Middle Level Navigations (Old River Nene)

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 CommissionersRelevant 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 |
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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 |
- 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 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.