By the 1870s he was Swindon's major carrier, in 1876 he became one of the new owners of the canal. A group of local business men and carriers bought the canal off the orginal company, for £13,496, and then spent £17,000 on repairs, but still trade fell. In1882 they leased the canal to a. group of Bristol gentlemen, who experimented with compartment boats, but by 1888 had lost £16,000 and handed the canal back.
By 1894 the canal had silted to 2 feet, and the Somerset Coal Canal was declared derelict in 1902, removing the main reason for the existence of the Wilts & Berks Canal. Dauntsey Lock was finally cut off by the collapse of Stanley Aqueduct in 1906, and the canal was abandoned by Act of Parliament in 1914. The land and structures at Dauntsey had passed into the hands of the Barnes family sometime between 1876 and 1914, and were spread between family members until the 1980s, when parts of the estate were returning to the control of the present owners, Mr. Gordon Barnes and Mr. Ken Barnes direct descendants of Joseph.
Structure Overview
Overview - The canal settlement of Dauntsey Lock is a unique survival on the Wilts & Berks Canal, and possibly in the surrounding counties. Honey Street on the K&A is similar in some respects.
It owes its origins to the coming of the canal, its livelihood up to this century to the trade created by the canal, and its largely intact survival to the descendants of the canal's greatest carrier.
Around the junction of turnpike road and canal grew up, from a single lock cottage, a community possessing two public houses, cottages, coal yard and warehouses. Railway development brought a station, a dairy and a few houses. Modern development has contributed a garage and suburban style houses. These modern structures do not affect the l9th Century area, as they are found along one side of the main road towards Lyneham away from the bridge.
2015: The garage has been demolished and been replaced by a small housing development.
Map 1 shows Dauntsey Lock's location on the canal line.
Map 2 show the environs of the site, and its relationship to the railway. Points of interest are the branch line to Malmesbury, and the location of the old clay pit. This must be the site of the canal company's brickworks, set up during the construction of this section of the canal around 1800.
Map 3 shows a detailed plan of the settlement, with structures' locations marked
2015: The canal basin has been excavated but there is a leak somewhere. A siphon runs under the head of the lock and was repaired in 2014. This was the source of at least one of the leaks, although there may be more. There is currently a bund (dam) between the basin and the watered section of canal to the east.
Lost
Lock Keeper's Cottage - This was alongside the lock, on the non-towpath side. It disappeared sometime between 1918 and 1945, and its site is now occupied by a large garage, of World War II style and vintage. The cottage also looked over the canal basin above the lock.
Buried
Lock - The basin, lock and canal for some distance eastwards are filled in, partly with broken concrete from wartime Lyneham runways. The location of the lock can be found and is not built on. It aligns with the present wooden fence bordering the approach to Wharf House, and the tail of the lock is some way east of the present road edge. Paddle gear belonging to the lock was located in 1979 an photographed (see illustration) but has since disappeared. There is rumoured to be a sunken narrow boat in the basin area.
2015: The lock has been restored (excluding gates and paddle gear.) Currently the local sewer crossed the lock and will need to be relocated before the lock could be used.
Bridge - According to the maps, the original bridge was built at right angles to the canal, causing the road to make a dog-leg turn, and surely causing some constriction to the increasing traffic of the 20th Century. The present road alignment must have buried its eastern face, if not all of it. The road level must also have been reduced from the original humpback.
2015: The bridge was rebuilt in 2014 as part of the railway electrification works. Unfortunately it was not increased in width nor was a safe pedestrian path included.
Altered
Wharf House and Warehouse - Wharf House was photographed and measured in 1979, at the start of the Group's activities at Dauntsey, This comprehensive survey resulted in the structure survey drawing published by the Group. Before modernisation, the main house was flanked by warehouses on one side, and a 'chaff store' and stable with loft above on the other. The foremost warehouse showed signs of deep erosion of its lower brickwork. This part, lined with limestone blocks, had served as a salt warehouse. Salt came from Cheshire via the Midlands Canals and the River Severn to Stroud, thence over the Thames & Severn Canal and the North Wilts Branch. This trade had been transferred to rail largely by 1844.
Being built up onto the embankment of the lock side, the house presents a two storey face to the canal, and a three storey backside to the fields behind. This is demonstrated in the side view of the survey (see illustration).
After purchase, the house underwent major alterations, with demolition of warehouse and stable wings, and alteration of porch and window outlines. Since then it has changed hands again. However, recent additions of a garage on the site of the warehouse wing, and extension of the house over the stable area, has returned the shape to something of its original.
Surviving
Hope House - Hope House is one of the two public houses built for the canal and road trade, and is now a private residence. Its unusual shape was dictated by the skew crossing of canal by road. It is mostly in original condition. Date of construction is unknown at present.
Peterborough Arms - A large inn on the turnpike road, externally mostly unchanged. It is named after the Earl of Peterborough, whose estate was at Dauntsey, and bears the Arms of the family on its sign. The Earl was one of the original promoters of the canal. It fairly certainly postdates the canal, taking its custom from the traffic created by the road/canal junction. It is believed that the Peterborough Arms was originally a farm house which was subsequently converted to a Inn.
