WATERWAYS OF ENGLAND AND WALES, 1870 TO 1880

Little happened in this decade. Closures continued, but the only through route to be abandoned formally was the Wey and Arun Junction that had fallen into disuse sometime before.

The only railway take-overs were in Wales, with the Swansea Canal, the Monmouthshire and the Brecon & Abergavenny falling prey to the railways. These last two were later to amalgamate as the Monmouthshire and Brecon.

The Mardyke in Essex was a natural drainage channel and there has been various proposals in the past to turn it into a canal, none of which had come to anything. Now, without any enabling act, vessels began to ply up it. Nearby there was yet another attempt to build a canal from Romford to the Thames. This time, unlike previous attempts, work did actually start at the Romford end, but was soon abandoned.