Chichester Canal Opened

1822

The Chichester Canal, officially the Chichester Ship Canal, was opened in 1822 to provide a navigable waterway from the city to Chichester Harbour at Birdham. The canal runs for approximately four miles in a straight southerly course from the canal basin at Southgate to the harbour at Birdham Pool. It was designed by John Rennie and built to allow seagoing vessels to reach the city, bringing coal, timber, and other goods directly to the canal basin without the need for road transport from the harbour. The canal was part of a broader scheme to connect the inland waterways of southern England. The Portsmouth and Arundel Canal Company, which built the Chichester section, had ambitions to create a continuous inland waterway between Portsmouth and London, but the full scheme was never completed. The Chichester section was the most successful part of the project. The canal operated commercially for several decades, with barges carrying coal, agricultural produce, and building materials. However, the arrival of the railway in 1846 gradually drew traffic away from the canal. Commercial traffic declined through the mid-nineteenth century, and the canal fell into disuse. It was eventually purchased by Chichester Corporation and survived as a local amenity. The Chichester Ship Canal Trust has restored the canal for leisure use, and the towpath provides a popular walking and cycling route between the city and the harbour. Canal boat trips run from the basin during the warmer months.