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Seven waterway wonders

8th Sep 2005

It’s your last chance to vote for Leicestershire’s historic Foxton Locks and Inclined Plane, or Northamptonshire’s historic Blisworth Tunnel and the Grand Union Canal, in a national BBC campaign to find England’s ‘Seven Wonders’.

With your help, there is every chance that our waterway heritage could appear in a brand new TV series this autumn.

Foxton's famous staircase lock flight, owned and cared for by British Waterways, was built in 1810. A masterpiece of 19th century engineering, it raised boats a massive 75ft up the hill from Market Harborough and linked the north and south of England by canal. In 1900, the Foxton Inclined Plane Boat Lift, another great feat of engineering, was opened and its remains can still be seen today.

Built 200 years ago, the construction of the magnificent Blisworth Tunnel, owned and cared for by British Waterways, was a terrific feat of engineering at a staggering 1 ¾ miles long.

Now numbering among the country’s most popular visitor attractions, Foxton Locks and Blisworth Tunnel have been nominated for the prestigious titles of one of the East Midlands’ and the East of England’s ‘Seven Man Made Wonders’ respectively.

They will be competing against notable landmarks such as Lincoln Cathedral, Nottingham’s caves, Cambridgeshire’s Flag Fen and Hertfordshire’s Verulamium.

Chris Stanley, Marketing & Communications Manager, British Waterways South East has said that both Blisworth Tunnel and Foxton Locks and the Inclined Plane deserve to win their titles – and that nothing else in either Northamtonshire or Leicestershire compares.

British Waterways is encouraging waterway lovers to log on and vote on the BBC’s ‘Seven Wonders’ website. Nominations end in early September.

Last updated: 22/10/2008