Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
later being processed here in two blast furnaces until 1889. Patrons at the popular Barge Inn
on a summer's day would find it hard to believe the change in the scenery.
After an aqueduct for the new route of the A350, Barratt's and Buckley's Locks come in
quick succession at Semington. An attractive lock keeper's cottage remains, unlike the Wilts
& Berks Canal, of which the bricked-off end is located on the right before the bridge carrying
the old line of the A350. This canal, which ran to the Thames at Abingdon, is now the coun-
try's major restoration project. A line along the River Avon will be used in part. It is hoped
that the whole canal will be ready by 2025.
The Semington Brook passes under Semington Aqueduct and the brook and the canal both
pass the village of Semington with the first of the Cotswold stone houses that are to replace
brick from here. Some are 18th century and there is a stone church with a bellcote and an
adjacent village school in similar style.
The weaving town of Trowbridge, named from its wooden bridge, the Old English
treow
meaning tree, with its 18th century houses and lock-up, has become the administrative capital
of Wiltshire. It was served by Hilperton Wharf, which has now been converted into a mini
Docklands housing development, reached under the re-sited Parson's Bridge. The futuristic
Alvechurch Boat Centres' marina has been built on the other side of the canal. Wyke House,
with its Jacobean-style towers, is a replica of 1865. From 1814 to 1832, poet George Crabbe
was the local rector.
Rennie's unique waterwheel-powered pumping station feeding the canal up the hill to the left
.
Bradford-on-Avon is a market town in a steep, wooded valley, developed with the help of
Dutch weavers, there having been 30 weaving factories in 1800. One of the most remarkable
