WEDNESDAY was the 190th anniversary of the opening of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.
Built in order to bypass the dangerous stretch of the River Severn between Lydney and Gloucester, decades of planning went into the scheme before the first ships sailed the stretch.
Four surveys were carried out between 1784 and 1793 on the site which had to be put aside when a director of the Stroudwater Canal, which opposed the project, arranged for the new county jail to be built at Gloucester on the site that had been chosen for the canal basin.
In 1793 an Act of Parliament was obtained for constructing a ship canal which raised £140,000.
Construction began at Gloucester in October 1794.
After periods of fundraising, in February 1820 the first connection was made with the Stroudwater Canal, enabling it to carry its first commercial traffic.
On April 26 1827 the full Gloucester and Sharpness Canal was completed and for the grand opening ceremony a band was hired for 10 guineas, bell-ringers for two guineas and £2.3.0 paid for a boat awning.
The 300-tonne ship ‘Anne’ became the first to be hauled into the entrance lock watched by a joyous crowd.
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