Melton Mowbray Navigation

Melton Mowbray Navigation
A sluice gate at Asfordby
Specifications
Locks	12
Status	Partial restoration
History
Date of act	1791
Date completed	1797
Date closed	1877
Geography
Start point	Melton Mowbray
End point	Syston
Branch(es)	Oakham Canal
Connects to	Grand Union Canal

v t e Melton Mowbray Navigation
Legend
Oakham Canal Melton Mowbray basin  A607  Leicester Rd disused railway bridge Railway bridge Weir 12 Eye Kettleby Lock Weir 11 Kirby Bellars Lock 10 Asfordby Lock 9 Frisby Mill Lock 8 Washstones Lock Austen Dyke 7 Hoby Lock 6 Brooksby Lock 5 Thrussington Mill Lock Ox Brook 4 Rearsby Mill Lock Streams 3 Ratcliffe Mill Lock  B674  Bridge 2 Ratcliffe Meadow Lock  A607  Bridge Lewin Bridge, Fosse Way Nottingham - Leicester Railway 1 Syston Mill Lock  A46  Newark to Leicester Rd Barkby Brook Three Way Bridge over entrance Grand Union Canal ( Loughborough Leicester )

The Melton Mowbray Navigation was formed when the River Wreake in Leicestershire, England, was made navigable upstream from its junction with the River Soar and the Leicester Navigation near Syston to Melton Mowbray, opening in 1797.^[1] Largely river navigation, there were numerous lock cuts, to accommodate the 12 broad locks built along its length,^[2] many of which were built at sites where it was necessary to maintain the water levels for an adjacent mill.

With railway competition, and the closure of the Oakham Canal, to which it was connected, decline was rapid, and the canal closed in 1877. Two hundred years after it was opened, the Melton & Oakham Waterways Society was formed, with the aim of returning the navigation to a navigable waterway once more.