An ambitious, zero carbon, high-speed canal has been proposed that will revolutionise and transform the transport of goods between the English Channel and London, with ready access to other parts of the country through the existing canal network.
It is anticipated that this new transport link will take much of the heavy traffic away from the present road system which is greatly in need of extensive repair.
And, at a time when the world is in turmoil, it will provide a far safer route for goods from the Channel to the Capital.
The intention is to seek Parliamentary approval for the project that is hailed as the solution to a road network unsuitable for heavy traffic, open up access to the wider market for Kent’s industry and provide some needed investment in the County.
You can imagine that headline in today’s Maidstone Journal but it is not in today’s paper but that of the year 1800 when a group of important men met at the Ye Olde Bell Hotel in the town.
They discussed the building of what would become known as The Weald of Kent Canal and a spokesperson after the meeting said that ‘It will be England’s answer to the Canal du Midi’.
Alexander Sutherland surveyed the first route through Kent which was ‘laid before subscribers’ at a general meeting in September 1801 but Sutherland died in 1802 and the surveying reins passed to John Rennie, the renowned canal engineer. He re-surveyed and made amendments to Sutherland’s route and declared:
‘It is without exception the finest piece of country to cut a canal through I ever saw’
The major financial sponsors of Sutherland’s first survey in 1800 were Earl Camden, Earl Romney, the Kent MP Sir William Geary, Sir Thomas Roberts and Thomas Adams.
The original surveys and documents can still be found in The Sussex Keep at Brighton and Maidstone’s Kent History and Library Centre. We are also extremely fortunate that Thomas Dearn, a prominent member of Cranbrook’s community, was sufficiently interested in the project to include a resume in his ‘An Historical, Topographical and Descriptive Account of the Weald of Kent’ published in 1813.
The proposed Canal would connect the River Medway, with its access to the River Thames and London, to the port of Rye. It would avoid the longer and more difficult and dangerous sea passage around the Kent coast, carry chalk, lime and coal into the Weald and timber and agricultural produce out in the 40 ton barges common on the River Medway.
The estimated cost of the 1802 scheme was £175,653, almost £12 million in today’s money and Rennie estimated that a toll income of £6241pa would give a return of around 8% on capital when 4 to 5% was the average elsewhere, appealing to the gentry, businessmen and farmers of the Weald which, as they say, would have been a nice little earner for those looking to invest.
The delayed Act of Parliament was finally passed in 1812 with an authorised capital of £305,800 (£15,171,000) that had to be raised within three years before work could start and an additional £160,000 (£6,979,000) should be raised for a reserve.
The final route of the Weald of Kent Canal would now link with the Royal Military Canal on its way to Rye Harbour and would have been a majestic scheme, opening up an agricultural Kent to the rest of the country and therein lies the inherent problem of this grand scheme.
There was no heavy industry to support such a canal as elsewhere in the country. There was also some serious opposition to the Canal being built, the capital and the investment required was proving difficult to raise and by 1825, the project literally ran out of steam with the advent of the railway.
But imagine if the Weald of Kent Canal had been completed. Perhaps after years of neglect, the canal would have been brought back to life and become an idyllic route across the historic Weald of Kent. Imagine slowly sailing from the River Medway to the Coast or walking along the towpath through the villages that line the route. It would have been a legacy to the art of canal building but sadly, it remained in the dreams of a few good men.
It would become the Canal that Never Was.
David Clarke
History Walks Talks and Books
More than just Footsteps on a Path
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