on the old Portsmouth & Arundel

Restoration feature

Not actually a plan to reopen the long-lost Portsmouth & Arundel Canal to boats,

Burndell Bridge

It does sometimes seem that just when you think there couldn’t possibly be any more new canal restoration schemes, up pops another new group with a plan. And Burndell Bridge, Yapton, is a case in point. Sure, they’re not actually proposing reopening the route to navigation, but a group in Sussex have found a rare surviving structure from the old Portsmouth & Arundel Canal, and are hoping to restore it. But before Andrew Saunders explains about their ambitions, let’s hear from Allen Misselbrook about the history and surviving heritage of the canal...

A very brief history of the Ford to Hunston Canal and its relationship to Yapton

In June 1823, with great pomp and ceremony, the final section of the Portsmouth & Arundel canal, from Ford to Hunston, was

officially opened. It was the final link in a waterway route which would allow gold bullion to be transported from London to the Navy in Portsmouth Harbour without having to sail via the Channel, running the risk of the hazardous sea journey and of being intercepted by the French. It would also facilitate the transport of cargo between the capital and the south. The route had been surveyed by the experienced John Rennie with James Hollinsworth being appointed as the engineer. The main supply of water for the canal was provided by a large pumping station taking water from the River Arun at Ford near to the canal entrance. This was one of the last canals of its type to be built and was not a commercial success due, mainly, to the coming of the railways. The section from Ford to Hunston closed in 1847 and slowly fell into disrepair. There is very little to show in Yapton of this once important waterway linking London to Portsmouth & Arundel Canal

Opened in 1823, the canal linked the River Arun to Salterns, and from there via a dredged channel through the natural inlets to a short terminal length of canal leading into Portsmouth. It was abandoned in 1847 apart from the short length from Salterns to Hunston and the branch from there to Chichester, which had been built to a larger gauge, lasted until 1906, and much of which has been restored by the Chichester Ship Canal Trust. East of Hunston it has fared less well - but some remains survived - including Burndell Bridge, Yapton.

Burndell Bridge, Yapton

Burndell Bridge, Yapton

but a proposal to restore an original bridge as a reminder of a village’s history

the English Channel. Most of the route has either been filled in or built upon. Of the four bridges one, Tack Lee Bridge, has been preserved while another, Drove Lane Bridge, has been demolished completely leaving only a small pile of rubble in the hedgerow. Of ‘Bognor Bridge’ which carried what is now the B2233 there is no sign save for a slight rise in the road in front of the village hall. This leaves bridge number four, ‘Burndell Bridge’ which still survives, albeit in desperate need of renovation, almost buried under dense undergrowth. There is still the opportunity to save this bridge as an example of the heritage of Yapton and the country. Allen Misselbrook

Where are we and where are we going?

Having lived in Yapton since 1985 and not having known there was ever a canal here, I can appreciate the value of physical monuments to remind and capture the imagination of those who discover them. I discovered Burndell Bridge by accident, prompting some research... well, an exponentially growing amount in fact!

Various groups have worked to save and preserve the history and remains of this section. Sussex Industrial Archaeological Society (SIAS) mapped, restored and excavated various features on this section detailed in their excellent book (*). Most significant was the restoration of a brick-built bridge, St Giles bridge, at Merston near Chichester. Tack Lee bridge, Yapton, was restored by developers as part of The Pines development in the 1980’s.

In more recent times the Friends of the Old Ford to Hunston Canal and the Ford Greenway Project have sought to maintain and lobby for the route and its remains to be preserved and included in local plans, planning permissions and to be the basis for a non-vehicular route crossing the area from

Burndell Bridge Society

Arundel to Chichester.

Burndell Bridge is located in Yapton on the other side of the village to Tack Lee. This brick-built skew bridge dating back to 1823 has been left in the corner of a field until the Emerald Gardens estate was built, which prompted the question: what to do with it. This estate has also preserved a section of original canal bed, now dry and overgrown and a haven for wildlife, whilst retaining some original towpath.

The opportunity, supported by the Inland Waterways Association, WRG, county councillors, district councillors, district council protections and parish council neighbourhood plans and the Yapton History Group, is to clear the overgrowth and then rebuild the brick sections whilst also creating a usable accessible path underneath. The public footpath which runs over one run-up to the bridge is not suitable for many people all year (and all during the wetter winter months). This can only be done with the support and permission of the owners of the estate who we have sought to support in whatever way gets the job done!

My opinion is that this bridge roughly marks out how small the village was in the 1800s and so will show to future generations how the village changed with the arrival of the canal and has continued to grow, recently at a great pace with new estates springing up doubling the size if not more of the village in a short space of time. Andrew Saunders To find out more about the plans for Burndell Bridge (and to offer your services as a volunteer to help get it restored), contact Andrew Saunders and the Burndell Bridge Society by email at burndellbridgesociety@gmail.com or find the Burndell Bridge Society on Facebook.

(*) A Description of the Remains of the Ford to Hunston Section of the Portsmouth to Arundel Canal, Roger Reed 2007.

The bridge in the 1980s, and an impression by local artist James Gadd of how it could look

Yapton History Group