Kinoulton

The Grantham Canal

We were visiting friends in Kinoulton and were taken for a walk direct from their front door, which is always a fine thing. We walked along the long straggling main street of the village and turned right to follow the towpath of the Grantham Canal. As the photo shows, it is rather overgrown.

The Grantham Canal website reveals that it is 33 miles long and runs through Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to join the Trent in Nottingham near Trent Bridge. The website, perhaps rather ambitiously, identifies it as "The romantic canal". It was opened in 1797 with the main purpose of bringing coal from Nottingham to Grantham. Its prosperity seems to have peaked in 1841 and then declined rapidly after the Nottingham to Grantham railway opened in 1850. Indeed by 1861 the railway company had gained control of it. In 1968 the canal was placed into a 'remaindered' state, which involved maintenance of the water level and general maintenance of the line. Many of the hump-backed bridges had by then been flattened, with the water flowing through culverts. A restoration process is underway.

Further, along the towpath we saw the abandoned Vimy Ridge Farm with its large landmark water tower. The farm was bought and renamed by Sir Jesse Hind in memory of his son and other men of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment who were killed during the battle of the Somme in 1916. After the war it was used to train ex-Serviceman and later orphans in agriculture. There is also, at right angles to the canal towpath an avenue of Lombardy poplar trees.

We were struck by the size of the water tower and thought at first that it might be some sort of folly, perhaps inspired by northern French church towers. The truth however was more prosaic.


Standing on the Poplar path as it crossed the canal, it was clear that the next section had been cleared and was full of water - for fishing as we discovered. Looked at through the bushes, it was positively romantic.

Further on, it was possible to see more clearly what the canal was once like.

But later it became overgrown again and then dried up completely. Restoration will clearly be a massive task.

After a couple of miles along the excellent towpath, we turned right and right again to walk back to Kinoulton across fields. To the left we had a brief view of Colston Bassett Hall, which dates from 1704 but was remodeled in the 19th century. It seems to be privately owned.

Conditions: cloudy, mild.

Distance: 5.5 miles.

Rating: three and a half stars.