Monument record 442/1/4 - Braunston Marina (Former Canal Reservoirs)

A series of reservoirs built by the Grand Junction Co from 1806. These reservoirs are now incorporated into the modern marina complex. A hundred yards east of the junction, access has been made to the reservoirs from the main-line canal, and a footbridge salvaged from the Buckingham branch in 1962 takes the towing path across the water connection.

{1} The main entrance to the marina is part of the original line of the Oxford Canal. The junction was widened in 1816, when the Grand Junction Co. built their short Braunston Branch Canal from here, in a south-east direction around the side of their reservoir, to serve a large warehouse built near the Daventry Road. Part of this branch has been filled in and the rest incorporated into the water-space of the marina complex that occupies the site today.
A series of reservoirs built by the Grand Junction Co from 1806 and originally connected by a siphon. The bottom lock of the Braunston flight was emptied into these reservoirs, instead of being lost to the Company by flowing into the Oxford Canal at the junction. The water was held in the reservoirs until it was required again in the summit pound. It was back-pumped into a leat running along the hill-side to the top of the flight, where it replaced water used to work the locks at both ends of this 4 mile long summit pound. These reservoirs are now incorporated into the modern marina complex. A hundred yards east of the junction, access has been made to the reservoirs from the main-line canal, and a footbridge salvaged from the Buckingham branch in 1962 takes the towing path across the water connection.

<1> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 2001, A Guide To The Industrial Heritage Of Northamptonshire, p.16 (checked) (Gazetteer). SNN104759.

<2> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 2011, A Guide To The Industrial Heritage of Northamptonshire (2nd Edition), p.18 (checked) (Gazetteer). SNN107622.

Record last edited

May 24 2021 11:55AM