Editing Kennet and Avon Canal (section)

===Devizes to Newbury===
{{K+A-D-N}}
Heading east from Devizes the canal passes through the [[Wiltshire]] countryside and a series of locks and [[swing bridge]]s before another flight of locks at [[Crofton Locks|Crofton]].<ref>{{cite map|publisher=Ordnance Survey |title=OS Explorer Map Marlborough & Savernake Forest Sheet 157 |url=http://www.shop.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/products/paper-maps/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain-os-explorer-map/marlborough-and-savernake-forest/pid-9780319236116 |edition=A1- |scale=1:25 000 (4&nbsp;cm to 1&nbsp;km, 2 1/2&nbsp;inches to 1&nbsp;mile) |series=Explorer |access-date=21 July 2011 |isbn=978-0-319-23611-6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818102343/http://www.shop.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/products/paper-maps/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain-os-explorer-map/marlborough-and-savernake-forest/pid-9780319236116 |archive-date=18 August 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:Honeystreet - geograph.org.uk - 3646.jpg|thumb|left|The Barge Inn, Honeystreet]]

At [[Alton, Wiltshire|Honeystreet]] is the remains of a wharf that was the home of boat builders Robbins, Lane and Pinnegar, which served as the boat building headquarters of the Canal Company.<ref>{{cite web|title=Honey Street |url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=221270 |work=Pastscape National Monument Record |publisher=[[English Heritage]] |access-date=20 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234851/http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=221270 |archive-date=26 June 2015 }}</ref> They built many of the boats used on the canals of southern England before closing in about 1950. Next to the wharf is the Barge Inn, a substantial [[Pub|public house]] once known as the George Inn. It was roughly half-way along the canal and served as a bakehouse, slaughterhouse and shop for provisions for those living and working on the canal. The building was destroyed by fire in 1858 and rebuilt within six months.<ref name=russell48to49>{{harvnb |Russell |1997 |pp=48–49}}</ref> It was built just within the parish boundary of [[Stanton St Bernard]] to "serve the Honey Street wharf in [[Alton, Wiltshire|Alton]] parish, which refused to allow drinking establishments".<ref>{{NHLE |num=1365969 |desc=Barge Inn |access-date=19 May 2011}}</ref>
[[File:Kennet-And-Avon-Canal.jpg|thumb|left|Swans coming into Devizes from the Newbury side]]
[[Jones's Mill]] is a {{convert|29|acre|ha|adj=on}} area of fen vegetation, scrub and woodland lying along the headwaters of the [[River Avon (Hampshire)|Salisbury Avon]] northeast of [[Pewsey]]. It has been designated a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest|biological Site of Special Scientific Interest]] because it is "the best known example of a calcareous valley mire in Wiltshire".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1004402.pdf |publisher=[[English Nature]] |title=SSSI citation sheet for Jones's Mill |access-date=15 August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013125730/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1004402.pdf |archive-date=13 October 2006 }}</ref>

[[File:Bruce tunnel stowell.jpg|alt=Red brick tunnel entrance through which light can just be seen at the far end. On either side are grassy banks down to the water.|thumb|left|[[Bruce Tunnel]] eastern portal at the canal summit]]

The four locks at [[Wootton Rivers]] mark the end of the climb from the Avon. Between [[Wootton Top Lock]] and Crofton is the [[summit pound]] of the canal at {{convert|450|ft|m}} above sea level, stretching for about {{convert|2|mi|km|0}} and including the {{convert|502|yd|m|adj=mid|-long}} [[Bruce Tunnel]].<ref name=allsop35>{{harvnb |Allsop |1987 |p=35}}</ref> The tunnel is named after the local land owner, [[Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury]] (1729–1814), who refused to allow a deep cutting through his property and insisted on a tunnel.<ref>{{cite web|title=History & Museum |publisher=Kennet and Avon Canal Trust |url=http://home.btconnect.com/kenavon/history_page01.html#alternative%20routes |access-date=22 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402150258/http://home.btconnect.com/kenavon/history_page01.html |archive-date= 2 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The tunnel has [[Brick|red brick]] portals, capped with [[Bath stone]], each with a decorative plaque of [[Pennant stone]]. The tunnel was begun in 1806 and finished in 1809. It is lined with [[English bond]] brickwork and has a wide bore to cope with the Newbury barges used on the canal.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bruce Tunnel |work=Kennet and Avon Canal |publisher=University of Portsmouth |url=http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/kacanal/html/KAC0035.HTM |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525034737/http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/kacanal/html/KAC0035.HTM |archive-date=25 May 2011 }}</ref> There is no towpath through the tunnel, so walkers and cyclists must walk across the top of the hill. When canal boats were pulled by horses the boatmen had to haul their barges through the tunnel by hand, pulling on chains that ran along the inside walls.<ref name=clew203>{{harvnb |Clew |1985 |p=203}}</ref> The [[Berks and Hants Railway|Berks & Hants Extension Railway]] subsequently built [[Savernake Low Level railway station]] in a shallow cutting above the canal tunnel<ref name=":KYPWiltsMap" /> between 1847 and 1862, which closed in 1966, but the trackbed is [[Reading–Taunton line|still in use today]].

