Grand Junction Canal

became the first chairman of the canal company.</small>]] The Grand Junction Canal Act 1793 authorised the company to raise up to £600,000 to fund construction of the main line from where the eastern branch of the River Brent enters the Thames adjoining Syon Park in the parish of Brentford, to the Oxford Canal at Braunston. It also authorised branches to Daventry, the River Nene at Northampton, to the turnpike road (now the A5) at Old Stratford, and to Watford: those to Daventry and Watford were not built. William Jessop was appointed to take charge of construction which started almost immediately from both ends. On 3 June 1793 an engineer, James Barnes, was appointed at the rate of two…

The Grand Junction's original act, the Grand Junction Canal Act 1793 (33 Geo. 3. c. 80), authorised branches to Daventry, the River Nene at Northampton, to the turnpike road at Old Stratford (north-west of the modern Milton Keynes), and to Watford in Hertfordshire: those to Daventry and Watford were not built. The branch to Old Stratford was amended before it was built (see below). The branch to Northampton was delayed as the plans of the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal to reach Northampton and thus join with the Grand Junction came to nothing. The link to Northampton was made by a tramroad transferred from Blisworth Tunnel, with the 5 mi canal from Gayton being opened in…