Canal Cottages 1 and 2 - These two cottages must date from very early in the canal's life. They are of a distinct architectural style, built of Bath or Swindon stone brought along the canal. Other surviving canal buildings in stone can be found at Semington, Calne, Longcote and Wantage. The cottages are most like the toll collector's residence at Semington. They are a semidetached pair of two bedroom cottages, with external lean-to kitchens. They face onto the canal towpath, it being their main access. Recent clearance of undergrowth has been undertaken, prior to the proposed sale. They are in fair condition with mainly superficial damage to external fixtures, windows and doors.
Stable - This is a two storey building, stables and tack room below with loft above. The stable has a brick floor with mangers down one wall. Its roof eaves are quite wide, and roof slope shallow. It is stone built, like cottages 1 and 2. It was accommodation -for boat and coal yard horses. Unusually it protrudes onto the towpath. The roof has suffered damage, with missing slates. It is in a restorable condition, It most likely is the same age and origin as cottages 1 and 2.
Canal Cottages 3 and 4 - These are brick built, and abut the stable. They are of later date than the stable and other cottages, and of poorer quality. Probable reason for construction was an expanding population at the wharf, or to house boatmen's families. Before the railway age, families generally did not live on board the boats. The men and boys would work the boats to Somerset and back, while the family home remained ashore. A row of such cottages was demolished in Swindon for the construction of Fleming May along the canal line. Boats usually were the property of the Company or the larger carriers, such as Joseph Barnes.
Wharf / Timber / Coal Yard - This is the area behind (north) of the cottages and stable. This has a cart entrance onto the road, and unloading would have been possible from boats lying in front of the cottages. However, no obvious stone wharf front is evident at this point, although excavation may reveal other remains. The yard has agricultural use at present, but excavation may find remains of its use during the canal age. In particular, evidence of coal dumps, machinery and crane post holes, and water supply may be found.
Other 19th Century Structures
Weighbridge - An interesting survival is the weighbridge and office at the entrance to the wharf yard. The weighing platform is present, and a part of the machinery can be seen. It is quite possible the whole balance machinery still survives within the office. The presence of this weighbridge points to the continuing use of the yard into the railway age and this century. Many railway coal yards retain their function to this day even -though the railway which served them has been torn up - for example, Lechlade. On the Wilts and Berks Canal, Vastern Wharf was a timber yard. The site is still very much in the timber business today.
Another transport relic is the pre-war petrol pump outside Hope House,
Railway age Houses - Two houses on the eastern side of the road between canal and railway date from this time, one named Station House. These are both private residences.
Railway Bridge - The bridge is original Brunel, and is at the foot of the great incline to Tockenham Wick, up which many a broad gauge locomotive toiled, and the HSTs of today still find a tough climb. Like many on the Great Western Railway, the bridge takes modern traffic well, although a little too narrow for passing juggernauts.
Station Site - Now demolished, the station not only captured the local canal trade, but also served the Malmesbury branch as junction to the main line. In broad gauge days, 'slip coaches' would be uncoupled from Bristol bound express trains while descending the incline, and be braked to halt at the station by their own guard. Here they would be hitched onto the branch line train and taken to Malmesbury, curious practice, made more interesting by the descent from Tockenham. Only the station site remains, with the track bed to Malmesbury curving off to the west.
Dairy - The dairy, or rather Dauntsey Creamery, is situated over the railway bridge on the east of the road. It is similar to many Wiltshire creameries, served by the railways of the area, and collecting local dairy produce for transport to the larger towns lying on the railway routes. The legendary early corning milk train stops at every little halt and platform, and clanking milk churns are spun across to the waiting wagons. The building is in very good preservation order, and is being used for industrial purposes, as a wood working business.
Lane to Dauntsey - This green lane leaves the main road beyond the Dairy, at the next bend, and strikes straight across country towards Dauntsey village. This could be an estate drive for the Earl of Peterborough, but the main Park lies to the north of the village.
Further along the canal, a similar lane, named Wharf Road, links Wroughton with Wroughton Wharf, a distance of two miles. Again, at Longcot, the wharf is linked to the Swindon/Oxford turnpike by a similar straight lane. This could also give overland access to Lechlade and Buscot on the Thames Navigation, allowing Somerset coal to compete with that from the Forest of Dean. It is very likely that the lane to Dauntsey dates from the canal era. The village would have shared a halt on the Malmesbury branch railway with Great Somerford.
Modern Structures
The filling station and showrooms, and modern bungalows and houses, are situated along the west of the road back up the bank to Lyneham. Apart from the old bus shed on the site of the lock cottage, modern structures do not intrude on the main area of interest. The modernised Wharf House does strike an odd note, however.
2015: The garage has been demolished and been replaced by a small housing development.
The cottages and their environs were sold to a private owner in 1986. And have been modernised. Details of the cottages are not available at present.
Restoration Photos
Canal west of the road (B4069). Clearance work started in the mid 80s
Cottages 3 and 4 and the stable block
Cottages 1 and 2
The view of cottages 1 and 2 and the stable block from the road.
