Royal Military Canal

The Royal Military Canal is a canal running for 28 miles (45 km) between Seabrook near Folkestone and Cliff End near Hastings, following the old cliff line bordering Romney Marsh, which was constructed as a defence against the possible invasion of England during the Napoleonic Wars.

Construction

Construction was started at Seabrook, near Hythe in Kent on 30 October 1804. The canal was completed in April 1809 at a total cost of £234,000. It was constructed in two sections: the longest section starts at Hythe and ends at Iden Lock in East Sussex; the second, smaller section, runs from the foot of Winchelsea Hill to Cliff End. Both sections are linked by the Rivers Rother and River Brede. Gun positions along the canal were generally located every 500 yards (460 m). Any troops stationed or moving along the Military Road would have been protected by the earthen bank of the parapet, which was piled up during construction.

History

It was conceived by Lt-Col Brown of the Royal Staff Corps of field engineers in 1804, the time of the Napoleonic Wars, as a way to ensure that an invasion by the French could not use the marsh as a bridgehead. John Rennie acted as consultant engineer. A military road was built on the inland side of the canal.^[1] Despite the fact that the canal never saw military action, it was used to try to control smuggling from Romney Marsh. Guard houses were constructed at each bridge along its length. This met with limited success because of corrupt guards. Although a barge service was established from Hythe to Rye, the canal was abandoned in 1877 and leased to the Lords of the Level of Romney Marsh.

During the early stages of World War II, when a German invasion was looking likely, the canal was fortified with concrete pillboxes.^[2]

The Canal today

The canal is now an important environmental site. The Environment Agency is the navigation authority and uses the waterway to manage water levels on Romney Marsh and Walland Marsh. It is important for fish and other wildlife, including kingfishers, dragonflies and marsh frogs, and it passes through several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. There is now a public footpath for the entire length of the canal via Hythe, West Hythe, Bonnington, Bilsington, Ruckinge, Hamstreet, Warehorne, Kenardington, Appledore, Rye and Winchelsea.

References

Notes

^ Hadfield 1969, pp. 38–42.
^ Foot (2006), p. 227–234.

General references

Foot, William (2006). Beaches, fields, streets, and hills… : the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940. York: Council for British Archaeology. ISBN 1-902771-53-2.

External links

Media related to Royal Military Canal at Wikimedia Commons

[FOOTNOTEHadfield196938–42-1] Hadfield 1969, pp. 38–42.

[2] Foot (2006), p. 227–234.

[1]

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v t e Navigable canals of the United Kingdom
England	Aire and Calder¹ Ashby-de-la-Zouch² Ashton Basingstoke Canal Beverley Beck Birmingham Canal Navigations³ Bridgewater Bridgwater and Taunton Buckingham Arm² Bude² Calder and Hebble¹ Cambridgeshire Lodes³ Chelmer and Blackwater¹ Chesterfield² Chichester² Coventry Driffield Droitwich Erewash Foss Dyke Gloucester and Sharpness Grand Union³ Grand Western² Grantham² Herefordshire and Gloucestershire² Hollinwood Branch² Huddersfield Broad Huddersfield Narrow Ipswich and Stowmarket¹² Kennet and Avon¹ Lancaster² Leeds and Liverpool³ Lee Navigation¹ Limehouse Llangollen Lydney Macclesfield Maidenhead Waterways Manchester Bolton & Bury² Manchester Ship Canal Market Weighton² Middle Level Navigations³ Montgomery² North Walsham and Dilham¹² Nottingham² Oxford¹ Peak Forest Pocklington² Regent's Canal Ribble Link¹ Ripon Rochdale Royal Military Canal Sankey² Selby Sheffield and South Yorkshire¹³ Shropshire Union³ Sleaford¹² South Forty-Foot Drain Staffordshire and Worcestershire Stort¹ Stourbridge Stratford-upon-Avon Stroudwater² Thames and Medway² Thames and Severn² Trent and Mersey³ Weaver¹ Wardle Wey and Arun² Wey and Godalming¹ Wilts & Berks² Witham Navigable Drains³ Worcester and Birmingham Wyrley and Essington
Northern Ireland	Coalisland Canal Lagan Canal Newry Canal Shannon–Erne Waterway Strabane Canal Ulster Canal
Scotland	Caledonian Canal¹ Crinan Canal Forth and Clyde Union Canal
Wales	Llangollen Canal Monmouthshire and Brecon² Montgomery Canal² Neath and Tennant² Swansea Canal²
Features	Aqueducts (list) Basins Locks Rings Tunnels (list) Winding holes
Related topics	British Waterways Canal & River Trust Scottish Canals History of the British canal system London Canal Museum Manchester Pusher Narrowboats National Waterways Museum Navigable aqueduct Waterways Ireland
Notes: ¹ Contains canalised river. ² Partly or mostly navigable, and/or under restoration. ³ A system of canals. Canals which form part of this system are not listed here individually.