Gloucester is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, 19 miles (31 km) east of Monmouth and 17 miles (27 km) east of the border with Wales. Including suburban areas, Gloucester has a population of around 132,000. It is a port, linked via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the Severn Estuary.
British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland and Wales.
Waterway restoration is the activity of restoring a canal or river, including special features such as warehouse buildings, locks, boat lifts, and boats. In the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, the focus of waterway restoration is on improving navigability, while in Australia the term may also include improvements to water quality. (For water quality improvement activity in the US and UK see stream restoration.)
The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south-west of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a cargo route from Bristol and the Midlands to London, linking England's two largest rivers for better trade. The route climbs the steep Cotswold escarpment through the Golden Valley, tunnels underneath the summit of the Cotswold Edge, and emerges near the source of the Thames.
The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal is a canal in the west of England, which ran from Hereford to Gloucester, where it linked to the River Severn. It was opened in two phases in 1798 and 1845, and closed in 1881, when the southern section was used for the course of the Ledbury and Gloucester Railway. It is the subject of an active restoration scheme.
The canal network of the United Kingdom played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution. The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network which, at its peak, expanded to nearly 4,000 miles in length. The canals allowed raw materials to be transported to a place of manufacture, and finished goods to be transported to consumers, more quickly and cheaply than by a land based route. The canal network was extensive and included feats of civil engineering such as the Anderton Boat Lift, the Manchester Ship Canal, the Worsley Navigable Levels and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
The Canal Museum, formerly known as the "National Waterways Museum Stoke Bruerne" and "The Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne", is a canal museum located next to the Grand Union Canal just south of the Blisworth Tunnel, near the village of Stoke Bruerne in Northamptonshire. It is about 10 miles (16 km) north of Milton Keynes and 7 miles (11 km) south of Northampton near junction 15 of the M1 motorway.
The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role of recreational boating. Despite a period of abandonment, today the canal system in the United Kingdom is again increasing in use, with abandoned and derelict canals being reopened, and the construction of some new routes. Canals in England and Wales are maintained by navigation authorities. The biggest navigation authorities are the Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency, but other canals are managed by companies, local authorities or charitable trusts.
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of 70 acres. It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out permanently. A tidal by-pass was dug for 2 miles through the fields of Bedminster for the river, known as the "River Avon New Cut", "New Cut", or simply "The Cut". It is often called the Floating Harbour as the water level remains constant and it is not affected by the state of the tide on the river in the Avon Gorge, The New Cut or the natural river southeast of Temple Meads to its source.
Duke's Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is in the southern dock system, connected to Salthouse Dock and Wapping Dock to the east. The Albert Dock is located immediately north, although not directly accessible by water.
The National Waterways Museum (NWM) is in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England, at the northern end of the Shropshire Union Canal where it meets the Manchester Ship Canal. The NWM's collections and archives focus on the Britain's navigable inland waterways, including its rivers and canals, and include canal boats, traditional clothing, painted canal decorative ware and tools. It is one of several museums and attractions operated by the Canal & River Trust, the successor to The Waterways Trust.
Llanthony Secunda Priory was a house of Augustinian canons in the parish of Hempsted, Gloucestershire, England, situated about 1/2 a mile south-west of Gloucester Castle in the City of Gloucester. It was founded in 1136 by Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, a great magnate based in the west of England and the Welsh Marches, hereditary Constable of England and Sheriff of Gloucestershire, as a secondary house and refuge for the canons of Llanthony Priory in the Vale of Ewyas, within his Lordship of Brecknock in what is now Monmouthshire, Wales. The surviving remains of the Priory were designated as Grade I listed in 1952 and the wider site is a scheduled ancient monument. In 2013 the Llanthony Secunda Priory Trust received funds for restoration work which was completed in August 2018 when it re-opened to the public.
The Sleaford Navigation was a 12.5-mile (20.1 km) canalisation of the River Slea in Lincolnshire, England, which opened in 1794. It ran from a junction with the River Witham, near Chapel Hill to the town of Sleaford through seven locks, most of which were adjacent to mills. Lack of finance meant that it stopped short of its intended terminus, but it gradually grew to be successful financially. The coming of the railways in 1857 led to a rapid decline, and it was officially abandoned by an act of Parliament in 1878, but remained open for a further three years. The lower part of it remained navigable until the 1940s, when it was blocked by a sluice.
Castle Meads Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on Alney Island in the River Severn at Gloucester.
Mayflower is a steam tug built in Bristol in 1861 and now preserved by Bristol Museums Galleries & Archives. She is based in Bristol Harbour at M Shed. She is the oldest Bristol-built ship afloat, and is believed to be the oldest surviving tug in the world.
Gloucester Docks is an historic area of the city of Gloucester. The docks are located at the northern junction of the River Severn with the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. They are Britain's most inland port.
The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as Glandŵr Cymru in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the Trust took over the responsibilities of the state-owned British Waterways in those two places.
Gloucester City Council is the local authority for Gloucester, which is split into 18 wards, with a total of 39 councillors elected to serve on the City Council.
The Roundhouse, formerly Corporation Wharf, is a crescent shaped building located in the city centre of Birmingham, England.
High Orchard was an industrial area of the city of Gloucester in England that was developed in the 19th century on the former orchard of the Priory of Llanthony Secunda (1136). The area was closely associated with Gloucester Docks immediately to the north, and served by the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and railway transport. It was the site of Fielding & Platt's Atlas Works and a number of other significant local employers.
