The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal is a 22 mile (35 km) long canal in England which travels between Bedworth in Warwickshire and the Leicestershire village of Snarestone. The canal used to travel 8 miles (13 km) further north to Moira, just outside the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, but this section was affected by mining subsidence, and was progressively closed between 1918 and 1966.
The abandoned section is the subject of a restoration project and is the first canal where a new section has been authorised under the Transport and Works Act (1992). The Transport and Works Order was obtained by Leicestershire County Council, as some of the original route has been infilled and built over, and restoration therefore involves construction on a new route.
All work was stopped, except on the lower part, and consideration was given to using railways (or wagonways as they are now known). Fortunately the necessary wording had been included in the Act. However, Whitworth's proposals, somewhat incompehensibly, were for lines independent of the canal. One would run from Ticknall to the River Trent; the other, following a plan which had previously been suggested by Jessop for the Earl of Stamford would run to the Trent from the Cloud Hill quarries.
In 1798, Thomas Newton had taken over from Whitworth and was asked to investigate the possible lines for railways which would serve the canal at Ashby Wolds, then in September, Benjamin Outram was asked to advise.
The lines finally built ran from the Willersley Basin through Ashby to a junction at Old Parks, thus eliminating the long canal loop through Ashby Wolds and Blackfordby. One branch ran through Lount to Cloud Hill, replacing the proposed canal and its diversion through Coleorton. The other branch led from Old Parks to Ticknall, with branches to the quarries between Calke Abbey and Staunton Harold. As built the lines measured twelve and a half miles.
Outram's engineer for the line was John Hodgkinson who was experienced in the work, but problems arose because the committee insisted that it should proceed on all sections of the line simultaneously, which made supervision difficult. Moreover, perennially short of money, they were dilatory in making decisions and providing funds, which caused Outram problems at his Butterley Works as he was having to refuse contracts, so that he could be ready to provide the canal with material, as and when it was authorised. During this period of delay, the labour costs and the price of iron also rose.
Originally intended to be the three foot six gauge usual at that time, Outram recommended in 1799 that it should be four foot two, forecasting that, within a few years, railways would be the principal mode of transport throughout the country. Even though Outram's experience of his treatment by the canal proprietors must have spoilt his satisfaction on the completion of the lines, they were arguably a major achievement and a model for railways in the future. The proprietors also must have been somewhat scarred, inexperienced as they were in the financing of major capital works.
In 1864 the Midland replaced the section from Ashby to Worthington, enlarging the Old Parks tunnel, running it on through Melbourne to Derby. The remainder of the lines were kept for local use, the branch to Ticknall closing in 1915.
Its railway owners did not invest sufficient money in the canal to maintain it properly, preferring to see traffic being carried on the railway, and so its condition gradually deteriorated. In 1918 a major breach caused by mining subsidence caused the last few miles of the canal near Ashby to be abandoned. The canal was nearly closed completely: only the strategic importance of the coal supplies during the First World War allowed it to survive. In 1944, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) railway, which by then owned the canal, closed down several more miles of its northern end. Further closures followed in 1966, largely owing to mining subsidence.
Traces of the old railway can still be seen, particularly towards Ticknall. A low embankment, still with some stone sleeper blocks crosses a field and a tunnel under the drive to Calke Abbey. There is also an arch bridge in Ticknall village where the line ran into the quarries.
The Transport and Works Act Order was introduced by the British Parliament in 1992 as a way of simplifying the legal processes for railway and canal projects. Although a number of railway projects had previously been authorised under this legislation, the Ashby Canal Order obtained by Leicestershire County Council was the first time that construction of a canal had been authorised in this way.