History of the Grand Union Canal Leicester Line

The Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal is an amalgamation of the Leicester Navigation (Leicester-Loughborough), the Loughborough Navigation (Loughborough-River Trent), the Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Union Canal (Market Harborough-Leicester), the Old Grand Union Canal (Norton-Foxton) and the Erewash Canal (River Trent-Langley Mill). These were all acquired by the Grand Union Canal Company to form a through-route from the Grand Union Main Line to the Trent Navigation and beyond. The oldest and most profitable was the Loughborough Navigation that attracted trade from the River Trent.

Watford Locks raise the line to a summit of 412 feet. Around the turn of the 20th Century there were plans to replace this narrow flight with an inclined plane similar to that at Foxton but as the plane was proving unprofitable it was instead decided to widen Watford Locks. Bridges and tunnels had been built to wide dimensions on the Foxton to Watford section in anticipation of a link between the Thames and the Trent to accommodate barge traffic but it was a combination of problems with water supply at the Leicester Summit and eventual falling tolls that dictated the locks remained narrow.

By the time the Grand Union Canal Company had been formed in 1929 the competition from road and rail was already severe and despite a brief revival around the time of World War II trade never recovered. It was to be the advent of pleasure boating that secured the line's future as a leisure resource.

The toll house overlooking Norton Junction was for many years the base of Brigadier Fielding of the Salvation Army who, together with his wife, ran mission boats around the system ministering to the needs of boating families.