It was a 6.5-kilometre (4.0 mi) artificial waterway linking the dry ground at Bourne to either the coast near Pinchbeck or a navigable estuary in the area.

Despite the extensive agricultural reworking of the area, the route can still be traced with cropmarks, which are straight between Bourne and Morton Fen.

The path of the canal can be traced between the line of modern Spalding Road from near Queens Bridge to the bottom of Meadow Drove follows the southern bank of the alignment, which can then be observed across the fields as cropmarks.

Several farm buildings in Barnes Drove and Morton Fen lie alongside the alignment, causing speculation about the antiquity of their sites.

This area has been extensively re-engineered for the Bourne Castle, Abbey and railway station, and is now occupied by 20th-century housing.