Geograph - photograph every grid square

An important canal that showed a profit into the 20th century it was authorised in 1769. James Brindley was appointed engineer to build a 91 mile contour canal. Samuel Simcock took over on Brindley's death in 1772. He completed the line from the Coventry Canal at Longford to Banbury in 1778. The canal was finally brought into Oxford in 1790. The Grand Junction Canal opened in 1800 threatening the Oxford Canal's traffic and they protected themselves by charging very high rates for their 5.5 mile stretch between Braunston and Napton. The outdated contour canal came under increasing threat in the 1820s from various proposed new schemes so they undertook enormous engineering works north of Braunston cutting 14 miles off the 36 miles between Braunston and the Coventry Canal. The truncated loops and branches were crossed by elegant bridges inscribed 'Horseley Ironworks 1828'.