obtained in the 1670s, authorised improvements to the Salwarpe and the River Stour, and although the promoters spent £4,000 on the scheme, another bill was put before Parliament in 1693, and a fourth attempt was made in 1703, but this was opposed by owners of the salt works.

[3] This created The Company of Proprietors of the Droitwich Canal Navigation, who had powers to raise £33,400 by issuing shares, and an additional £20,000 if required.

The agreement was made in March 1790, and as dividends had never been as high as 5 per cent, they started to claim the difference immediately, even though the new canal was not yet built.

A claim was made every year, although the Worcester and Birmingham eventually declined to make payments, on the basis that the Droitwich was not encouraging trade sufficiently.

The repeal of a tax on salt in 1822 and 1825 resulted in the company being able to pay 5 per cent dividends from the late 1820s out of revenue, and only a few claims to honour the guarantee were made subsequently.

[9] The fortunes of the canal started to decline after 1830, when a source of brine was discovered at Stoke Prior, a village to the north east of Droitwich.

Much of this was carried overland to the Worcester and Birmingham, where it was taken northwards, but tolls for its carriage on the River Severn were also negotiated so that the price of the product in Gloucester and Bristol was competitive with that using the Droitwich Canal.

The company who built it was in theory independent, but the intent was that the Worcester and Birmingham would lease it once it was finished, at a rate which would pay a 5 per cent dividend.

Despite this, they dredged 73,000 tons of mud from the Droitwich Canals in 1881, and altered the upper cills of the locks in 1888-9, to give a navigable depth of 6 feet (1.8 m).

The council realised the potential amenity value of the canal, and the concept was aired in the Worcester Evening News, which carried an illustrated article on 14 June 1966.

[15] A restoration group was formed in 1969, as part of a national drive by the Inland Waterways Association called Safeguarding Britain's Waterways,[16] which led to the formation in 1973 of the Droitwich Canals Trust, a limited company with local authority support, which began to work towards the restoration of the canal.

[1] On 27–28 October 1973 The Droitwich Dig, organized by the Waterway Recovery Group, gathered together the largest number of volunteers then ever assembled at a restoration site.

[17] In 1975, the canal was one of thirteen to benefit from the Job Creation Scheme, set up by the Manpower Services Commission, which provided paid workers to work on restoration and maintenance.

[20] The section of the barge canal through Vines Park was opened in October 1986, enabling the Trust's trip-boat to provide longer trips.

[1] It was presented to a packed meeting, at which the problems of passing beneath the A449 at Hawford and of ensuring an adequate water supply were identified.

[22] In 2002, British Waterways held their Unlocked and Unlimited conference, which identified that completion of the Droitwich scheme would require some £9.5 million.