** Tonight **
This is an event organised by the GSIA which members of the CCT may find of interest. Visitors are welcome to attend.
Speaker, Nigel Jefferies is a founding member of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Society (now Trust).
He has researched extensively the fascinating history of the construction of the canal which took place in two phases.
Full of optimism, construction started in 1793, but inevitably there were difficulties which caused costs to spiral, in particular for the 1¼ mile long tunnel at Oxenhall. In 1798 worked stopped altogether one mile out of Ledbury a distance of just 18 miles from Gloucester. This was barely half of the planned 34 miles to Hereford. In was not until 1839 that work restarted under the direction of Stephen Ballard as clerk and engineer to the company. The canal finally reached Hereford basin in 1845 but by now we were firmly in the Railway Age.