Louth Navigation
The Louth Navigation was a canalisation of the River Lud. It ran for from Louth in Lincolnshire, England, to Tetney Haven, at the mouth of the Humber. It was authorised by an act of Parliament in 1763 and completed in 1770, under the supervision of the engineer John Grundy Jr. and then by James Hoggard. Eight locks were required to overcome the difference in altitude, six of which were constructed with sides consisting of four bays.
The act did not provide the normal provisions for raising capital for the construction, as finance could only be obtained by leasing of the tolls. When completed, the commissioners leased the tolls to Charles Chaplin, who held ten shares and was also a commissioner, for an initial period of seven years. When the lease was due for renewal, no other takers were found, and Chaplin was granted a 99-year lease, despite the fact that the act did not authorise such an action. He collected the tolls but failed to maintain the navigation. When complaints were received, a new act of Parliament was obtained in 1828 to alter the tolls and legalise Chaplin's long lease. The lease was transferred to two railway companies in 1847, and reverted to the commissioners in 1876. The operation was a moderate success until the beginning of the 20th century, when there was a rapid decline in income, and the canal formally closed in 1924.
Because the canal was also a land drainage channel, it was not subject to infilling, and is now a designated main river, managed by the Environment Agency that drains the surrounding land managed by the Lindsey Marsh Internal Drainage Board. It is as a feeder for Covenham Reservoir, from which treated water enters the public water supply. Water from Waithe Dike supplements the supply, effectively flowing upstream along the canal, and when required, additional water is pumped into the canal along a pipeline from the Great Eau.
History
Despite being separated from the sea by a low coastal plain, which made contact with the wider world difficult, by the 18th century Louth had become a prosperous market town with a forward-looking town corporation. Realising that a link to the North Sea would provide opportunities for trade and expansion, in October 1756 they commissioned the engineer John Grundy Jr. to survey a route. He suggested a route from Louth to Tetney Haven, and on 28 January 1760, subscriptions were invited to pay for a full survey and an act of Parliament. The fund soon reached £850, and on 18 February 1760 the town clerk approached John Smeaton to carry out the survey. Smeaton advised caution, suggesting that they obtained the consent of as many landowners as possible before proceeding with a bill, as opposition in Parliament could be difficult to counter.In August, Smeaton reviewed Grundy's plans, which was for a river navigation. Cuts would be made to straighten the River Lud, and a sea sluice and lock would be provided where the river joined the Humber. The length would be a little over, and nine locks would be required along its course together with several bridges. Costs for different sizes of canal were provided, from £15,590 for a two barge canal to £10,884 for a canal suitable for lighters drawing. The committee asked Grundy to accompany them to Lincoln Races, where they would show the plans to the noblemen and gentlemen. This produced a favourable response, and with little local opposition, the pace of the project slowed. The reports were printed in September 1761, and the bill was submitted to Parliament on 6 December 1762.
The canal obtained the on 24 March 1763, but contained no proper provision for raising the capital needed to build the canal. Money could only be borrowed against the expected tolls, and this caused difficulties. On 30 May, the commissioners tried to find someone willing to lend £14,000, in return for all the tolls. A year later, they tried to raise £12,000 in transferable shares of £100 each, but the uptake was slow. By 13 February 1765, the full amount had been subscribed, and Grundy was engaged as Chief Engineer at a salary of £300 per year. He employed James Hogard as resident engineer, and work began in March. By mid-1767, the outfall sluice and lock at Tetney Haven had been completed, as had the first of cut. The cut was of sufficient depth that water levels were around below the land surface, so that the navigation could act as a land drain as well as a canal. The first from Tetney Haven to Fire Beacon Lane were opened in May 1767. Hogard then took over from Grundy as Chief Engineer, at a salary of £140 per year, and began the construction of the final section including seven locks. Additional subscriptions had to be found to fund the work, but the navigation reached Riverhead basin at Louth, and a formal opening was held in May 1770. The total cost was £27,500.
At Louth, the River Lud was diverted from its original course to the north of the Riverhead basin, and followed a new course along its south side. It supplied Bain's Water Mill, from which water discharged into the basin to maintain its level. When the mill was not in use, water levels were topped up through a diameter culvert, which passed under a stables and granary to reach the basin. Initially, the commercial community around Riverhead was separate from the main centre of population in Louth, but after the coming of the railway, ribbon development resulted in the two areas being connected. Six of the eight locks were built in an unusual way with the sides of the lock chambers consisting of four elliptical bays, to help them resist soil movement in the surrounding ground. It is not known which of the engineers involved in the construction designed the locks, which are rare in Britain. The two other locks had conventional straight walls. The locks were not built to a standard size, varying in length between and in width between, although all had a depth of over the sill, to cater for the keels and sloops that used the navigation.
Operation
The act of Parliament allowed the commissioners to lease the tolls for periods of up to seven years, and the first lease was granted to Charles Chaplin, one of the commissioners who held ten shares, in January 1770. He agreed to pay a rent of 4 per cent per year to the other shareholders, and to contribute a maximum of £500 per year towards maintenance costs. If more than £500 was needed, the commissioners were to supply any additional amounts. Although Chaplin had an option to renew the lease after 7 years, he did not do so, and no other takers could be found. The commissioners then negotiated with Chaplin, and revised terms were agreed. In return for a 99-year lease, he would fund all repairs, pay the salaries of the officers of the canal, and pay 5 per cent interest to the subscribers. Clearly, the 99-year lease was not authorised by the enabling act, but nobody challenged its legality for over 50 years. Chaplin was not thorough in carrying out his side of the bargain and had to be reminded that he had not been paying the interest in 1782 and again in 1788.There were problems with water levels in 1792. A lack of maintenance had resulted in silting, and horses were used to tow the barges, rather than them sailing along the navigation. To prevent the boats grounding, the water levels had been raised, preventing natural drainage from the surrounding land and causing flooding. Chaplin was ordered to carry out repairs but failed to do so, and died soon afterwards. His son Thomas took over, and tried to negotiate an end to the lease. On paper, this appears to have been accepted, but it is not clear that it was carried out, since George Chaplin, the son of Thomas, paid for the navigation to be made wider and deeper in 1811, and spent another £400 on repairs in 1814. There are no records of actual tolls, but estimates suggest that they rose from around £2,000 in the 1770s to £5,000 in the 1820s. Interest payments were £1,375 per year, and Chaplin argued that it had only become a profitable enterprise for him in the 1820s.
Users of the canal felt that the tolls, which had not altered since 1770, were too high, as the volume of traffic using the navigation had increased. To rectify the situation, a new act of Parliament, the ' was obtained in 1828, which reduced the tolls and formalised the 99-year lease of 1777. In 1847, the East Lincolnshire Railway Company obtained the ' which allowed them to purchase the lease of the Louth Navigation, and later the same year, the Great Northern Railway Company obtained the Great Northern Railway Company's Purchase Act 1847 allowing them to purchase or lease the East Lincolnshire Railway. They held it for the remaining 29 years, as a tactical move to prevent opposition from the existing leaseholders. When the lease came to an end, the General Manager of the GNR reported that they had kept the tolls as high as was legally possible, but suggested that they refrain from renewing the lease. The commissioners were unable to find anyone wanting to bid for the tolls, and collected them themselves until a bidder was found three months later. Although the tolls were lower than they had been under railway ownership, income was satisfactory into the early 1900s.