Barge Canal

 
It looks little more than a stream, and is largely overgrown, but time was when this stretch of water played a key role in the economy of this part of Hampshire.
 
This is Romsey’s old barge canal which runs by the outskirts of the Hampshire town and is visible as a waterway from the Plaza theatre to the main road at Timsbury.
 
I walked just part of it today but the route of the one-time towpath can be walked for the whole of the stretch to Timsbury.
 
The canal opened in 1794 and once had a number of locks and barges could make passage from Redbridge, Southampton to Andover. But it was closed in 1859 and the Romsey and District Society records that much of its course was built over for the railway and since its demise as a canal, it has lost the locks which maintained the water level, and has taken on more of the character of a stream.
 
But although little more than a stream it is home to wildlife, though being close to housing and largely overgrown, it appears few make it a permanent home.