| On the 19th of December
1776, a public meeting took place at "The White Lion" public house at Hartford Bridge (on A.30) near Blackbushe, in order to rally
the necessary support from the relevant Land Owners needed building a
new canal.
A cost of a little over £91,000 was given as a total to construct the 37 mile
long canal, which would connect Basingstoke, Odiham, Crookham, Fleet and Aldershot to the River Thames and London, via the Wey Navigation, at West Byfleet, in
Surrey. The final cost was in fact more in the region of £153,500. The advantages of such a transport
system was the ability |
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to
take the already successfully produced local wares of the North East
Hampshire market towns, as well as bulk materials such as lime from the
Odiham lime pits, right to the heart of the Capital, and beyond.
Barges would then return to Hampshire
with produce
previously not economically viable to transport over
such a great distance, such as coal and timber. Construction of the Basingstoke Canal
in the Church
Crookham area
took place |
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early 1790's. Poulters Bridge, which can be found to the rear of the Zebon Copse housing estate, displays a plaque dated
1792.
Being formally opened on September 4th
1794, the canal found itself 40 years later, in a state of dereliction due to a lack of income, in part due to
the development of the London - Southampton railway.
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