Junction canal Grantham & Sleaford 1833 plan

The 1794, Sleaford Navigation canalised the River Slea to the River Witham linking to the seaport of Boston. From 1797, the Grantham Canal connecting to the River Trent, transported coal to Grantham. Between the two towns ran 14 miles of the worst road in England (Stamford Mercury 1843). This denied Grantham and the East Midlands access to Boston’s seaport to London. The Ancaster stone quarries lacked water transport to the west. John Rofe & Sons, Birmingham planned in 1833 a junction canal. In order not to injure or annoy the residence of any landed proprietor, the canal take a circuitous route. From Grantham, it rises from 60 meter above sea level to 125 m then enters a 25 m deep tunnel 2 1/2 miles in length. This would have made it the second longest canal tunnel in England. Unbuilt, there was a further attempt to link Sleaford, Grantham and Newark-on-Trent with a canal in 1840, but rendered superfluous by the railways arriving in the 1850s. Elevation x 8. Map source: http://www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk/