ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH CANAL.
- 34 George III. Cap. 93, Royal Assent 9th May, 1794.
This canal commences from the Coventry Canal, at Marston Bridge, three miles south of the town of Nuneaton, all in the county of Warwick, and after proceeding in a north-easterly direction, for about five miles, it crosses Watling Street, at the Plough Inn, where it enters the county of Leicester. A mile further, there is a cut of two hundred yards in length, to Hinckley Wharf, one mile from the town of Hinckley. Hence the canal proceeds in a northerly direction by Shenton Hall: crossing Bosworth Field, and leaving the town of Market Bosworth a mile to the east, it continues its course to Shackerston, where it crosses the River Sence, passing, on the north of Gopsall Hall, to Snareston Tunnel; a mile beyond which it enters a detached portion of the county of Derby: passing through the village of Measham, it makes a considerable detour, and again enters Leicestershire, near Donisthorpe, and terminates at Oakthorpe Fire Engine, on Ashby Wolds, one mile north-west of the Moira Baths, in the parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
This canal is twenty-six miles and a half in length, and level throughout. It was, together with several railways branching from it, constructed under the authority of an act of parliament, entitled, 'An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal, from the Coventry Canal, at or near Marston Bridge, in the parish of Redworth, in the county of Warwick, to a certain Close in the parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the county of Leicester; and for continuing the same from thence, in one Line, to the Lime Works, at Ticknall, in the county of Derby; and in another Line, to the Lime Works, at Cloudhill, in the said county of Leicester, with certain Cuts or Branches from the said Canal.'
The proprietors of this canal are incorporated under the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal," with power to raise £150,000, in fifteen hundred shares of £100 each, and a further sum of £50,000, if the proper execution of the canal and other works should require it.
