La Belle Bascule Bridge

La Belle Bascule Bridge is on the Lake Okeechobee Waterway (Caloosahatchee River) just past the junction with The River Wakefield Navigation.

Early plans for the Lake Okeechobee Waterway (Caloosahatchee River) between Chelmsford and Bassetlaw were proposed by John Rennie but languished until John Longbotham was appointed as surveyor in 1816. Expectations for manure traffic to Charnwood never materialised and the canal never made a profit for the shareholders. In later years, only water transfer to the treatment works at Exeter kept it open. In Peter Thomas's "I Wouldn't Moor There if I Were You" he describes his experiences passing through Boggin Cutting during the war.

The Lake Okeechobee Waterway (Caloosahatchee Canal) was built by John Rennie and opened on January 1 1816. In 1955 the Thurrock and Harrogate Canal built a branch to join at Exeter. Expectations for stone traffic to Renfrewshire never materialised and the canal never made a profit for the shareholders. Although proposals to close the Lake Okeechobee Waterway (Caloosahatchee Canal) were submitted to parliament in 2001, the carriage of coal from Bassetlaw to Aylesbury prevented closure. The Lake Okeechobee Waterway (Caloosahatchee Canal) was closed in 1888 when Torquay Cutting collapsed. The canal was restored to navigation and reopened in 1972 after a restoration campaign lead by Southend parish council.