page_title: River Soar
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: River Soar / History
caption_attribution_description: A former steam-powered pump house, part of the nineteenth-century Friars Mill complex in Leicester, with new river-side developments, by the River Soar[1]
context_page_description: The River Soar is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north through Leicester, where it is joined by the Grand Union Canal. Continuing on through the Leicestershire Soar Valley, it passes Loughborough and Kegworth until it reaches the Trent at the county boundary. In the 18th century, the Soar was made navigable, initially between Loughborough and the Trent, and then through to Leicester. It was not until the early 19th century that it was linked by the Grand Union Canal to the wider network to the south and to London.
context_section_description: 1634 Thomas Skipwith of Cotes obtained a grant from Charles I to make the river Soar "portable for barges and boats", though the scheme was never completed.
  1794 The Leicester Canal was opened, making the Soar navigable for almost 40 miles (64 km). The western line was also opened- this was known as the Charnwood Forest Branch. However, most of the branch was made up of rail tracks rather than a waterway. This included a 2 ¹⁄₂ mi (4 km) uphill climb from Loughborough Basin. At the western end of the branch, rail lines travelled towards Coleorton and Swannington. A track to Cloudhill, which would have connected to similar lines on the Ashby Canal, was proposed but never built.
  1795 Another branch line (operated by a separate company) opened from the main line of the Leicester Canal (between Cossington and Syston) to Melton Mowbray. The line was 15 miles (24 km) long and used the River Wreake for virtually the whole of its course. The line was sometimes known as the Wreake Navigation, though it is better known as the Melton Mowbray Navigation. This new line was so successful that within a year William Jessop was appointed to survey another new line which would extend the Melton Mowbray Navigation to Oakham in Rutland, a further 15 miles (24 km). The extension would be called the Oakham Canal. An Act of Parliament was passed and work began.
  1796 While the lines to Leicester and Melton Mowbray were doing very well, trade on the Charnwood Forest Branch was very slow to pick up. The company even put on demonstrations in an attempt to encourage its use. With no real success being gained from this the company went into the coal carrying and selling business itself.
  1797 A proposal to extend the main line of the Leicester Canal much further south was announced. A new canal, the Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Union Canal, would link the river Soar with the River Nene. However, like many great ideas, the money ran out before the imagination did and the line reached just 17 of the proposed 44 miles (71 km), coming to a stop at Debdale Wharf near Kibworth Beauchamp. Thus the Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Canal never even got close to Northamptonshire. In fact, the whole project had proved to be something of a failure, the company having spent thousands of pounds building a waterway which passed nowhere in particular and ended in the middle of the countryside miles from any major town. Meanwhile, the Charnwood Forest Branch was still struggling to attract any trade. Water supply was one reason for lack of use, so the company built Blackbrook Reservoir. Following this, trade picked up but only very slightly.
  1802 The Oakham Canal opened after costing almost £70,000 to build. It was 15 miles (24 km) long, with 19 broad locks. Boats could now travel onto the River Soar from Rutland.
  1809 The main line of the Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Canal was extended from its resting place near Kibworth Beauchamp to Market Harborough where once again the work came to a stop. All the same, it was now a considerable navigation, linking the south of Leicestershire to the river Trent. However, there was still no link to the Grand Junction Canal.
  1810 By now ideas of connecting Leicester to Northampton seemed pointless. The Grand Junction Canal was running a tramway into Northampton and would surely soon convert this to a full navigation. The obvious thing to do now was to connect the Leicester navigations to the Grand Junction Canal.
  1814 The new link between the Leicester navigations and the Grand Junction Canal opened and was named the Grand Union Canal (not to be confused with the later canal route of the same name).
  1832 The Leicester and Swannington Railway opened from the Leicestershire coalfield to a wharf alongside the canal at West Bridge, Leicester. This allowed Leicestershire coal to be cheaply carried on southwards for sale in London.
  1848 The owners of the River Soar Navigation were finally able to officially abandon the Charnwood Forest Branch which had stood idle since 1801.
  1877 After 80 years, the Melton Mowbray (or Wreake) 
caption: A nineteenth-century pump house and a new riverside development by the Soar in central Leicester
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