12 History
The Portsmouth & Arundel Navigation Co. By local historian Andrew Berriman We‟re back in the year 1819 again, as we were in my May article, for Queen Victoria‟s birth. It was in November 1819 that the Portsmouth and Arundel Navigation Company commissioned contractors to construct their canal, within 30 months, by May 1822. Or at least they thought they had. The contractors begged to differ, particularly as by May 1822 the canal was a long way from completion. Think Crossrail, think HS2. They claimed that certain constructions weren‟t in the original contract, such as the need for a Canal Basin, or a road from the Basin to the city. Sounds a bit odd, doesn‟t it; surely a canal basin was essential? As a result, there had to be two official openings of the canal. The first was on April 9th 1822 when the branch up to Chichester from Birdham was opened, but this was only a small part of the overall Navigation project. So it was not until Monday 26th May 1823 that the full opening of the Portsmouth and Arundel Navigation took place. One of the main purposes of the canal was to provide a safe inland route from London to the Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, to finance the Navy. The route, via the Rivers Wey and Arun, avoided a sea journey around the English Channel, threatened by French privateers. The canal could also be used to bring coal up to Chichester, where a Gas Works was soon built in that year alongside the Basin. On the opening day, eight barges, loaded with goods assembled at Ford. In the lead of this „aquatic procession‟ was the 3rd Earl of Egremont, the main promoter of the canal, in his pleasure barge, followed by the barges of the mayors of Arundel and Guildford. At Hunston they were joined by an 80 ton schooner and five sloops; the whole Canal Barge, The Fanny, near procession was Hunston Junction 1900 over a mile long. They reached the Basin without mishap, and with the firing of cannon and the playing of bands. By 5pm the whole party was seated in the „Swan Inn‟ in East Street for a celebratory dinner. On the following morning the barges reached the Harbour at Apuldram, and were towed by steam barges across to Langstone. As they journeyed up the Portsea Island Canal from the Sea Lock, they were cheered onwards by a huge crowd of over 20,000 people. Yet again the day ended with a dinner, this
time at the George Inn, Portsmouth, feasting on the Earl‟s roast venison from his Petworth Park. It all seemed to begin so well, with such high hopes for future success. But, of course, as with most canals, it soon ended in tears, as canals quickly became almost a redundant means of transporting goods. In 1828 the Company admitted that „many
Canal at Yapton, December 2012
parts of the canal have fallen into decay‟. It didn‟t help that much of the canal bed had not been „puddled‟ (lined) to retain the water, which it was constantly losing. Competition came from coastal ships, which could carry far more goods, and then of course there was the railway, the new kid on the block. By 1846 the railway had reached Chichester, and by 1847 the main length of the canal from Ford to Hunston was abandoned as a commercial failure. That‟s just 24 years after it had been opened. Oh dear. The fate of the Navigation was irrevocably sealed in 1864 when the railway from Barnham Junction to Bognor mercilessly cut through the canal. By 1888 the Portsmouth and Arundel Navigation Company was wound up. In 1923 the road crossings at Donnington and Birdham were filled in, with the canal reduced to a small culvert under the road. But let‟s end on a positive note. The canal is now an important leisure resource, just as it was in late Victorian times, as shown in this delightful painting of the Basin by Walter Noab Malby (1858/92). Much of the canal‟s towpath is still accessible for walkers. In very wet weather water even reappears proudly and defiantly in the canal bed, as seen above at Yapton in December 2012. Only then can we see what we have lost.
Chichester canal by Walter Noah Malby (1858-1892)
