Buckingham Arm facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Buckingham Canal (former Buckingham Arm)
Cattleford aqueduct carried the canal over a small stream to the east of Foscote Reservoir
Specifications
Locks	2
Status	Restoration project
History
Date of act	1793, 1794
Date of first use	1800
Date completed	1801
Date closed	1932
Geography
Start point	Cosgrove
End point	Buckingham
Connects to	Grand Union Canal

The Buckingham Arm is an old English canal that used to connect Cosgrove, Northamptonshire to Buckingham. It was built as a branch of the Grand Junction Canal. The canal was built in two parts. The first part, a wide canal to Old Stratford, opened in 1800. The second part, a narrower canal to Buckingham, opened in 1801.

The canal stopped being used in 1932. In 1944, a dam was built at the first bridge to stop water leaking from the main canal, which was then called the Grand Union Canal. The Buckingham Arm was officially closed in 1964. New roads built in the 1970s and 1980s cut through the canal's path. Parts of the canal near Old Stratford and Deanshanger were sold in the 1990s. Houses now stand where the canal once was.

In 1992, the Buckingham Canal Society was formed. This group is working hard to bring the canal back to life. About 400 meters (440 yards) of the canal near Buckingham now hold water. In 2020, the main focus was on the Cosgrove end. Restoring this part would allow boats to reach it from the Grand Union Canal.

Canal's Story: How It Began

On April 30, 1793, a special law called an Act of Parliament allowed the building of the Grand Junction Canal. This law also included plans for a branch canal to Old Stratford. This branch would end at Watling Street, an old Roman road that was a major travel route.

In 1793, people also surveyed the route to continue the canal to Buckingham. Another Act of Parliament in September 1794 approved this extension. This act also allowed the building of other canal branches, like the Aylesbury and Wendover arms.

The first part of the canal, to Old Stratford, was planned to be wide. It could fit boats up to 4.3 meters (14 feet) wide. The Grand Junction Canal needed to cross the River Great Ouse at Wolverton. The first idea was to cross the river at the same level, using many locks to go down and up the valley. The Old Stratford branch would have joined the main canal at its lowest point. It would have followed the Great Ouse valley.

From Old Stratford, the canal was meant to be a narrow canal, about 2.1 meters (7 feet) wide. It would have joined the river at Passenham. This would have made the river a navigation route, needing more locks along its path. However, the plans changed. It was decided to build a high crossing over the Great Ouse. This meant the branch could not join the main canal at the lowest level.

So, the Buckingham Arm left the main canal just above Cosgrove lock. It followed the north side of the Great Ouse valley. This design meant the canal was mostly flat. It only needed two locks as it got closer to Buckingham.

The Grand Junction Canal, including its locks to cross the River Great Ouse, opened in August 1800. The Old Stratford branch opened six weeks later, in September. The Buckingham branch was built very quickly, in just eight months. It officially opened on May 1, 1801, with celebrations in Buckingham. Water for the canal came from a feeder from the Great Ouse in Buckingham.

The locks on the main canal were replaced in 1805 by two raised banks and an aqueduct. An aqueduct is like a bridge that carries water. There were problems with this aqueduct, so it was replaced with an iron one in 1811. A pub called The Grand Junction was built in Buckingham High Street in the early 1800s. It was near Buckingham Wharf, which was the end of the Buckingham Arm. In 2019, the pub was bought by a new company. They planned to restore its original name, The Grand Junction.

By the 1850s, the canal faced problems from new railway lines. The water from the river brought a lot of mud, which settled in the canal. This made it hard for boats to travel. The town of Buckingham also used the canal to dump sewage, which made things worse. Trade on the canal kept decreasing. In 1890, the Grand Junction company even took legal action to stop sewage dumping. By 1904, a travel guide said the upper part of the canal was "barely navigable," meaning it was very hard to use.

Canal's Decline and Closure

In 1919, a part of the canal near Mount Mill Farm was replaced with a concrete channel. This was an attempt to stop water from leaking. The last time a commercial boat used the canal was in 1932. It delivered chemicals to Leckhampstead.

In 1944, the canal was blocked at the first bridge. This was done to prevent more leaks. This temporary dam was never removed. In 1961, a group called the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) tried to save the Buckingham Arm. They wanted to restore it, but there were not many local people interested. Local councils also supported closing the canal.

