Foss Dyke

Foss Dyke
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Foss_Dyke".

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Foss Dyke

Torksey Junction

A156 road bridge

Torksey Lock

Sheffield - Lincoln Railway

A57 bridge, Saxilby

River Till

Burton Waters marina

A46 Newark Road bridge

Catchwater drain

B1273 bridge

Brayford Pool, Lincoln

Witham Navigations

Brayford Pool in Lincoln where the Foss Dyke meets the River Witham.

Brayford Pool in Lincoln where the Foss Dyke meets the River Witham.

The Foss Dyke, or Fossdyke, may be the oldest canal in England still in use. It was long thought to be constructed by the Romans around 120 AD, though this is now considered doubtful. Kevin Leahy points out:

The first record we have of it is that of Simeon of Durham who records its construction by Henry I in arround 1121 (Historia Regium ii 260). Even if the Fossdyke had been built by the Romans it needs a high level of maintenance and after a few hundred years of neglect it would have been difficult to find, let alone navigate.^[1]

The canal connects the Trent at Torksey to the Witham at Lincoln, and is about 18 km (11 miles) long and possibly follows an earlier line of the Trent, which emptied into the Wash in prehistoric times. Together with the 90km (56 miles) of Car Dyke it formed part an important transport route from Peterborough to York.

It was used by the Danes when they invaded England^{citation needed} and by the Normans to carry stone to build Lincoln Cathedral. King Henry I is recorded as having deepened the canal in 1121 but it deteriorated until by the 17th century it was virtually impassible. Katherine Swynford, who lived in the area, is credited with having organized a protest to repair it, in 1375^[2]. King James I transferred ownership to the Corporation of Lincoln and acts of Parliament were passed in 1753 and 1762 for straightening and dredging it. It received further work in 1840 but with the coming of the railway in 1846 its use declined.

At one time a major waterway for the transport of wool, it is now mostly of leisure use, though the transport of grain continued until 1972. It has one lock at Torksey, has a new marina at Burton Waters and passes through the village of Saxilby.

References

^ Leahy, 2007, The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey, Tempus 2008, ISBN 978-0-7524-4111-5, p. 24
^ J.W. Hill, Medieval Lincoln, p. 312

Nicholsons Guide to the Waterways (vol 6)

Coordinates: 53°18′N 0°45′W / 53.3, -0.75

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Related topics	History of the British canal system · British Waterways

Notes	‡ A system of canals. Canals which form part of this system are not listed here individually. † Partly or mostly navigable, and/or under restoration (as of 2008) ↓ Contains canalised river.

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