The canal was also used to carry sand and gravel until these supplies were exhausted in the early
1940s.Construction of the Arm started in 1880 and was completed right at the end of 1882 - the Arm then enjoyed continued commerical operation right up to 1960 when British Waterways took it over. They considered the canal not to be worth saving and of course along came Slough Council who wanted to do what they and so many of our councils do best - shove concrete everywhere and destroy a bit more of our English Heritage. Fortunately The Slough Canal Group was created and they fought a vigorous campaign along with the help of the Slough Observer Newspaper to keep the canal alive - this campaign was successful and the canal was re-opened in 1975.
It is interesting that the big thing these days in England is to get people out and about for some healthy exercise etc. - canals are ideal for this be it walking or cycling. You only have to see how many families and people are out on the canals on a nice Sunday afternoon to see that if the enviornment is safe, clean and accessible then areas get used.
However in the case of canals the
amount of money to upkeep them is in effect being reduced by this double
standard Scottish Government we are blessed with in England. The result is that
canal banks and towpaths are often not kept in good condition and the canal
starts leaking - paths and towpaths get more and more unpassable - therefore the
canals stop being used. The whole situation is quite pathetic- our old canal
systems should have more money spent on them not less. But then
these well payed politicians with their huge pensions, expense payed everythings
and so on are quite obviously not actually interested in ENGLAND - much better
to spend money on a "fact finding" 5 star trip to the Bahamas or whatever they
do when they are not on holiday.Anyway - this canal towpath is fortunately in really good condition for cyclists and walkers - there are several bridges and three very interesting aqueducts which are used to cross Fray's River, the River Colne and Colne Brook - there are no locks on the Arm apart from a barely visible sight of the original stop lock at the Grand Union end of the arm. (see the bottom left of the first picture shown below).
