Heritage and History

Much of the information about the Wilts & Berks Canal has been lost since the company was dissolved in the years following the 1914 Act of Abandonment.

The Partners are aiming to make as much information as possible viewable from these pages.

Swindon Borough Council's Library team has created a local history section called the Swindon Collection. The Swindon Flickr™ Wilts & Berks Canal images display some of the working life of the waterway.

The Swindon and Wiltshire History Centre hold some of the original Wilts & Berks Canal Company record books and maps and have given permission for some of the information to be used on these pages. Please follow the WB Company Maps located on the adjacent menu. 

Further research at the History Centre has revealed  an archived copy of information from Wiltshire County Council  regarding the modification of the canal highway bridges following closure of the canal . This document currently  is the only known record of the original design of these bridges. You can view the document here

There is continuing work to add the remaining structures of the canal to the Heritage Environment Record databases in Wiltshire/Swindon & Oxfordshire

Historic maps of the canal line are viewable on the National Library of Scotland web pages. Selecting the 1888-1913 maps will show the historic route of canal . Click here for the NLS map pages.