The disused Stoke lock, which now functions as a weir and sluice
Specifications
Locks
15 + 2 single gates
Status
Limited restoration
History
Original owner
Itchen Navigation Company
Date of act
1665
Date of first use
1710
Date closed
1869
Geography
Start point
Winchester
End point
Northam Quay
v
t
e
Itchen Navigation
Legend
From source
Wharf Mill
College Street Bridge
College Mill
River Itchen
Blackbridge Wharf
1
St Catherines mill and lock
Hockley Railway Viaduct
M3 culvert
Hockley Mill
2
Twyford Lane End lock
Twyford Drain
3
Compton lock
River Itchen
Shawford Mill
Shawford and Norris's bridge
4
Shawford single gates
5
Malm lock
6
College Mead lock
Otterbourne Water Works intake
Relief channel
7
Brambridge lock
8
Brambridge single gates
9
Allbrook lock
B3335 bridges
South West Main Line
10
Withymead lock
Barton River
11
Stoke lock
11
Shears Mill turbines
B3037 bridges
12
Conegar lock
Eastleigh
Eastleigh–Fareham line
13
Lock House lock
14
Decoy Pond lock
15
Sandy lock
M27 embankment
16
Mansbridge lock
Gaters Mill
A27
Mans Bridge
Woodmill Lane
17
Wood mill + Woodmill tide lock
A3035 Cobden Bridge
West Coastway Line
A3024 Northam Bridge
Northam Wharf
A3025 Itchen Bridge
Southampton Water
The Itchen Navigation is a 10.4-mile (16.7 km) disused canal system in Hampshire, England, that provided an important trading route from Winchester to the sea at Southampton for about 150 years. Improvements to the River Itchen were authorised by act of parliament in 1665, but progress was slow, and the navigation was not declared complete until 1710. It was known as a navigation because it was essentially an improved river, with the main river channel being used for some sections, and cuts with locks used to bypass the difficult sections. Its waters are fed from the River Itchen. It provided an important method of moving goods, particularly agricultural produce and coal, between the two cities and the intervening villages.
On its completion it was capable of taking shallow barges of around 13 feet (4.0 m) in width and 70 feet (21 m) in length, but traffic was fairly modest. 18,310 tons of freight were carried in 1802, one of the better years, and there were never more than six boats in use on the waterway. Following the opening of the London and Southampton Railway in 1840, traffic declined sharply, and the navigation ceased to operate in 1869. There were various attempts to revitalise it, but none were successful. There had also been several proposals to link it to the Basingstoke Canal to form an inland route from London to Southampton during its life, which likewise did not come to fruition.
The revival of interest in inland waterways following the end of the Second World War has resulted in the tow path alongside the canal becoming part of the Itchen Way long-distance footpath, and is a popular route for walkers. The Itchen Navigation Preservation Society was formed in the 1970s, but progress was slow. A joint venture between the Environment Agency and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust in 2005 led to the formation of the Itchen Navigation Trust, and two years later, they obtained a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, funding the creation of the Itchen Navigation Heritage Trail Project, which has sought to conserve and interpret the remains. The route provides habitat for a diverse flora and fauna, which has resulted in it being designated as a European Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The ItchenNavigation is a 10.4-mile (16.7 km) disused canal system in Hampshire, England, that provided an important trading route from Winchester to...
ran northeast to the coal depots of the Itchen near the Northam bridge, providing a link to Itchennavigation. The paradox of constructing a canal so...
1.146°W / 51.046; -1.146 The Itchen Way is a 31.80-mile (51.18 km) long-distance footpath following the River Itchen in Hampshire, England, from its...
Parliament constituency) Itchen Bridge, a high-level hollow box girder bridge over the River Itchen in Southampton, Hampshire ItchenNavigation, a 10.4-mile (16...
Portsmouth and Arundel Canal have all disappeared. Restoration of the ItchenNavigation, linking Southampton and Winchester, primarily as a wildlife corridor...
watercourses flow through Eastleigh, including the River Itchen, Monks Brook and the ItchenNavigation. The largest settlement in the borough is the town of...
instead that a link be built between their canal, built 1794, and the ItchenNavigation. The suggestion was rejected by those working on the railway plans...
The Itchen Bridge is a bridge over the River Itchen in Southampton, Hampshire. It is a high-level hollow box girder bridge. It is located about a mile...
its objection arguing that the bridge would interfere with the navigation of the Itchen. The Admiralty suggested a steam driven floating bridge as an alternative...
that are navigable rivers with sections of canal (e.g. Aire and Calder Navigation) as well as "completely" artificial canals (e.g. Rochdale Canal). Bedford...
thegn. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The ItchenNavigation canal between Winchester and Southampton was completed in 1710 and...
the river, for which the Port of Southampton is the navigation authority, ends here. The river Itchen upstream is noted as one of the world's premier chalk...
Swaythling at the highest tidal point of the River Itchen, where it is joined by the ItchenNavigation. The industrialist Walter Taylor moved there after...
suggested instead that a link be built between the canal and the ItchenNavigation. The suggestion was rejected and the canal company agreed not to oppose...
Mansbridge Lock conservation work in progress at Mansbridge Lock on the ItchenNavigation "Listed Buildings in Southampton" (PDF). Southampton City Council...
Weir to create a balancing lake, known as Alresford Pond, for the ItchenNavigation. Admiral Rodney's house was built on the site of an old manor house...
c. 3) Judges' Pensions Act 1799 (39 Geo. 3. c. 110) Forth and Clyde Navigation Company and Crinan Canal Company Act 1799 (39 Geo. 3 c. lxxi) (39 Geo...
powers to make navigational cuts or build locks to improve the river. On the other side of the country, there was a scheme to extend navigation on the River...
through the Itchen valley roughly west of the existing four-lane bypass. This would also require the realignment of the ItchenNavigation into the water...
River Estuary Hythe to Calshot Marshes ItchenNavigation Ladle Hill Langstone Harbour Lee-on-The Solent to Itchen Estuary Lincegrove and Hackett's Marshes...
its most northerly point, where the estuaries of the River Test and River Itchen meet. Along its salt marsh-fringed western shores lie the New Forest villages...
source of the River Solent, with four other rivers—the Rivers Avon, Hamble, Itchen and Test—being tributaries of it. Seismic sounding has shown that, when...
bed of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway alongside the ItchenNavigation, eventually reaching the Hockley Viaduct. This was the last part of...
the villages of Long Itchington and Bishop's Itchington along the River Itchen. During the Middle Ages Warwickshire was dominated by Coventry, at the time...
though, is a built-up area. With its easy access to the River Itchen and the navigation to Winchester, Bitterne Manor was used by the bishops as a distribution...
The company was founded in 1913 as Pemberton-Billing Ltd on the River Itchen close to Woolston, Southampton, on ground previously purchased by Noel Pemberton...
of the River Itchen in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises in Bishop's Sutton and flows west for 6 km (3.7 mi) to meet the Itchen below New Alresford...
Global Information
