Coventry Canal Art Trail
Route facts
Waterways:
Coventry Canal »
Distance: 5.5 miles / 9 km
Duration: Three hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Suitable for: Everyone
Starts at: Coventry Canal Basin
Ends at: Hawkesbury Junction
Follow a magnificent series of sculptures along the last 5.5 miles of the Coventry Canal, from the city centre to the bustling boating settlement of Hawkesbury Junction. You can park your car in central Coventry and return by bus - and while you're there, why not take time out to admire the city's magnificent cathedrals?
Almost forty imaginative artworks adorn the route of the canal and its surroundings. Extra information boards tell the story of the Coventry Canal in the words of the people who once worked on this busy waterway.
Getting there
Parking: There is ample parking near both Coventry Canal Basin and Hawkesbury Junction. For the basin, follow Canal Basin signs from Coventry's inner ring road. Free parking is available off St Nicholas Street or Leicester Row, with Pay & Display parking off Tower Street. For Hawkesbury Junction, take the B4113 north from M6 junction 3. Take the first right into Black Horse Road, then left into Sutton Stop immediately after the canal bridge.
Public transport: There are frequent buses back from Longford, near Hawkesbury Junction, to Coventry city centre. Bus 20 and Bus 50 run from Longford Church to Coventry Ironmonger Row every 15 minutes. Bus 48 runs every 20 minutes from Longford Street to Coventry Hales Street. For more details on bus services, call 0870 608 2 608.
Waypoints
1. Coventry Canal Basin
Start your walk from the canal basin, where shops and restaurants cluster around the terminus of the Coventry Canal. You can buy a guide to the walk from the Canal Rangers' office here (Tel: 024 7623 1306). You will find the first of the 39 sculptures here, including an imposing statue of canal engineer James Brindley and an attractive mosaic. Then simply continue along the canal for the next 5 1/2 miles, discovering the art as you go.
2. Hawkesbury Junction
Hawkesbury is where the Oxford Canal ends its long journey from the city of its name. This busy boating settlement still retains its beautiful cast-iron bridge, its traditional pub (The Greyhound), and stop-lock - a lock with virtually no rise in levels, constructed simply to stop the Oxford Canal from stealing the Coventry company's water. (The two companies were long in dispute, and the canals once ran in parallel for several miles following an argument as to where the junction should be made.)
3. Longford
If you want to return to your start point by bus, then retrace your steps along the canal for three-quarters of a mile. Pass under the M6 motorway bridge then leave the canal at Longford Bridge 10. Turn left, walking south for a short distance to Longford church and square. Buses leave here at very frequent intervals for Coventry city centre.
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