The Coventry Canal is a narrow Canal in England which travels for 38 miles (65 km) between Coventry and Fradley Junction,just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It also runs through the towns of Bedworth, Nuneaton, Atherstone, Polesworth and Tamworth.

The Coventry Canal forms part of the Warwickshire ring.

The Route

The canal begins at a basin in the centre of Coventry, and runs north. Just north of Coventry, it forms a junction with the Oxford Canal at Hawkesbury junction, also known as "Sutton Stop". A few miles further north just outside Bedworth it connects to the Ashby Canal, then runs north-west for a number of miles through Nuneaton, Atherstone and Polesworth. At Tamworth its splits into the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal. The Coventry canal finishes at Fradley junction where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal.

History

The Coventry Canal Company was formed in 1768 and James Brindley was commissioned to build it; work started on the canal in the December of that year.

Due to the high standards of construction demanded by Brindley, by the time the canal had reached Atherstone in 1769, the canal company had run out of money, and Brindley was sacked.

The canal remained half finished for another seventeen years, but was finally completed and opened in 1789. The canal was for many years an important artery of trade, and was nationalised in 1948, and taken over by British Waterways.

See also

• Canals of the United Kingdom
• Thomas Dadford
• History of the British canal system