The Welford Arm

Historical Profiles: NarrowBoat, Autumn 2025

Andy Tidy

Andy Tidy explores the history of this short branch of the Leicester Line 

Among the UK’s canal summit pounds, the Leicester Line summit of the Grand Union stands out as one of the most isolated. It winds for 18 remote miles between Crick in Northamptonshire and Foxton in Leicestershire, with scarcely a hamlet in between. The one exception to all this emptiness is the village of Welford, which is reached by its own short branch canal. The Welford Arm was originally agreed by Parliament as part of its wider approval to build the Leicester Line extension, linking the Grand Junction Canal (today’s Grand Union) at Norton with a stalled canal project that had reached as far as Market Harborough. The first section of the 1¾-mile Welford Arm was completed in 1813 to Welford Watermill and, after a lock was added above the mill in 1815, the navigation reached today’s terminus at Welford Wharf. While the wharf was built for trade, the real prize was a water supply tapped from the headwaters of the River Avon in the area around Naseby. Acknow…