May 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Whilton Marina, one of the earliest inland marinas of the leisure boating era, and certainly the one that set the pattern for modern mooring. It was the idea of David Steele, a civil and construction engineer. He saw the potential of an unused field, a former cricket pitch, sandwiched between the main railway line and the bottom of the Grand Union Canal's Buckby Lock flight near Daventry. At the time the commercial carrying industry had effectively come to an end but a new generation of leisure-boat-owners were looking for modern facilities. A 6-acre plot was excavated to create the largest inland marina of its time, and it opened in May 1971. It was an instant success. This was the era of small fibre-glass cruisers, and soon up to 500 were moored in the basin, enjoying facilities previously unknown to canal moorers at that time.
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