Welcome to Saul Junction Gateway to world trade This is Saul Junction, where the Gloucester & Sharpness Ship Canal crosses the Stroudwater The Stroudwater Navigation and the Gloucester & Sharpness Ship Canal Navigation. It is the only crossroads of two independent canals in the country. were built at different times, for different purposes. They both helped Gloucestershire trade with other ports, locally and internationally.

Exploring Saul Junction Places nearby There is plenty to see and do here. You can take a Saul Junction is halfway along the Gloucester Stroud connections boat trip, enjoy the café and visitor centre, walk or & Sharpness Ship Canal, with Gloucester to The Stroudwater Navigation was built first, opening in 1779. It linked cycle along the towpaths and discover the Junction’s your left and Sharpness to your right. Stroud with the River Severn at Framilode, carrying coal for Stroud’s fascinating history. flourishing textile industry. Although the Stroudwater was only 8 miles You can walk from here to Frampton on long, it was, for a few years, the most profitable canal in the country. Junction Lock, behind you on your right, was built to Severn, Framilode and Whitminster. All three Ten years later, the Thames and Severn Canal opened between Stroud raise the Stroudwater Navigation to the same level as villages have pubs. You can also walk beside and the River Thames at Lechlade. Boats could travel from Bristol the Gloucester & Sharpness Ship Canal. This historic a short section of the Stroudwater Navigation and Gloucester through Stroud and the Cotswolds to London. The lock has been restored. The new lock gates have or follow its former route down to the River Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal are now unusual swinging paddle-boards, worked by rack and Severn. Framilode is a good place to see the called the Cotswold Canals and are being restored. pinion gearing, just like the original 1820s gates. Severn Bore at high tide. Severn Trow on the Stroudwater Navigation.

Junction Bridge House is in front of you, where the Ships at Gloucester Docks, 1910. Associates. Dixon and Anglezarke Red Environment Kite by & designed Written Trust. Canals Cotswold Trust. & River Canal Archive, Waterways The Photos: Trust. & Wetlands Wildfowl Vince Ellis, toll collector lived. New lock gates were installed in 2016 to conserve this historic Saul Junction Boatyard is diagonally opposite. Boats structure. Astounding have been built and repaired here since the 1800s. engineering The Gloucester & Sharpness Canal was the widest and deepest canal in Steam tug ‘Stanegarth’ towing barges at Saul Junction, 1955. the country when it opened in 1827. The canal was built to take sea-going ships as far inland as Gloucester. The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust’s It also made the journey between Wetland Centre is at Slimbridge. Gloucester and the sea quicker and Turn right at Patch Bridge. safer, avoiding a dangerous section of the Severn. Over the years new Purton Hulks are a collection of over 80 old barges that were quays and warehouses were built deliberately beached on the bank at Gloucester. Sharpness grew to of the River Severn to protect the become a busy, commercial dock canal from erosion. and shipyard. www.canalrivertrust.org.uk www.cotswoldcanals.com