Search e-Museum only
The Wey Navigation
1 of 8 • Next
The following article was first published under the title of 'The Wey Navigation (A Tale of Troubled Waters)'. It was written by Avril Lansdell AMA, a previous curator of Elmbridge Museum.
The building of the Wey Navigation in the 17th century links Tudor Weybridge (through the re-use of the fabric of the demolished Oatlands Palace) with the 18th century family of the Portmores. While the Navigation is part of the history of Weybridge, it is also part of the history of Guildford and of Surrey as a whole. This book does not pretend to be the whole story of the Wey, not even the whole of the Weybridge part of the story, for there is always more to discover, but its author hopes that from it those who love canals will find that they not only join places one to another but also differing periods of time.
The waterways of England have been used for carrying goods from the earliest times. The Romans made canals and the navigations of the Thames and the Medway are mentioned in Magna Carta. These early rivers and canals were only useful over level land. Although "flash locks" had been in use on rivers from the Middle Ages, these served largely to maintain a barrier to uphold the volume of water for the use of millers, and were in fact often a hindrance to transport, rather than a help. The earliest pound locks in England were introduced to the 16th and 17th centuries on the Exeter Canal and the Wey Navigation.
The man behind the idea of "making the Wey navigable", as the original Act is worded, was the then owner of Sutton Place, Guildford, Sir Richard Weston. In his early manhood, Sir Richard travelled on the Continent and brought back with him numerous ideas which he introduced in his own estates, including new varieties of pasture grass and new methods of agriculture. The most important idea was based on the Dutch method of enclosed, or pound, locks on canals, and in 1618/19, within the boundaries of his estate Sir Richard laid out the course of the "Flowing River", some three miles of canals, and a lock still known as Stoke Lock which was the first pound in Surrey. These first canals were built with the primary purpose of watering meadows and thus improving the value of the land, but as the work progressed Sir Richard conceived the idea of making the winding River Wey navigable from Guildford to the Thames by cutting canals across the great loops formed by the river, and he began to negotiate with the landowners of properties that lay on the route. This came to the notice of Charles I's Parliament and in 1635 he was named one of a Royal Commission for a proposed scheme on Navigation for the River Wey.
In 1642 the Civil War broke out; Sir Richard was a Roman Catholic and a Royalist. Accordingly his estate was seized and his goods and income confiscated. To escape imprisonment Sir Richard fled back to Holland. But his heart was not concerned in the battle for the civil liberties of England, he was much more interested in his own schemes for commercially practical canals. He therefore contacted Major James Pitson of the Parliamentary Army, later a Commissioner for Surrey. Pitson agreed to plead for Sir Richard with Parliament for the return of his estate and also to apply for an Act of Parliament to authorise the Navigation. This last petition was presented to the Long Parliament in the name of the Guildford Corporation and an Act was passed on 26th June, 1651.
A document in Guildford Muniment Room purports to tell "the history of the River Wey being made navigable, which is a very extraordinary act". It was written by one of the Guildford men who was an original partner in the concern. Although this man does not sign the document, from the text it would appear to be Richard Scotcher. The whole building of the Navigation seems to have been dogged by quarrels and double-dealing. Although the Act of Parliament empowered "the men of Guildford" to undertake the construction, the various townsmen nominated to the task backed down one by one until only Richard Scotcher was left, together with Major Pitson. These two entered into an agreement with Richard Darnelly and they agreed to contribute £1,000 each towards the construction of the canals. The envisaged capital was £6,000 and the newly-pardoned Royalist, Sir Richard Weston, promised to find £3,000 from his own estate and to superintend the purchasing of land for cuts and wharfs, building the latter with "houses thereon such as should be thought fit, all within the space of one year, and to maintayne it for seven year".
1 of 8 • Next
