Tuesday 18 June 2024 7:45pm at Wymeswold Memorial Hall

The next WHO talk is Tuesday 18th June when Mick Clowes will talk about The Melton and Oakham Navigation.

In 1797 the River Wreake was made navigable between the confluence with the Soar at Cossington and Melton Mowbray. Six years later a fifteen mile canal extended the route to Oakham. But by the 1850s railways were taking all the trade and the canal was formally closed in the 1870s. Ordnance Survey maps of the 1880s show that some of the canal between Melton and Oakham quickly reverted to farmland, leaving only isolated stretches with water. As a result not many people know about this all-but-lost waterway.

Mick Clowes is a founder member of the Melton and Oakham Waterways Society and overt the last 26 years been part of a team of volunteers who are bringing parts of the watercourse back into use.

This talk will take place in the WHO’s usual venue: the Jubilee Room of Wymeswold Memorial Hall, Clay Street, Wymeswold, LE12 6TY and start promptly at 7.45 p.m. Non-members most welcome but will be asked to contribute £3.00. There is a lift to the Jubilee Room if visitors have difficulty with stairs.

Details of all the WHO talks for 2024 are online at www.hoap.co.uk/who/ along with regular updates about the history of the Wolds villages.