Grand Union Canal Conservation Area

This page provides information for the Grand Union Canal Conservation Area.

The Grand Union Canal Conservation Area was designated by Leicestershire County Council in October 2000. It is a 48-kilometre long linear area extending from Welford (located on the Northamptonshire and Leicestershire border) to the City of Leicester (at Aylestone).

The Conservation Area covers the canal and all canal related facilities such as aqueducts, boatsheds, wharves, mileposts, and bollards, lock keepers cottages, ponds, clay pits and canal-side facilities. The Grand Union Canal is essentially a narrow linear waterway flanked by a towpath, crossed at regular intervals by bridges and controlled in height by locks. The Grand Union Canal was built between 1793 and 1814 as part of a pre-railway national transport link.

The Grand Union Canal Conservation Area Schedule

The Grand Union Conservation Area includes the section of the Grand Union Canal between the Leicester City boundary, 130 metres north of Blue Bank Lock and the boundary of the County with Northamptonshire. The area includes the entire stretch of the Harborough Arm of the Grand Union Canal between its junction with the main Grand Union Canal at Foxton Locks and its terminus at the Harborough Basin in Market Harborough at the edge of B6047 road.

It includes the whole of the Welford branch starting at the point where it leaves the main Grand Union Canal, 160 metres north of the county boundary with Northamptonshire and the terminus of the Welford branch at the A5199, including a triangular section below Welford Reservoir on the opposite side of the A5199 road.

A section of the Saddington feeder is included, approximately 1.2 kilometres east of Saddington, following the line of the feeder towards the Saddington Reservoir for a distance of 130 metres south of the Grand Union Canal up to and including the first bridge crossing the feeder.

The width of the conservation area boundary varies along its designated length according to the type and nature of features and boundaries present.

Make a conservation area enquiry

Listed Buildings within the Conservation Area

There are a number of Listed Buildings within the entire Grand Union Canal Conservation Area, however, only one is located within the borough's boundary.

The statutory Listed Building is:

Turnover Bridge, Grand Union Canal: Grade Two (Grade II)

For further information please contact:

Leicestershire County Council

County Hall,
Glenfield,
Leicester
LE3 8RA

Telephone: Leicester (0116) 232 3232