The [[Crofton Locks]] flight marks the start of the descent from the summit to the Thames; the nine locks have a total rise/fall of {{convert|61|ft|m}}.<ref name=pearson37>{{harvnb |Pearson |2003 |p=37}}</ref> When the canal was built there were no reliable water sources available to fill the summit by normal gravitational means. A number of usable springs were found adjacent to the canal route about {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} east of the summit pound, and about {{convert|40|ft|m}} below it, and arrangements were made for them to feed the pound below lock 60 at Crofton. Some years later the [[Wilton Water]] [[reservoir]] was created to enhance the supply to this pound using the springs and the [[River Dun (River Kennet)|River Dun]].<ref name=allsop36>{{harvnb |Allsop |1987 |p=36}}</ref>

[[File:Crofton Pumping Station, from canal to east.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A straight section of canal going into the distance, with two passing narrow boats in the foreground, with a large brick building and tall chimney in the middle-distance on the right bank of the canal. Smoke is billowing from the chimney, blowing across the canal to the left.|[[Crofton Pumping Station]] from canal]]
Water is pumped to the summit at the western end of the locks, from Wilton Water, by the restored [[Crofton Pumping Station]]. The original steam-powered pumping station is preserved and contains one of the oldest operational [[Watt steam engine|Watt-style beam engines]] in the world, dating from 1812. The steam engines still pump water on selected weekends, but for day-to-day operation electric pumps are used, automatically controlled by the water level in the summit pound.<ref>{{cite web |title=Outline history |url=http://www.croftonbeamengines.org/page12.html |publisher=Crofton Pumping Station |access-date=19 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307111024/http://www.croftonbeamengines.org/page12.html |archive-date=7 March 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crofton.ndo.co.uk/ |title=Crofton Pumping Station |publisher=Crofton Pumping Station |access-date=5 October 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020073222/http://www.crofton.ndo.co.uk/ |archive-date=20 October 2008 }}</ref>

Near Crofton is [[Savernake Forest]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol16/pp207-215 |series=[[Victoria County History]] |title=A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 16 |chapter=Savernake |pages=207–215 |editor-first=D. A. |editor-last=Crowley |author-first1=A. P. |author-last1=Baggs |author-first2=J. |author-last2=Freeman |author-first3=C. |author-last3=Smith |author-first4=J. H. |author-last4=Stevenson |author-first5=E. |author-last5=Williamson |date=1999 |via=British History Online |publisher=University of London |access-date=22 May 2024}}</ref> and the remains of a railway bridge that carried the [[Midland and South Western Junction Railway]] over the canal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/kacanal/html/KAC0157.HTM |title=KandAC mile 36 |work=Kennet and Avon Scrapbook 2000 |publisher=University of Portsmouth |access-date=5 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304210022/http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/kacanal/html/KAC0157.HTM |archive-date=4 March 2009 }}</ref> Mill Bridge at [[Great Bedwyn]] is unusual in being a [[skew arch]]; on its completion in 1796 it was the first of its kind.<ref name=russell30>{{harvnb |Russell |1997 |p=30}}</ref> From there to [[Hungerford]] the canal follows the valley of the [[River Dun (River Kennet)|River Dun]] through [[Freeman's Marsh]], which consists of unimproved meadows, marsh and reedbed. It is an important site for overwintering, migratory and breeding birds, and supports many varieties of flora scarce in Southern England. It was cited by [[English Nature]] in 1986, and forms part of the [[North Wessex Downs|North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty]].<ref name="english-nature.org.uk"/> There are plans to construct a marina and hotel complex adjacent to the site, but the potential environmental impacts (particularly to [[European water vole|water voles]]) of such a development on Freeman's Marsh have led to local opposition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmanicholson.org.uk/south_east.html| title=Emma Nicholson MEP|access-date=22 September 2006 | publisher=Emma Nicholson MEP |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060513094154/http://www.emmanicholson.org.uk/south_east.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 13 May 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westberks.gov.uk/media/doc/m/g/0301105_1.doc |title=Planning approval |format=MSWord |year=2003 |publisher=West Berkshire Council |access-date=22 September 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927005325/http://www.westberks.gov.uk/media/doc/m/g/0301105_1.doc |archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> To the north of the canal are seven separate small areas, four in the Kennet Valley and three in the [[River Lambourn|Lambourn Valley]], which make up the [[Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain]] SSSI. Occupying a total of {{convert|57|acre|ha}}, it supports particularly large populations of [[Desmoulin's whorl snail]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000109.pdf |publisher=[[English Nature]] |title=SSSI citation sheet for Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain |access-date=16 August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183515/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000109.pdf |archive-date= 3 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Appendix 4 Biodiversity, Habitats, Flora and Fauna|url=https://www.og.decc.gov.uk/information/papers/onshore_er/Onshore_er_App4.pdf | pages=133–134 |work=Strategic Environmental Assessment for a 14th and Subsequent Onshore Oil & Gas Licensing Rounds|publisher=Department of Energy and Climate Change|access-date=22 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008105923/https://www.og.decc.gov.uk/information/papers/onshore_er/Onshore_er_App4.pdf|archive-date=8 October 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:Shaded stretch of the Kennet and Avon canal - geograph.org.uk - 1760689.jpg|thumb|left|The canal passing through "The Wilderness"]]
There are several locks and bridges in Hungerford, including one which carries the [[A338 road|A338]]. [[Hungerford Marsh Lock]] is unique on the Kennet and Avon Canal in that it has a swing bridge directly over the centre of the lock that must be opened before the lock may be used.<ref name=allsop42>{{harvnb |Allsop |1987 |p=42}}</ref> In the area around the lock, called Hungerford Marsh Nature Reserve, more than 120 bird species have been recorded.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hungerford Marsh Nature Reserve |url=http://www.bbowt.org.uk/reserves/Hungerford-Marsh |publisher=Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust |access-date=6 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414152339/http://www.bbowt.org.uk/reserves/Hungerford-Marsh |archive-date=14 April 2012 }}</ref>

