Editing Oxford Canal (section)

====Heyday====
For the next 15 years the Oxford Canal became one of the most important and profitable transport links in Britain, with most commercial traffic between London and the Midlands using the route. Its principal traffic was [[coal]] from Warwickshire. It also carried [[Rock (geology)|stone]], [[Agriculture|agricultural]] products and other goods.

A much more direct route between London and the Midlands, the [[Grand Junction Canal]], was completed in 1805, connecting Braunston to London in much less distance. Much of the London-bound traffic switched to this faster route, as it avoided the passage of the River Thames which still had many [[flash lock]]s. This greatly reduced Oxford Canal traffic south of Napton. However, the short section between Braunston and Napton became the link between the [[Warwick and Napton Canal]] and the Grand Junction Canal, making it part of the busy direct route between Birmingham and London. Despite these developments, the Oxford Canal remained highly profitable during this period; from 1824 to 1826, the company paid [[dividend]]s of up to 55% to its [[shareholder]]s.<ref name="DTRPE"/>

The Grand Junction and Oxford canal companies were bitter rivals. When [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] considered the [[Act of Parliament]] for the building of the Grand Junction, the Oxford Canal successfully petitioned to make the Grand Junction pay "bar tolls" to the Oxford Canal to compensate for the loss of traffic south of Napton.

Traffic from Birmingham had to use {{convert|5|mi|km|0|spell=in}} of the Oxford Canal to get from Braunston to join the Grand Junction at Napton. The Oxford Canal exploited this by charging high tolls for Grand Junction traffic on this short section.