The
River Welland was one of the earlier on which improvements, in this case to allow navigation to Stamford, were authorised by an
act of Parliament. The
Welland Navigation Act 1571 (
13 Eliz. 1. c. 1) was granted in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I in 1571, and the preamble explained how Stamford had prospered as a result of the river, but also stated that mills built between Stamford and Deeping had resulted in it no longer being navigable, as they had diverted the water. Powers were granted to restore the river using either the old channel or the new one, although it is not clear exactly what was meant by this. There is no evidence that any work was carried out under the terms of the act. However, the powers were revived in 1620, when Stamford Corporation was given permission by the Commission of Sewers to build a new artificial cut, which would run from the eastern edge of Stamford near Hudd's Mill, to
Market Deeping, where it would rejoin the river. The corporation estimated that it would cost £2,000 to carry out the work, and the act enabled them to charge tolls for its use, set initially at three
pence (1.25 p) per lock, which could be charged once the work was completed. The decision was ratified in 1623 by a grant of
James I, and the corporation expected to have the work completed by 1627. However, they were unable to find a suitable contractor to carry out the work, and failed to reach agreement on terms with David Cecil in 1636, and two other potential contractors after that. Nothing happened until 1664, when an Alderman from Stamford called Daniel Wigmore took the job. He built the cut and 12 locks, which included the High Lock and the Low Lock on the river at Deeping St James, at a cost of £5,000. In return for his expenditure, he was given the lease of the tolls for the next 80 years, for which he paid a rent of one shilling (five pence). The cut was the longest canal with locks in the country, when it was opened in 1670. Its construction preceded the 'canal age' by around 100 years, making it one of England's earliest post-
Roman canals. There are no known contemporary documents describing the design or methods of construction of the canal and nothing about its opening. However, a report from 1632 on alterations to the river noted that 600 men were involved in the work, so presumably there was sufficient labour locally for such tasks. Wigmore probably used handbills at local inns to recruit his workers, since there were no newspapers to carry advertisements. The work would have been done using pickaxes, shovels and wheelbarrows. The excavated ditch was then lined with blue clay to make it watertight. Excavations for a sewer in 1974 and work on a rubbish tip in 1979 revealed the layers of blue clay, and there were clay pits near Stamford, which supported a pottery industry, although their precise location is unknown. The canal enabled goods to reach Stamford from
The Wash, which was away, by way of
Spalding and
Crowland. The lower used the course of the Welland, after which the two river locks and weirs at Deeping St James were encountered. Beyond Market Deeping, the course consisted of an artificial cut with 10 more locks, by which it reached the eastern edge of Stamford, after which it rejoined the river to reach the town wharf. The length of the cut was , although the length of the canal is usually quoted as , to include the improved river sections at both ends. Just below Stamford, the canal crossed the River Gwash on the level. There was a weir on a bypass channel and a sluice on the main river channel, which enabled the river levels to be controlled, so that barges could cross. Although there are no known records from the time the canal was constructed, the lock at Hudd's Mill was documented by Thomas Surbey in 1699. Surbey was a water engineer, and made notes and drawings when he visited it, during a journey from London to
York. The lock chamber was long and wide. The gates were hung on stone piers, but the banks between them were of earth. The gates were conventional 'V' gates, similar to modern ones, which included some sort of paddle, but did not include balance beams. Instead, a chain or rope was attached to the mid-stream edge of the gate and to the bank. While this would have made opening the gates possible, it is not obvious how they were shut. The measurements match those of the surviving structures, with the exception of Briggin's lock, which appears to only be long. There is no visible evidence that it was shortened at some point, nor any obvious reason why it would have been built shorter than all the others.
Expansion When the
Melton Mowbray Navigation was being planned in 1785, there were discussions of a link to
Oakham, which eventually became the
Oakham Canal, and onwards to Stamford. The idea of a canal from Stamford to Oakham, due west, was revived in 1809, with plans for a link from Stamford to the Nene at
Peterborough, and a connection from near
Market Deeping northwards to the
South Forty-Foot Drain, from where
Boston could be reached. A bill for this, together with one for a rival scheme to link Stamford to the
Grand Junction Canal, which also included a connection to the South Forty-Foot Drain, were put before Parliament in 1811, but neither met with any success. The idea was raised again in 1815 and 1828, but no further action was taken.
Decline With the arrival of the railways, river trade declined. The
Midland Railway reached Peterborough in 1846, and opened their line to
Melton Mowbray, passing through Stamford, in 1848. Carriage of coal on the canal stopped, as the railways brought cheaper coal from the Midlands. The locks quickly deteriorated, and there were problems with leakage. By April 1863, all traffic had ceased, and Stamford Corporation tried to sell the line at auction, but failed because their ownership of it was disputed. Since its closure, the canal has largely disappeared but some parts are still viewable on maps and on the ground. The foundations of the two river locks are visible in the Deepings. The River Welland is currently only navigable to Crowland but plans for the
Fens Waterways Link include a new link from above Crowland to above the
Dog in a Doublet sluice on the River Nene. There are currently no plans to restore navigation to Stamford. The Dog in a Doublet sluice near Peterborough was built in 1937; the Nene is tidal below it. ==Route==