The Kennet & Avon Canal: timeline
1723: The River Kennet Navigation opened, Newbury to Reading
1727: The River Avon Navigation opened, Bath to Bristol
1788: In April, a canal linking the Kennet and Avon proposed at a meeting in Newbury
1789: Surveyed route presented to shareholders in the summer
1793: The Kennet & Avon Canal Act passed on 27th August
1794: The first sod cut, at Bradford, in October
1795: Tender advertised for excavating the first stretch, at Widbrook, Bradford in May
1796: Avoncliff Aqueduct begun in March; Monkton Combe (Dundas) Aqueduct started August
1798: Avoncliff Aqueduct completed
1801: Conkwell Quarry opened
1802: Captain Andreas began operating a packet boat between Bath and Bradford in March
1803: Murhill Quarry opened (a tramway built in 1804)
1805: Somersetshire Coal Canal joined the Kennet & Avon
1810: The canal opened throughout in September
1845: Thomas Evans Blackwell proposed plans for building a railway on the canal
1852: The K&A Canal purchased by the Great Western Railway
1857: The WSW Railway built Bradford to Bathampton
1904: Somersetshire Coal Canal closed; a railway subsequently built
1906: The Wilts & Berks Canal closed
1906: The canal towpath became a right-of-way
1948: Canal nationalised along with the GWR under the Railway Executive
1949: Canal transferred to the Dock & Inland Waterways Executive
1953: Formation of British Transport Waterways, under the British Transport Commission
1954: Dundas to Avoncliff section drained (the “Dry Section”)
1956: The Kennet & Avon Canal Association successfully petitioned against closure
1961: The K&A Canal Association published Kennet & Avon redevelopment scheme
1962: The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust formed
1963: British Waterways Board formed under the Transport Act 1962
1966-7: The K&A Trust cleared and unsuccessfully tried to repair the Dry Section
1968: Transport Act- most of the K&A Canal made a Remainder Waterway
1976: Bath flight of locks restored; concrete lining of Dry Section began
1981: The eastern end restoration complete to Crofton summit
1982: Canal open from Bath Top Lock to Dundas
1981-5: Back pumps installed at Bradford, Semington and Seend
1984: Canal formally opened fro Bath to Semington
1985: Canal open to the foot of the Caen Hill flight of locks
1990: Restoration complete; opened by the Queen in August