from the reign of Charles II, which had granted rights to make several rivers, including the Test and the Anton, navigable.

Of the estimated £35,000, over £19,000 had been pledged within two weeks, and by the time the bill was submitted to Parliament in March 1789, this figure had risen to £30,700.

[4] The canal was never successful enough to pay a dividend until it closed in 1859, when income from the sale to Andover & Redbridge Railway[5] produced one.

The LSWR, however, obtained a bill for a line from Salisbury to Basingstoke, which would pass through Andover, and were also empowered to buy the canal.

In the end, they reached agreement, the LSWR made the purchase, and the line was laid to standard gauge.

The canal ceased to operate on 19 September 1859, and the railway, nicknamed the Sprat and Winkle Line, was opened on 6 March 1865.

In addition, several stretches of canal can be made out alongside the old railway track bed such as at Brook and also between Westover and Fullerton, where reasonable stone and brick remains of a lock are evident.

The junction with the Test at Redbridge, from where access to Southampton Water was possible, was situated above the medieval bridge, although the original plans showed it a little further to the south on the foreshore.

The total length of the canal was 22 miles (35 km), and the 24 locks dropped the level through 179 feet (55 m).