Site design and build: Nick Cooke

across the border in Rutland, were equally affected. Hence the Oakham Canal, which opened in 1803. This differed from the Wreake in being an entirely man-made waterway, and its circuitous route seemed expressly designed to pass near to as many Rutland villages as possible on its way from Melton Wharf to Oakham.  There were 18 locks, 6 more than were built on the Wreake, but the terrain was otherwise hospitable: there are no aqueducts or tunnels on either navigation, with just one large embankment on the Oakham, near Edmondthorpe.

1847

In the heyday of the Oakham Canal, most of the boats on the Melton Navigation carried through traffic heading for Oakham. Before long, most of Rutland's coal - and a fair proportion of that used in Northamptonshire villages such as Gretton and Harringworth - was travelling as far as Oakham by canal. Frequent water supply problems, however, caused difficulties for traders.  The Wreake was prone to flooding, while both navigations - especially the Oakham Canal - suffered water shortages in the summer.  Indeed, extra crew were often recruited for summer journeys up the Wreake, whose winding nature could make it a tricky cruise even when water was plentiful. Just as the 1790s had seen national enthusiasm for canals, the 1840s were to see the start of a national craze for railway-building.  Waterways everywhere suffered from this new, fast competition, but few more so than the Melton and Oakham.  The two Companies of Proprietors took vastly differing approaches to the plans of a new railway linking Syston, Melton, Oakham.  The Melton Navigation believed they could struggle on: the Oakham Canal knew their trade was doomed. It was a sensible business decision, then, for the Oakham company to sell their canal to the Syston-Peterborough Railway in 1845.  This capitulation caused some degree of concern in Parliament, but few locals spoke up for the canal, anticipating the rewards the new railway would bring.  On 29 October 1847, the sale went through: nothing remained to stop the railwaymen building their new line on the course of the old canal.