Editing Wilts & Berks Canal (section)

==Decline==
Although the canal company had initially been dismissive of the threat from railway competition, and had benefitted from carrying materials for its construction, the [[Great Western Railway]] ran close to the canal from Abingdon to Swindon and Chippenham. When the railway opened in 1841, traffic fell sharply, apart from coal from the Somerset Coal Canal. Coal traffic on the western end of the canal rose between 1837 and 1847, but declined on the canal to the east of Swindon.{{sfn |Hadfield |1969 |p=288}} Further rail competition occurred from 1848 with the opening of [[Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway]], which affected traffic on the western half of the canal. Traffic on the North Wilts branch also declined.{{sfn |Hadfield |1969 |p=290}} A final dividend of £561 was paid in 1870, and in 1873 the canal made a loss; by that time all traffic to the east of Wantage had ceased. The Great Western Railway owned the Kennet and Avon Canal, and increased tolls for traffic to and from the Wilts and Berks, increasing the cost of coal carried on the canal. The company failed to interest the railway in buying the canal, and decided to close it.{{sfn |Hadfield |1969 |p=290}}

Despite the decline, a group of shareholders were optimistic that matters could improve, and called a meeting on 4 September 1874. The meeting decided that closure was the best option, and drew up a bill in November to close or sell the canal. Bristol Chamber of Commerce objected to the proposal, and in late 1875 seven merchants formed a new company to buy the canal. The Wilts & Berks Canal Co Ltd obtained an Act of Parliament in June 1876, and paid £13,466 for the canal. They took control in early 1877, but in 1882 leased the canal to another group of merchants from Bristol for £1,250 per year. They experimented with sectional boats – similar to the [[Tom Pudding]] boats used on the [[Aire and Calder Canal]] – but they found them too difficult to manage, and narrow boats continued to be used. The new group failed to make a profit and in 1887 forfeited their lease. The 1876 company made another attempt at operating the canal.{{sfn |Hadfield |1969 |pp=291–292}}

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Swindon Corporation (Wilts and Berks Canal Abandonment) Act 1914
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = 
| year                  = 1914
| citation              = [[4 & 5 Geo. 5]]. c. cviii
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 31 July 1914
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = {{ubli|[[Swindon Corporation Act 1926]]|[[Swindon Corporation Act 1951]]}}
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = amended
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo5/4-5/108/pdfs/ukla_19140108_en.pdf
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
Another group, the United Commercial Syndicate, took over the canal in 1891, and by 1896 had spent £16,000 putting the canal back into order. They decided that it could not be made profitable, and with support from the Swindon Traders Association, who thought the canal was an eyesore, attempted to abandon it. The Thames and Severn Canal were keen to take over the North Wilts branch, to allow them to access Swindon. There was opposition from landowners for whom the canal supplied water for cattle, and the abandonment failed on a technicality. A second attempt at abandonment was made in 1900, but an enquiry at Swindon by the Board of Trade resulted in the proposal being withdrawn.{{sfn |Hadfield |1969 |pp=292,294}} In 1901, one arch of Stanley Aqueduct, which carried the canal over the [[River Marden]], collapsed, severing the canal.{{sfn |Dalby |2000 |p=100}} Swindon Corporation attempted to obtain an act to cut off the water supply to Coate Reservoir in 1904, but this failed. There was no traffic on the canal after 1906, and Swindon finally obtained an act to close the canal in 1914.{{sfn |Hadfield |1969 |p=294}}

[[File:Wilts & Berks Canal.JPG|thumb|left|Overgrown section of the canal, west of [[Wantage]], in 2006]]
The {{visible anchor|Swindon Corporation (Wilts and Berks Canal Abandonment) Act 1914}} ([[4 & 5 Geo. 5]]. c. cviii)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/issues/28854/pages/5962/page.pdf |work=The London Gazette |date=31 July 1914 |title=Swindon Corporation (Wilts and Berks Canal Abandonment) Act, 1914 |access-date=25 August 2009}}</ref> enabled the corporation to take over Coate Reservoir, now known as [[Coate Water Country Park|Coate Water]], for recreational purposes, as it had been used for recreation since the 1870s, and they also obtained land for public purposes. They paid £8,000 to the canal company, who also sold what land they could to meet their debts.{{sfn |Hadfield |1969 |p=294}}

From the early 1930s, much of the canal was filled in and generally used for dumping rubbish. Chippenham Wharf, once home to Brinkworth's Coal Depot, was used by residents as a refuse tip, and council minutes from 1926 show a decision to dump pig [[offal]] in the disused waterway. A bus station was built on the site, the buried wharf being uncovered briefly during redevelopment in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/1013335.last-glimpse-of-canal/|title=Last glimpse of canal|last=Parkes|first=Benjamin|date=9 November 2006|website=The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-01-25}}</ref>

During the Second World War, many of the locks and other canal structures were used for [[British Army|army]] exercises and damaged by explosives.

Very little of the old canal survived in usable form, but long rural stretches are clearly delineated.

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