CanalPlanAC

Middle Level Navigations (Old River Nene)

 
 
Information about the waterway

The Middle Level Navigations (Old River Nene) is a broad canal and is part of the Middle Level Navigations. It runs for 26 miles and ¾ furlongs through 2 locks from Old River Nene - Black Ham Drain - Bevill's Leam Junction (where it joins the Middle Level Navigations (Bevill's Leam: Mere Mouth to Pumping Station) and the Middle Level Navigations (Black Ham Drain)) to Outwell - Lance Hunter Rowe Boat Basin (where it joins the Middle Level Navigations (Well Creek)).

The maximum dimensions for a boat to be able to travel on the waterway are 72 feet long and 13 feet wide. The maximum headroom is not known. The maximum draught is not known.

It has junctions with the Middle Level Navigations (Whittlesey Dyke) at Old River Nene - Whittlesey Dyke Junction; with the Middle Level Navigations (Forty Foot River - navigable section) at Old River Nene - Forty Foot River Junction; with the Middle Level Navigations (Twenty Foot River) at Old River Nene - Twenty Foot River Junction; with the Middle Level Navigations (New Dyke) at Old River Nene - New Dyke Junction; with the Middle Level Navigations (Ramsey High Lode) at Old River Nene - Ramsey High Lode Junction and with the Middle Level Navigations (Popham's Eau) at Old River Nene - Popham's Eau Junction.

The waterway passes through March

The navigational authority for this waterway is Middle Level Commissioners

Relevant publications — Waterway Maps:

Old River Nene - Black Ham Drain - Bevill's Leam Junction
Junction of Bevill's Leam, Black Ham Drain and Old River Nene
Exhibition Bridge
Extremely low bridge
2 miles and 2¾ furlongs 0 locks
Old River Nene - New Dyke Junction
Junction of Old River Nene and New Dyke
2 miles and 6½ furlongs 0 locks
St Mary's Bridge
Ramsey St Mary's village
3 miles and 5¼ furlongs 0 locks
Lodes End Drove Bridge 4 miles and 3 furlongs 0 locks
Green Hall Bridge 4 miles and 7¾ furlongs 0 locks
Lodes End Lock 5 miles and 6 furlongs 0 locks
Old River Nene - Ramsey High Lode Junction
Junction of Old River Nene and Ramsey High Lode
5 miles and 6½ furlongs 1 lock
Saunder's Bridge 5 miles and 6½ furlongs 1 lock
Bodsey Toll Road Bridge 6 miles and 2¼ furlongs 1 lock
Old River Nene - Forty Foot River Junction
Junction of Old River Nene and Forty Foot River
6 miles and 4¾ furlongs 1 lock
Well's Bridge 6 miles and 5 furlongs 1 lock
Chase Road Bridge 9 miles and 6¼ furlongs 1 lock
Benwick Visitor Moorings 10 miles and 4¼ furlongs 1 lock
Benwick Footbridge 10 miles and 4¾ furlongs 1 lock
Benwick Bridge
Benwick Village
10 miles and 5½ furlongs 1 lock
White Fen Farm Bridge 12 miles and 4½ furlongs 1 lock
Old River Nene - Whittlesey Dyke Junction
Junction of Whittlesey Dyke and Old River Nene
13 miles and 2½ furlongs 1 lock
Floods Ferry Bridge 13 miles and 3 furlongs 1 lock
Knightsbridge Caravan & Marina Park 14 miles and ½ furlongs 1 lock
Staffurth's Bridge 14 miles and 2½ furlongs 1 lock
Whittlesey Road Field Bridge 15 miles and 5 furlongs 1 lock
March Marina
Base for Fox Narrowboats
17 miles and 2¼ furlongs 1 lock
Isle of Ely Way Bridge 17 miles and 3 furlongs 1 lock
West End Winding Hole 17 miles and 4¾ furlongs 1 lock
March Park Side Moorings
Currently unusable / unstable (Fenway District Council)
18 miles 1 lock
Marylebone Road Footbridge
Length of stay updated
18 miles and ¼ furlongs 1 lock
March High Street Bridge Visitor Moorings 18 miles and 1¾ furlongs 1 lock
March Boater Services 18 miles and 2 furlongs 1 lock
High Street Bridge (March) 18 miles and 2¼ furlongs 1 lock
March Visitor Moorings
Fenland District Council
18 miles and 2½ furlongs 1 lock
Nene Parade Footbridge 18 miles and 5¼ furlongs 1 lock
March Railway Bridge
Peterborough to Ely Railway
19 miles and ¼ furlongs 1 lock
Old River Nene - Twenty Foot River Junction
Junction of Old River Nene and Twenty Foot River
20 miles and 3¼ furlongs 1 lock
Old River Nene - Popham's Eau Junction
Junction of Popham's Eau and Old River Nene
22 miles and 3¼ furlongs 1 lock
Marmont Priory Sluice 24 miles and ½ furlongs 1 lock
March Riverside Footbridge 24 miles and 6¼ furlongs 2 locks
Upwell March Riverside Public Staithe (visitor mooring)
Provided by Well Creek Trust Ltd
25 miles and 1¼ furlongs 2 locks
Upwell New Bridge 25 miles and 2½ furlongs 2 locks
Upwell 25 miles and 3¼ furlongs 2 locks
St. Peters Road Footbridge 25 miles and 4¼ furlongs 2 locks
Upwell Post Office Visitor Mooring 25 miles and 5 furlongs 2 locks
Upwell Church Bridge 25 miles and 5¼ furlongs 2 locks
Upwell Church Bridge Public Staithe (visitor mooring)
Well Creek Trust
25 miles and 5½ furlongs 2 locks
Low Side Footbridge 25 miles and 6½ furlongs 2 locks
Rectory Road Bridge 26 miles and ½ furlongs 2 locks
Outwell - Lance Hunter Rowe Boat Basin
Junction of Old River Nene with Well Creek
26 miles and ¾ furlongs 2 locks
 
