History of the River Soar

The River Soar is a meandering non-tidal river navigation that continues the line of the Grand Union Canal from Leicester to the River Trent.

After years of failed attempts the Soar was eventually made navigable from the Trent to Loughborough by the Loughborough Navigation Company in 1778. When the potential of the nearby Erewash Canal was realised the navigational artefacts along the Soar were improved two years later to increase efficiency and for a time the Loughborough Navigation was the most profitable waterway in Britain. Extension of navigation beyond Loughborough increased profitability until the advent of railway competition led to decline, although commercial traffic continued for some years due to the proximity of the River Trent.

Chain Bridge marks the start of the former Leicester Navigation and takes its name from an older bridge underneath which a chain would be locked at night to prevent boats avoiding tolls.

The Soar is subject to flooding particularly after heavy rainfall and indicators on the bridge by the last lock at Red Hill dating from 1955 and 1960 eloquently indicate the need for flood protection precautions.

Legend suggests the body of Richard III is in the Soar. Half a century after his death at Bosworth in 1485 his remains are said to have been ripped from his tomb and hurled into the river by a mob, thereby consigning him as the only monarch to have died on home soil whose remains lie unmarked by a gravestone.