Bradford on Avon - Wiltshire

It was in Bradford on Avon that the first sod was cut for the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1794. The Wharfinger's House at Bradford Wharf was the home of the Canal Company employee who managed the wharf. The gauging dock where canal boats were measured and weighed to determine toll rates is long gone, but there is still a working dry dock for boat-building and marine servicing. The Kennet & Avon Canal was completed in 1810 and flourished until 1840, carrying stone from Bath and bringing coal and domestic goods into the city. Canal trade gradually decreased with the opening of the railways and stretches became virtually derelict in the 1950s to 1970s. The creation of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust in the 1960s led volunteers to refurbish the canal over several decades.