"A Valued Survivor"
TIMELINE
Chronology of the Canal and
the World Beyond
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1793
Initial Act authorising construction of the Stratford Canal
Canal mania at its height
Cotton gin invented
Louis XVI executed
1795
Act to alter the line to make a junction with the Warwick and Birmingham canal at Kingswood
First horse-drawn railroad in England
Metric system adopted in France
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1796
Stratford Canal opened to Hockley Heath
Smallpox vaccination introduced
1802
24th May, Stratford Canal opened to the junction with Warwick and Birmingham canal
Atomic theory proposed
Napoleonic Wars from 1803 to 1815
1813
Canal opened to Wootton Wawen in July
First bicycle
Pride and Prejudice published
1816
Canal opened throughout to Stratford on 24th June
Economic crisis - massive emigration to USA and Canada
1821
Reservoir built at Earlswood
Principles of electromagnetism discovered
1838
Trade in coal peaked on the Stratford Canal at 181,708 tons in the year
Queen Victoria on the throne
Oliver Twist published
1856
Canal sold to the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway Company
Crimean War ended
1865
Ownership of the Stratford Canal passed to the Great Western Railway Company
Alice in Wonderland published
First Trans-Atlantic cable laid
​
1892
Probably less than 8,500 tons of cargo travelled on the canal in the year, about one boat each day.
Patents were awarded to Rudolph Diesel for the compression ignition engine and Thomas Edison for his telegraph
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes published
1929 Warwick and Birmingham Canal became part of the Grand Union Canal
First TV transmission by John Logie Baird
1931 Locks widened on Grand Union Canal
First Highway Code issued
1948
Ownership of the Canal passed to the state on the nationalisation of railways
Berlin airlift
1956
Stratford Canal Club reformed into the Stratford upon Avon Canal Society
Cuban revolution
1958
12th June, Warwickshire County Council applied for an Act of Abandonment of the Stratford Canal
First US satellite launched
1959
22nd May, notification that application for warrant of abandonment had failed
First microchip made
1960
29th September, National Trust formally takes over southern section of the Canal
16 African nations become independent
1961
Work started to re-open the Stratford Canal
First man in space
1964
Stratford Canal re-opened to navigation on 11th July by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Beatlemania in USA
​
1974
The Upper Avon reopened after restoration
Lord Lucan disappeared
1988
Responsibility for the southern section passes to British Waterways on 1st April
Lockerbie bombing of 747
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1989
"SC25". The Canal Society organised celebrations of twenty-five years since re-opening
Berlin Wall demolished
2000
Canal Society marked the millennium by erecting mile-posts along the full length of the canal
Concorde grounded
2004
Canal Society celebrated 40 years since the re-opening
European Union enlarged to 25 members
2006
Canal Society celebrates 50 years since it was formed
80th birthday of Queen
2012
Management of the Stratford Canal was taken on by the Canal & River Trust
London Olympic Games
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2016
Canal Society celebrates 60 years since it was formed
International Agreement on Climate Change was signed