Leominster Canal

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Leominster Canal – a short, easy history

The Leominster Canal was a long, mostly unfinished canal in Herefordshire, England. It ran about 18 miles from Mamble to Leominster, with 16 locks and several tunnels. It was meant to be part of a bigger plan to connect Stourport to Kington along a 46-mile route.

How it started
- After a previous canal linked the Midlands to the River Severn, engineers suggested a Stourport-to-Hereford canal in the 1770s.
- In 1791, Parliament passed an act to start the Leominster Canal, with money to build it.
- Thomas Dadford Jr. was the main engineer. Work began quickly, and by 1794 parts from Marlbrook to Woofferton were open.

Problems and delays
- A long tunnel at Southnet caused trouble, and costs rose.
- A second act in 1795 allowed even more money to finish the project, but funding ran short.
- By 1796 the route to Leominster was finished and an 18.5-mile section was workable, but overall completion stopped because there wasn’t enough money.

Later ideas
- In 1803 another act tried to push the project on, with the idea of using railways at both ends to connect to Kington and Stourport, but nothing was built.
- There were further talks about extending to Worcester or completing the original plan, but these never happened.

What happened to the canal
- From 1794 coal from nearby mines was transported to Leominster, but the canal never made a profit.
- In 1858 the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway bought the canal for about £12,000 and it was drained and sold off. Parts of the route were later used by a railway line.

What remains today
- A few remnants still exist, including an aqueduct over the River Rea and a multi-arched aqueduct over the River Teme. The Teme arch’s center span was damaged during World War II.
- Both aqueducts are Grade II listed (protected). The Rea aqueduct is a notable brick structure.
- The Rea aqueduct area is now a footpath, but a section closed in 2014 after part of the canal trough collapsed.
- A group called the Friends of the Leominster Canal works to raise awareness and organizes visits to the remains.