THE BASINGSTOKE CANAL - BEYOND GREYWELL

GREYWELL - BRICKWORKS ARM

This picture here (above) is the beginning of the canal in water again, though in the summer it is often dry in many sections towards Penny Bridge. It was about here, at this point, that the former western portal of the tunnel stood. One can see how the canal's profile itself narrows to this point.

Looking westwards (above) the canal bed is evident, but dry at the time of this photograph. Below is the first bridge on the western section - Eastrop Bridge. The very last bridge on the canal, in Basingstoke itself, was also called Eastrop bridge. This confusing state of affairs ceased when the one in Basingstoke was dropped and the canal underneath culverted in 1927. The deep cutting that extends westwards from Greywell must be almost a mile long, and it is thanks to this cutting that the last few remaining, complete, bridges on the Basingstoke Canal still stand.

Eastrop Bridge (Greywell)

The next bridge westwards from Eastrop Bridge is known as Slade Bridge, nowadays complete with rubbish strewn about the bridge's environs.

The next view looks back towards Slade Bridge. visible through the trees in the distance. The footbridge in the foreground takes the towpath across the arm leading to Nately Brickworks, the main canal itself turning sharply southwards away to the right. At this point there used to be a lift bridge. The arm was last used possibly as early as 1901 (however another official account suggests 1908) and from then traffic west of Greywell declined considerably, all traffic ceasing by October 1910, and three years later the very last commercial boat - appropriately 'Basingstoke' - on Alfred Harmsworth's epic voyage in 1913. This does not discount the possibility that maintenance boats may have traversed the tunnel and along the canal as far as Brick Kiln Bridge - where the stop planks marked the end of the canal's navigable section from 1910 to 1932 - until the tunnel's collapse in that year prevented any further passage.

Brickworks Arm crossing and Slade Bridge

Below: The information board at the entrance to the Brickworks Arm. The inset picture features two narrowboats at the western portal of Little Tunnel about 1900.

THE LOST ROUTE FROM GREYWELL TO BASINGSTOKE:
Lost Section - Introduction    Over Greywell Hill    Greywell - Brickworks Arm    Brickworks Arm - Penny Br    Penny Bridge - Little Tunnel    Frog Lane - M3    M3 Motorway Section    M3 - Church Lane (Basing)    Church Lane - Crown Lane    Basing House    Redbridge La - Swing Br Cottages    The Loop - Ringway East    Eastrop Way - Basingstoke