Hampshire Waterways

Southampton and Salisbury Canal: A Portrait

The Waterway Today

The pages making up the portrait cover the route of the Southampton & Salisbury Canal in words and pictures between the two cities. On each page a brief verbal description of the waterway is illustrated with a number of pictures.

On these pages each image is a link to a larger version of the picture. In a modern browser with Javascript enabled, this will open within this window - otherwise the larger image will replace the contents of this window (use your browser’s back button to return to the parent page). For those using devices such as phones with limited data allowances, the size of the larger version is given in brackets after the caption.

Included with each picture is an Ordnance Survey National Grid Reference (OSGB36) of the image viewpoint (usually the camera position) given to 100 metres. For those using GPS devices, the latitude and longitude (in WGS84) of this position is also given by default in degrees, minutes and seconds to the nearest second. One second of arc in latitude is approximately 30 metres and for longitude in this part of Hampshire just under 20 metres. For those who prefer (and whose browser has JavaScript enabled), these WGS84 values can be displayed instead as decimal degrees or degrees and decimal minutes by choosing the Settings icon at the foot of the page (via the Page Links icon on small screens). It should be borne in mind that when many of these pictures were taken, GPS facilities were not available to the public (or for even earlier images, not even dreamed of) and some of these references have had to be estimated.

In the textual descriptions of the canal, features without any accompanying image to help identify their location may have a OS National Grid Reference and WGS84 location which is indicated in this manner: NG Ref: SU250271. WGS84: 51° 02′ 35″ N, 1° 38′ 38″ W.. Selecting this will display a tooltip giving the OS National Grid reference and the latitude and longitude (in WGS84) of this position.

Explorers of the remains of the canal would do well to concentrate their investigations, particularly in rural areas, upon the winter months when verdant foliage is less likely to obscure the features they are seeking.

This portrait does not attempt to describe a walk along the waterway as lengths of the canal are not accessible or visible from public roads or footpaths.

It is recommended that explorers use Ordnance Survey Landranger (1:50 000) or Explorer (1:25 000) mapping to help find their way. These maps show much of the canal and include public rights of way. The scale of the Explorer mapping is larger, is more detailed and probably more useful to the walker/explorer. The following maps cover the route of the canal:

This site includes a Maps page giving access to various maps covering the Canal.

Please also note that much of the site of the canal, particularly on the Salisbury Arm, is on private property. We wish to ask that those seeking to view the remains do not trespass upon such land without gaining permission.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the route descriptions are accurate. However, changes can occur at any time. The web site manager would be pleased to hear about omissions, changes or errors found.