 
Maps
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External websites
 Boat Hire Cambridge | March Marina | ABC Boat Hirea — associated with March Marina
ABC Boat Hire, March Marina, Cambridgeshire
 Fox Narrowboats | Boat hire near Cambridge & Ely luxury canal boats — associated with March Marina
Narrowboat hire near Cambridge and Ely from our March Marina. Luxury canal boat holidays on the fenland waterways, River Ouse and Nene. Day boat hire.
 Knightsbridge Caravan & Marina Park — associated with Knightsbridge Caravan & Marina Park
A safe and secure caravan & marina holiday park. Ideal for camping, mooring and fishing, surrounded by farm fields with stunning sunset views.
 
Wikipedia

Wikipedia has a page about Middle Level Navigations

The Middle Level Navigations are a network of waterways in England, primarily used for land drainage, which lie in The Fens between the Rivers Nene and Great Ouse, and between the cities of Peterborough and Cambridge. Most of the area through which they run is at or below sea level, and attempts to protect it from inundation have been carried out since 1480. The Middle Level was given its name by the Dutch Engineer Cornelius Vermuyden in 1642, who subsequently constructed several drainage channels to make the area suitable for agriculture. Water levels were always managed to allow navigation, and Commissioners were established in 1754 to maintain the waterways and collect tolls from commercial traffic.

A new main drain to Wiggenhall St Germans was completed in 1848, which provided better drainage because the outfall was lower than that at Salters Lode. Whittlesey Mere, the last remaining lake, was drained soon afterwards, using one of the first applications of John Appold's centrifugal pump, following its appearance at the Great Exhibition in 1851. Traffic on the network began to diminish after the opening of the railway through March in 1846, and fell dramatically in the early twentieth century. The last regular commercial traffic was the tanker barge Shellfen, which delivered fuel oil to pumping stations until 1971.

As a result of the drainage, land levels continued to fall, and in 1934 the gravity outfall at Wiggenhall St Germans was replaced by a pumping station, with three diesel engines driving 8 ft 6 in (2.6 m) diameter pumps. Its capacity was increased in 1951, and again in 1969–70, when two of the engines were replaced by electric motors. Following over 50 hours of continuous running at maximum capacity in 1998, a new pumping station was commissioned. Work on it began in 2006, and when it was completed in 2010, it was the second largest pumping station in Europe. Much of the drainage of the Middle Levels relies on pumping, and the Commissioners manage over 100 pumping stations throughout the area.

Interest in restoration of the Middle Levels for leisure traffic began in 1949, and the first significant work by volunteers occurred in 1972, when they worked on the restoration of Well Creek, which finally reopened in 1975. Since then, locks have been lengthened, to allow access by modern narrowboats, as they were built for Fen Lighters, which were only 49 feet (15 m) long. The southern reaches became more accessible in 2006, when a low Bailey bridge was raised by soldiers from the 39 Engineer Regiment. The system is managed by Commissioners, and they are the fourth largest navigation authority in Great Britain.

Other Wikipedia pages that might relate to Middle Level Navigations
[Middle Level Commissioners] clay hills. The Middle Level river system consists of over 120 miles (190 km) of watercourses most of which are statutory navigations and has a catchment [Stonea] along Sixteen Foot Bank, a man-made river which forms part of the Middle Level Navigations. The largest settlement is on the bank near the Golden Lion pub [River Great Ouse] access to the Middle Level Navigations, but the intervening section is tidal, and deters many boaters. Access to the Middle Level Navigations is also possible [River Cam] The Great Ouse also connects to England's canal system via the Middle Level Navigations and the River Nene. In total, the Cam runs for around 69 kilometres [Navigation authority] Company Port of Tyne Middle Level Commissioners (Middle Level Navigations) National Trust (River Wey and Godalming Navigations) Port of London Authority [River Nene] Nene links the Grand Union Canal to the River Great Ouse, via the Middle Level Navigations. Much of its route has been upgraded to a wide canal with locks [Bedford Level Corporation] Ouse Catchment Board in 1930. Bedford Level experiment Internal drainage board Middle Level Navigations - Middle Level waterways Prickwillow Museum - Museum [Navigation] another. Maritime navigation using scientific instruments such as the mariner's astrolabe first occurred in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. Although [Pondersbridge] eponymous bridge over the Leam is a minor waterways place on the Middle Level Navigations between Bevill's Leam Pumping Station and Angle Corner. Situated
 
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