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Canals to Bradford on Avon

Bradford on Avon, Wilshire

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The Kennet & Avon Canal through Bradford on Avon was fully opened in 1810, connecting the town to London in the east and Bristol to the west. The Somersetshire Coal Canal linked it to the North Somerset Coalfield and the Wilts & Berks Canal and North Wilts Canal gave easier access to the Midlands. The Dorset & Somerset Canal was intended to link the Kennet & Avon to the English Channel via Frome, with their junction at Bradford, but only a coalfield branch to Nettlebridge was built.

Following decades of decline and threatened with abandonment, the Kennet & Avon Canal has been fully restored and now work proceeds on the connecting Wilts & Berks Canal.

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A diagrammatic map of the canal network, not to scale. Dashed lines are canals which were proposed and not built