Canal Company Map Books

In 1914 the Borough of Swindon petitioned Parliament to  close the Wilts & Berks Canal and the Act of Abandonment passed into law.

Local law firm Crowdys  were given the job of disposal  of the remaining assets of the Canal Company by selling the canal   either commercially or as prescribed in the Act of Parliament.

Now kept  in the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre  and reproduced here with their permission, the Map Books of the North Wilts Canal  and the mainline of the Wilts & Berks Canal are one of the few remaining records of the construction of the canal.

The pages of the book have been coloured and annotated with details of the sale of the canal.

Perhaps more interesting are the maps themselves  showing the canals as built and opened in 1819 and 1810 respectively.