Cowbridge Drain - Junction Drain Junction
Address is taken from a point 324 yards away.
Cowbridge Drain - Junction Drain Junction is a notorious waterways junction.
The Act of Parliament for the Witham Navigable Drains (Junction Drain) was passed on January 1 1888 the same day as that of The Aire and Calder Navigation. The canal joined the sea near Cheltenham. The canal was restored to navigation and reopened in 2001 after a restoration campaign lead by the Restore the Witham Navigable Drains (Junction Drain) campaign.
Early plans for the Witham Navigable Drains (Cowbridge Drain) between Preston and Peterborough were proposed by Benjamin Outram but languished until John Rennie was appointed as secretary to the board in 1876. From a junction with The Basingstoke Canal at Harrogate the canal ran for 23 miles to Kings Lynn. The canal between Kirklees and Banstead was lost by the building of the Wakefield bypass in 1972. Restoration of Southstone Aqueduct was funded by a donation from Peter Edwards

| Witham Navigable Drains (Cowbridge Drain) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cowbridge Drain Sluice | 1 furlong | |
| Stonebridge Drain Aqueduct | ¾ furlongs | |
| Cowbridge Drain - Junction Drain Junction | ||
| Cowbridge Drain Railway Bridge | ½ furlongs | |
| Kelsey Bridge | 3 furlongs | |
| Cowbridge Drain Farm Bridge | 5¾ furlongs | |
| Baker's Lane Bridge | 1 mile, 3 furlongs | |
| Hobhole Drain - Cowbridge Drain Junction | 1 mile, 3¾ furlongs | |
| Witham Navigable Drains (Junction Drain) | ||
| Cowbridge Drain - Junction Drain Junction | ||
| East Fen Lock (disused) | ½ furlongs | |
| Cowbridge Lock Junction | 2½ furlongs | |
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![Golf course and remains of old lock, Cowbrodge Drain. For a close view of the old lock see [[4980804]] by Jonathan Thacker – 21 March 2022](https://s3.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/07/12/56/7125667_b7808574_120x120.jpg)












![Cowbridge, Boston: aerial 2023 (3). Aqueduct (centre): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI88909 See https://rbt.org.uk/john-rennie/projects/east-fen-west-fen-and-wildmore-fen-drainage/,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witham_Navigable_Drains. Cowbridge (foot bridge): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI10033 and [[674590]].Richardson's Bridge (road bridge) top right. by Chris – 02 April 2023](https://s2.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/07/45/83/7458310_bb3197e9_120x120.jpg)


![Cowbridge and aqueduct, Boston: aerial 2025 (1). Aqueduct (below centre right): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI88909 See https://rbt.org.uk/john-rennie/projects/east-fen-west-fen-and-wildmore-fen-drainage/,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witham_Navigable_Drains. Cowbridge (foot bridge): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI10033 and [[674590]]. by Simon Tomson – 06 September 2025](https://s1.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/08/17/72/8177289_fd962d6b_120x120.jpg)

![Cowbridge, Boston: aerial 2023 (4). Aqueduct (below centre): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI88909 See https://rbt.org.uk/john-rennie/projects/east-fen-west-fen-and-wildmore-fen-drainage/,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witham_Navigable_Drains. Cowbridge (foot bridge): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI10033 and [[674590]].Richardson's Bridge (road bridge) top right. by Chris – 02 April 2023](https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/07/45/83/7458312_551f6575_120x120.jpg)
![Cowbridge, Fishtoft: aerial 2023 (2). Aqueduct (centre): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI88909 See https://rbt.org.uk/john-rennie/projects/east-fen-west-fen-and-wildmore-fen-drainage/,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witham_Navigable_Drains. Cowbridge (foot bridge): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI10033 and [[674590]].Richardson's Bridge (road bridge) top left. by Simon Tomson – 02 April 2023](https://s2.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/07/45/83/7458306_25da9f58_120x120.jpg)


![Cowbridge, Fishtoft: aerial 2023 (1). Aqueduct (centre): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI88909See https://rbt.org.uk/john-rennie/projects/east-fen-west-fen-and-wildmore-fen-drainage/,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witham_Navigable_Drains. Cowbridge (foot bridge): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI10033 and [[674590]].Richardson's Bridge (road bridge) top right. by Simon Tomson – 02 April 2023](https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/07/45/83/7458304_29649921_120x120.jpg)
![Cowbridge, Boston: aerial 2023 (5). Aqueduct (centre): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI88909 See https://rbt.org.uk/john-rennie/projects/east-fen-west-fen-and-wildmore-fen-drainage/,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witham_Navigable_Drains. Cowbridge (foot bridge): https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI10033 and [[674590]].The East & West Fens, a 93 square mile tract lying between Boston & the Wolds to the north, were the major area of fen to be drained in England. Successive piecemeal attempts had been made to drain the area, notably by Sir Anthony Thomas and other Adventurers in the 1630s, when by 1634 the work was adjudged complete, the ground being regarded as ‘fit for arable or meadow or pasture’. For seven years the land was used profitably but then in 1642, just before the battle of Edgehill, the dispossessed fenmen, being on opposite sides to the Adventurers, took up arms and destroyed the sluices, and laid waste the lands, taking possession of the land, which reverted to wetland.At the beginning of the 19th century the decision was made to drain the land. John Rennie was commissioned to report on the draining the Wildmore Fen, but also of draining the East, West and Wildmore Fens as a whole. The East and West Fens had outfalls to the River Witham above Boston at Anton’s Gowt, through the Maud Foster Sluice in Boston, and to the Steeping River above Wainfleet. Rennie’s typically thorough solution was to construct catchwaters round the wold margins of each fen, bringing the upland waters together into an enlarged Maud Foster Drain to a new Maud Foster Sluice, opened in 1807. Provision was made for the lowland waters of the West Fen to be conveyed beneath the catchwater (via the aqueduct) at Cowbridge and into the East Fen. Here they were discharged into a completely new channel, the 13 mile long Hobhole Drain, which with various artificial tributaries now drained into the East Fen, taking the lowland waters to a completely new outfall, Hobhole Sluice, on the Witham estuary four miles below Boston. For both Hobhole and Maud Foster sluices, under construction from 1804, Rennie used portable steam engines to de-water the foundations. by Chris – 02 April 2023](https://s1.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/07/45/83/7458313_5c0e7061_120x120.jpg)