Waterways Recovery Group Work party Christmas 1988
Waterways Recovery Group Work party Christmas 1988
Cottages under repair and the canal dredged.
Cottages repaired and the canal dredged.
Canal east of the road (B4069)
Early work clearing the lock
Early picture of the canal looking back towards Dauntsey Lock.
The canal basin was filled in with concrete which has been removed. Restoration included clearing the towpath, dredging, repairing culverts and spill ways.
Post Restoration Photos
Canal east of the road (B4069)
February 2005
February 2005
February 2005
February 2005
Canal west of the road (B4069)
June 2014: This was navigable (probably still is) but as there is runoff from Clack Hill, it is slowly silting up. Wiltshire Council removed some of the silt adjacent to the B4069 last year and the landowner removes some of the weeds as it is outside the house. The landowner also mows the towpath on this section for the same reasons. This land is private and there is NO public access.
June 2014: On the corner of the canal and the road is Hope House
June 2015: The weighbridge. The office on the right was severely damaged after a car it at high speed. In the background is Hope House.
June 2015: The back of cottage 1 and 2.
June 2015: The Peterborough Arms. This closed as a public house in 2013. The Trust has bought the building and there are plans to turn it into a canal centre.
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June 2014: The 100m or so nearest the pub is split from the rest by a bund. There was a leak through the brickwork of the siphon under the lock but this has been repaired.
June 2014: This section has heavy weed growth and it is not known if all the leaks have been repaired. June 2015 nothing has changed, the digger is still there.
At present no work is being carried out on this section. From the bund to 100 yards of Sodom Lane the canal was navigable but is being overtaken by weeds and the section is starting to silt up again with water flowing across the fields from Lyneham Banks. There are no known significant leaks nor is there any reliable source of water to replaces losses through evaporation or transpiration.
The towpath was cut from Dauntsey Lock to Sodom Lane about 18 months ago.
100 metres west from Sodom Lane to bottom Lock at Seven Locks is Waite Farm. There is an informal permissive path along the towpath the towpath has been mown, cleared of fallen trees and trim the hedge as necessary. The canal is heavily silted and has at least one major leak, there are no plans at present to restore this section. It does however provide a nice walk linking Sodom Lane to Seven Locks.
Seven Locks
This is the longest flight of locks on the canal, climbing the hill below Tockenham in traditional manner, with wide pounds between each lock chamber. Ironwork and lock gates were found at the top lock. The lower chambers were damaged by wartime demolition practice. When built, the road (Bowds Lane) crossed the top of the lock chamber of lock 2 on a wooden lift bridge. The lock has been filled in.
Lock 4 in the mid 1980s.
Clearing the site of undergrowth (late 1980s).
Clearance work lock 3.
The canal bed is still moist and holds water. This produces its own challenges.
The towpath below lock 1 is a very pleasant walk.
The Trust has rebuilt the chambers of Locks 3 and 4.
The Trust has been working on the lower 4 Locks, clearing the tow path and canal bed of undergrowth.
June 2014: Looking westward from Bowds Lane (Lock 2). This is the pound between Lock 1 and Lock 2.
June 2014: Lock 3 of the flight. The lock chamber has been completely rebuilt.
June 2014: Lock 4 of the flight. The lock chamber has been completely rebuilt. The approach to the lock looks very picturesque.
June 2014: Looking back from Lock 4 of the flight. The pound in between the locks has been cleared but does not hold water at present.
June 2014: Looking up from Lock 4 towards lock 5.
Future of Dauntsey Lock and Seven Locks
The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust has bought the Peterborough Arms and would like to make this into a canal centre.
The Work Required
East of the Road (B4069)
Dredge the canal from the Peterborough Arms to Sodom Lane and make sure that it is water tight.
Restore the canal basin
Build a slipway.
Clear towpath and erect information boards.
This work would allow boats to travel from the Peterborough Arms to Sodom Lane and then a trail to Seven Locks would be an interesting excursion.
West of the Road (B4069)
It would be relatively easy to upgrade the canal to navigable standard past the cottages at Dauntsey Lock. A new path would probably have to be created on the canal bank opposite to cottages and a new footbridge built to return the towpath to its original side.
Problem: The owner at the non towpath side opposite the cottages doesn't want a towpath on his land and any restriction in with at this point would close the canal to full length boats as there is a change in direction at the road crossing.
An additional 400 metres of canal south to City Bridge could be restored relatively easily.
NONE of this can happen without long term agreements with the land owners.
Parking to see the canal is at the Peterborough Arms at Dauntsey Lock. It is possible to park on the left on Sodom Lane just after a sharp bend marked by chevrons. There is also limited parking at Bowds Lane on the “bridge”.
Please make sure that the road is clear.
The Peterborough Arms will be turned into a canal centre.
Lyneham airfield repatriated many solders from Afghanistan. The funeral cortege would go through Royal Wootton Bassett. The airfield is now closed and repatriation now takes place at RAF Brize Norton. The airfield now houses an RAF training base.
Lyneham itself is a large village with shops, public houses and “takeaways”.
Restoration of the lock which will involve the removal of some pipes would then allow consideration of a road bridge for boats and people. An underpass would be welcomed as this is a busy road.
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