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The Basingstoke Canal is a British canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation. From Basingstoke, the canal passes through or near Greywell, North Warnborough, Odiham, Dogmersfield, Fleet, Farnborough Airfield, Aldershot, Mytchett, Brookwood, Knaphill and Woking. Its eastern end is at Byfleet, where it connects to the Wey Navigation. This, in turn, leads to the River Thames at Weybridge. Its intended purpose was to allow boats to travel from the docks in East London to Basingstoke. It was never a commercial success and, from 1950, lack of maintenance allowed the canal to become increasingly derelict. After many years of neglect, restoration commenced in 1977 and on 10 May 1991 the canal was reopened as a fully navigable waterway from the River Wey to almost as far as the Greywell Tunnel. However its usage is currently still limited by low water supply and conservation issues. ==History== The canal was conceived as a way to stimulate agricultural development in Hampshire. Following a Parliamentary Bill in 1778,〔 problems raising the necessary capital funding meant that construction did not begin until 10 years later, in October 1788〔 and was completed on 4 September 1794. Engineer John Smeaton and his assistant William Jessop worked on the canal, along with Benjamin Henry Latrobe. One of the main cargoes carried from Basingstoke was timber. The canal was never a commercial success and fell into disuse even before the construction of the London and South Western Railway, which runs parallel to the canal along much of its length. Commercial use ended in 1910 but low-level use of the canal continued. In 1913 Mr A.J.Harmsworth tried to navigate the canal in a boat called ''Basingstoke''. The journey was motivated by a desire to keep the canal open since the Canal Act of 1778 specified that if the canal was not used for 5 years then the land the canal was built on would be returned to the original owners. It is thought that it proved impossible to navigate the entire canal but despite this the canal was not abandoned.〔 During World War I the Royal Engineers took over the running of the canal and used it to transport supplies from Woolwich. The canal was also used to train soldiers in boat handling Mr A.J.Harmsworth later purchased the canal (in 1922) and ran a number of boats on it for a mixture of limited commercial carrying and pleasure cruising. The canal was sold upon his death in 1947 and by 1950 was in the hands of the New Basingstoke Canal Co Ltd. This company continued the restoration of the canal (under the management of the General Manager, Mrs. Joan Marshall) but there was a serious setback in 1957 and a major breach in 1968.By the late-'60s it was essentially derelict despite volunteer efforts to improve the situation. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Basingstoke Canal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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