Between [[Kintbury Lock]] and Newbury, passing to the north of [[Hamstead Marshall]], the canal is very close to the River Kennet, which flows into the canal via several channels.<ref name=russell15>{{harvnb |Russell |1997 |p=15}}</ref> The canal passes through an area known as the [[Kennet Valley Alderwoods]], the largest remaining fragments of damp, ash-alder woodland in the River Kennet [[floodplain]]. The SSSI includes two woods&nbsp;– the Wilderness and part of Ryott's Plantation&nbsp;– which are important because they support a very great diversity of plants associated with this woodland type, dominated by alder (''[[Alnus glutinosa]]''); though [[Fraxinus excelsior|ash]] is abundant in places and there is occasional [[Quercus robur|oak]] and [[Ulmus glabra|wych elm]]. In addition to the wide range of higher plants the woods support a diverse [[bryophyte]] flora including the uncommon [[epiphyte]]s ''Radula complanata'', ''[[Zygodon viridissimus]]'' and ''Orthotrichum affine''.<ref>{{cite web|title=SSSI citation sheet for Kennet Valley Alderwoods |publisher=[[English Nature]] |url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000123.pdf |access-date=24 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231547/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000123.pdf |archive-date=26 September 2007 }}</ref> Nearby is [[Irish Hill Copse]]. This site of coppiced [[ancient woodland]] includes an extensive area of calcareous ash/wych elm coppice on the hill sides, merging into wet ash/[[maple]] and acid [[oak]]/ash/[[hazel]] woodland with [[aspen]], on the higher parts of the site. The lower slopes are dominated by [[Mercurialis perennis|dog's mercury]], with abundant [[Paris quadrifolia|herb paris]], [[toothwort]], [[Polygonatum multiflorum|Solomon's seal]], [[common twayblade]] and [[early-purple orchid]]s and, locally, [[Narcissus pseudonarcissus|wild daffodil]].<ref>{{cite web|title=SSSI citation sheet for Irish Hill Copse |publisher=[[English Nature]] |url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003175.pdf |access-date=24 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315231131/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003175.pdf |archive-date=15 March 2007 }}</ref>

A wooden bridge was built over the Kennet at Newbury<ref>{{NHLE |num=1211989 |desc=Newbury Lock |access-date=16 May 2011}}</ref> in 1726, replaced in stone between 1769 and 1772 by James Clarke,<ref>{{NHLE |num=1290920 |desc=Bridge over River Kennet |access-date=16 May 2011}}</ref> and now known as the [[Town Bridge, Newbury|Town Bridge]] or Water Bridge. As there is no tow path, a line to haul the barge had to be floated under the bridge and then re-attached to the horse where the tow path resumed.<ref name=russell11>{{harvnb |Russell |1997 |p=11}}</ref>

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