Pony grazing by the old canal

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 22 Apr 2009

The public footpath leading past here starts by Collett's bridge > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1266968 its first section providing access to properties located alongside it > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1266951. The path skirts the infilled canal > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1266982 and here traverses it, emerging on Chapel Lane > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1267558 in Elm, further to the northwest. The Wisbech Canal (opened in 1797) - planned as a means to improve the status of Wisbech as a trading centre - linked the River Nene at Wisbech with Well Creek at Outwell. It was constructed on embankments for most of its 8.4 km length because of the low level of the Fen landscape. When the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway opened in 1883, running parallel with the canal, the coal transported by the railway was initially loaded into boats for further transport but by 1922 all traffic had ceased and in 1926 the canal was abandoned. Derelict for many decades, the section nearer Wisbech was filled in during the early 1970s, allowing for the construction of the A1101/Churchill Road link without destroying the historic town centre. The rest of the canal was used as a landfill site. Sections which were not buried under the new road (A1101) have been planted with trees and can be walked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisbech_Canal

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