Ashby Canal

In 1948 IWA Bulletin 8 mentioned the Ashby Canal and "suggests that some of our Members with boats may be glad to be reminded that, although in need of dredging (until nationalization it was the property of the L.M. & S.Railway), this waterway offers a level of 27 miles without locks from Marston Junction, where it runs into the Coventry Canal. The remaining milage of the Ashby Canal was abandoned by the L.M. & S.R. under their notorious Bill of 1943".

Bulletin 16 later in 1948 stated that IWA had been officially informed the canal had been transferred from the Control of the Railway Executive to the control of the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive.

IWA Bulletin 54 - May 1957 - reported:

"The Ashby Canal was originally thirty miles long; and 'through out its length it has no locks. During the late War, when opposition to such transactions was at its minimum, the London Midland & Scottish Railway Company (successors to the Midland Railway, which had acquired the waterway during the nineteenth century) obtained from Parliament power to close something less than three miles at the top of the waterway. The present proposal is to close the next three miles or thereabouts. It is a good example of our contention that one closure inevitably leads to another (and is often planned to do so), until little is left.

The Ashby Canal still carries coal traffic. It is true that at present this traffic does not proceed beyond the point (Measham, until 1939 famous for its distinctive canal pottery) where the section commences which it is proposed to close; but the entire upper part of the Canal, including the portion dosed already, traverses a district thick with collieries and other industrial enterprises. The regrettable closure in several cases of waterside loading facilities should not be regarded as a reason for making the upper part of this waterway finally unavailable for traffic. In fact, for some time past, navigation above the Measham district has been made impossible by a barrier erected across the waterway on a legal basis of extreme dubiety. It may be added that the Ashby Canal in its central and southern portions is of great beauty, and could provide valuable recreation to the residents of the northern and industrial portion." The photo shows the barrier.

The Ashby Canal Association was founded in 1966.

One of the two Inland Waterways Association National Trailboat Festivals that were held in 2000 was at Moria on the Ashby Canal.

Work was progressing in 2001 on the 700m restored section of the Ashby Canal at Moria.