As early as 1621 there were unsuccessful attempts by the Mayor and Approved Men of Guildford to bring in a bill to make the Wey navigable between Guildford and the Thames. Before this Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place was studying Dutch waterways and locks. He built a lock at Stoke and improved a stretch of river on his land as an experiment in irrigation. In 1635 he and others obtained a commission to make a navigation to the Thames, but little was done until after the Civil Wars. In 1651 the Mayor and Approved Men were empowered by Act of Parliament to make the river navigable, and a group of men including Weston took over the work. The others were James Pitson, a Parliamentarian major, Richard Scotcher and Richard Darnelly. Sir Richard subscribed half the money (£3000 or 12 shares) and the others each subscribed £1000 or 4 shares. Although the work was done rapidly and finished by 1653 more money was required and there were many disputes over the finances. Everyone concerned was convinced that Pitson was lining his pockets, while Scotcher, and Sir Richard's son were imprisoned for debt. Despite these troubles the Navigation was a success. A new Act was passed in 1671-2 in an effort t sort out the confusion. The new act included provision for tolls to be paid to two landowners through those estates the navigation ran, and to the town of Guildford. A penny charge on every load brought up to Guildford was used for the relief of the poor. These extra tolls made the Wey rather more expensive than other navigations, and disputes over income continued until the early 1700s.
In 1760 the navigation was extended to Godalming by a separate Act of Parliament. This increased the river traffic by opening up more of Surrey, and involved enlarging Guildford's Town Bridge and dredging out the ford alongside it. Previously the cost and difficultly of land transport had in some cases prevented bulky goods from being carried in south-west Surrey, and there were records of timber lying by the roadside for months on end.
The 1621 petition to make the Wey navigable mentioned four cargoes that would be carried timber, coal, corn and iron. The first three were carried on the navigation into the 20th century but the Wealden iron industry died out during the 17th century because of competition from the North. A small iron trade continued, particularly at Coxes lock. There were large supplies of timber in Surrey, which were needed in London, and bark for tanning was also sent there. During the 19th century imported deals were being shipped in the other direction, from London. Coal also came from London in increasing quantities. Obviously the navigation was very useful for watermills as barges would bring in corn from the countryside and take away flour, mainly to London. Many other goods were carried, but were not always recorded. Examples are groceries, beer, wine, building materials and fertilisers.
The opening of the Godalming navigation must have been brought some relief to nervous Guildfordians as it meant that gunpowder from Chilworth could be loaded onto barges at Stonebridge instead of being brought into Guildford by wagon. Barges loaded with more than 28lb of gunpowder were forbidden to moor within ½ mile of Guildford, though a boatman who disobeyed this is 1862 so he could moor near his home and to move the barge hastily when a fire broke out 50 yards away. Saltpetre for making gunpowder was brought upstream from London.
Chalk was an important cargo for Guildford, where it was quarried for use for building, road-making and fertilisers in the form of slaked lime. John Davis, a lime-burner, leased two chalk-pits at Guildford from the Wey and Arun Junction Canal Company in 1821, on conditions that he used only coal carried on their canal. Five generations of the family worked the pit until 1878.
Many meetings in connection with the Wey and Arun were held at the White Hart in Guildford, from 1811. The canal opened in 1816 with a celebratory cruise from Alfold to Guildford, followed by dinner at the White Hart. In the 1820s there were plans for a Grand Imperial Ship Canal between London and Portsmouth, one route for which would have run through Guildford.
The Wey Navigation offices were in Friary Street: the main accounts of barges were kept at Guildford Wharf an Thames Lock. Guildford Wharf was just below the Town bridge. Coal and meal where stored there, and timber at Dapdune. In 1705 the Wharfinger had to rent an extra field to store the wood. Moon's timber yard was just above the bridge, and caused its destruction in the floods of 1900. The treadhweel crane from the old wharf has been re-erected since Millbrook destroyed the old riverside.
Wey barges were wider and of a shallower draught than narrow boats. They seem to have increased in size during the 19th century, when the river was better managed. Earlier there were problems with lack of water and the conflicting requirements of mills. The comparatively short distances involved meant that bargees could live at home, so no distinctive canal culture developed. The early barges were pulled by men on horses or rowed. In the early 20th century there were successful experiments with electrically driven barges, which operated cheaply with overhead leads between Guildford and Woodbridge. However, horses continued to be used until 1960 along with barges with their own engines.
The Stevens family made improvements to the navigations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although trade had been dying since the advent of the railways Stevens increased traffic on the Wey, which continued to flourish until after the Second World War. The last commercial barge reached Guildford in 1958, and the last on the Wey was in 1969, although there was for a time been a small revival downstream in the 1980s. Guildford town mills ceased working in 1894 but corn was ground at Stoke until 1957.
The Wey and Godalming Navigations are now owned by the National Trust, and are much used by pleasure craft.
Guildford Museum, Castle Arch, Guildford, Surrey
(01483) 444750
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