Viewing Platform Is The Latest Feature of The Wey & Arun Project

Published on: 4 May, 2015
Updated on: 7 May, 2015

A new viewing platform under construction by volunteers form the Wey & Arun Trust will allow walkers to view local wildlife.

Bank holidays might be a day of rest for many of us but a team of volunteers from the Wey & Arun Canal Trust could be seen busily working today (May 4th), constructing a viewing platform for walkers using paths by Hunt Park by Shalford.

The raised platform will complement a canal side pathway constructed 18 months ago. Team member Mike Hobbs said that it was expected to be finished and available for use in June or July this year. It will allow walkers to look out and observe wildlife near the canal.

The team of volunteers had set up a small camp by their place of work.

Funding for the project has largely been provided by a £180,000 bequest from Loxwood residents Ed and Doris Hunt who wanted their legacy to be used for the conservation of the countryside and, in particular, wildlife.

The Wey & Arun Cnal linked to two rivers to give a route from London to the south coast.

The Wey & Arun Canal linked to two rivers to give a route from London to the south coast. © Wey & Arun Canal Trust

The project is part of overall programme of work to re-link the River Wey to the River Arun in Sussex by bringing the old derelict canal back to a navigable condition.

When it is restored, there will be once again be an inland waterway link from London to Littlehampton on the Sussex coast.

Surrey County Council are in the process of giving land to the Trust to allow reconstruction of the section from the junction with the River Wey down to Bramley. Negotiations with other landowners in the area are underway.

One team member, who appeared to be in his fifties, said: “I don’t think that the project will be finished in my lifetime but I hope my son, who is also working here, will see it completed in his.”

The Wey & Arun Trust always looking for new volunteers to help. Click here for more information.

The following is a history of the Wey & Arun Canal, extracted from the Wey & Arun Canal Trust’s website: “What is known today as the ‘Wey & Arun Canal’ actually consists of two canals. The first was the Arun Navigation, which gave trading vessels from the south coast access to Newbridge Wharf near Billingshurst and was opened in 1787.

“Then in 1813 an Act of Parliament, backed by the 3rd Earl of Egremont of Petworth House, authorised the building of a further canal, the Wey and Arun Junction Canal which extended the navigation from Newbridge up to Stonebridge Wharf south of Guildford on the Godalming portion of the river Wey.

“Following the Industrial Revolution, commercial trade on the canal gradually increased, with 23,000 tons carried at its peak in 1839. However, the railways were becoming established as the new form of transport.

“The first railways in Sussex had little impact on the canal, but in 1865 the line between Guildford and Horsham opened in direct competition with the canal.

“Although carrying charges were cheaper, the canal could not compete with the railway for speed and convenience. By 1868 canal traffic had virtually ceased, and in 1871 this caused an Act of Abandonment to be passed.”