A newspaper article in 1961 suggested reopening the section from the Grand Union junction to Old Stratford. They thought it would be good for recreation. A local IWA member tried to form a committee, but again, there was little local interest. In 1961, a British Waterways official talked about the problems canals faced. He asked for new ways to handle canal closures. Later that month, the Minister of Transport said no immediate changes would harm navigation on the first part of the canal.

The Buckingham branch was officially closed in 1964. However, the Old Stratford branch was not. Even so, the Old Stratford branch was cut off by the new A5 road, built in 1975-1976. Old Stratford basin was sold in 1991. Most of the canal's path through Old Stratford and Deanshanger was sold. New buildings now stand there, making it impossible to put the canal back in that section. The Buckingham branch was also cut off by the A422 Old Stratford Bypass, built in 1989-1990.

Restoring the Canal

Most of the canal is now closed. Only a short part, about 200 meters (220 yards) long, runs west from the Grand Union Canal at Cosgrove. Another 400-meter (440-yard) section at Buckingham was restored in 2013. Beyond the A5 road, you can still see the canal's path as a trench in fields. But in Old Stratford, houses have been built over its route. Other parts of the canal's old path can still be seen in the landscape towards Buckingham.

The Buckingham Canal Society started in 1992. At first, they just wanted to clear the remains and take photos. With help from British Waterways, who still owned part of the route, they began clearing plants from the section between Cosgrove and the A5 road. As the society grew, their goal became to restore the canal and make it navigable again. They have worked on other parts of the route after getting permission from landowners. In 2008, Hyde Lane lock was repaired. A grant of £38,000 helped pay for most of the £44,000 cost. This allowed the lock to be professionally restored.

In 2010, Halcrow Engineering wrote a report. It looked at whether restoring the canal was a realistic goal. The report found some big challenges. These included crossing the A5 road at Old Stratford and the A413 ring road at Buckingham. However, it concluded that restoring the canal was possible. It would bring good things to the area, like helping the economy, the environment, and the community. One idea for the A413 crossing is to end the canal before the ring road. There would be space for a new basin, which could be a central point for other developments. The estimated cost for the restoration was £64 million.

An interesting fact is that the original law from 1794 that allowed the canal to be built was never cancelled. This means its powers are still valid. This should make it a bit easier for the society to reach its goals.

Plans for restoration include building a 4.8-kilometer (3-mile) bypass around Old Stratford and Deanshanger. It would start with a steep section near the A5 bridge, going down about 10 meters (33 feet) to the River Great Ouse. The canal would then run close to the river. It would pass under the A5 and the grade II listed bridge that carries Watling Street over the river. Then, it would leave the river and go back up to its original level. It would pass through the site of Passenham Quarry. Finally, it would rejoin the old canal path at Mount Hill, near where the A422 road cut off the Buckingham Arm. Another detour will be needed at Leckhampstead Wharf, where buildings are on the canal's path. Also, Bourton Lock is under a modern house, so a detour is needed there too.

In January 2013, work began on restoring a 388-meter (425-yard) section of the canal at Bourton Meadow, near Buckingham. This happened after a grant of £7,000 from the Aylesbury Vale Community Chest. This grant also unlocked another £70,000 from a special tax fund. The canal was mostly still there at this spot. Even though it was privately owned, the landowners fully supported the restoration. A special ceremony took place on January 25. Lord Boswell of Aynho and John Bercow, the local MP and Speaker of the House of Commons, helped cut the first piece of ground.

The canal bed was lined with a special material called Bentoline. The towpath, which is the path next to the canal, was also rebuilt. Bentoline is a product with a thick, strong fiber layer. Inside it is a layer of bentonite clay. The clay is held in place by an upper layer of synthetic geotextile material. To keep water in this section, a solar-powered pump was installed in 2016-2017. This pump brings water from the River Great Ouse.

The first part of the canal the group wants to reopen for boats is the stretch from Cosgrove to the A5 road near Old Stratford. Bridge 1, where the canal was dammed in 1944, was pushed into the canal in the late 1960s. This was done to create a crossing for farm vehicles. In 2017, the Society received a grant of £70,000. This money helped them find that much of the original bridge structure was still there. The new bridge has wide brick supports. It has a modern steel and concrete top, but it keeps the remains of the old bridge underneath. This design allows large farm machines, up to 4.4 meters (14.4 feet) wide and weighing 40 tons, to still use it to reach nearby farmland.

Buckinghamshire County Council has created a leaflet called The Ouse Valley Walk. It describes a walk from Buckingham to Milton Keynes. This walk covers most of the canal's route.

Places of Interest