On Friday November 25th 1955 there was a public meeting at Reading Town Hall to protest against the British Transport Commission's proposal td close the Kennet & Avon Canal. The future of this magnificent waterway was in the balance. The outcome was a writ against the B.T.C. by John Gould, a professional boatman from Newbury. Damages were eventually settled out of court, but the corner had been turned and the Kennet & Avon Association now launched an unstoppable campaign to save the canal. The Kennet & Avon is a 57-mile canal linking two river navigations. In the east, the Kennet Navigation opened in 1723 between Reading and Newbury; the western Avon Navigation between Bath and Bristol followed four years later. The canal section between Newbury and Bath has one tunnel, two splendid aqueducts and a flight of 29 locks at Devizes. It was engineered by John Rennie with a very short summit pound that led to water supply problems: two pumping stations at Crofton and Claverton were installed to alleviate the shortages but with limted success. Engineering difficulties and the cost of financing these structures meant that the final link was not made until 1810.
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