From Melton Mowbray, the canal headed broadly eastwards, following the valley of the River Eye, keeping to its north and east bank to reach Wyfordby.

[1] Near the junction with the dismantled railway branch to Bourne, the canal swept northwards in a loop, to cross the River Eye, near which was Saxby wharf.

The canal passes the site of the former Ashwell Prison, near which some of it is still in water, to arrive at Oakham, where there was a terminal wharf.

3. c. 103) was granted, authorising the Oakham Canal Company to raise £56,000 by issuing shares, with an additional £20,000 if required.

[5] The new route had been surveyed by William Jessop, but the detailed design was done by Christopher Staveley junior, who then became the engineer.

The canal opened in stages, reaching Saxby in November 1800, and was declared to be completed in June 1802, but the water supply was inadequate, and it was probably not usable to Oakham until January 1803.

[5] The canal connected Oakham to the Melton Mowbray Navigation, and hence to the River Soar and the national waterways system.

The lack of a proper water supply had resulted in the canal being closed for nearly five months during the dry summer of 1844.

The construction of the railway was authorised by Parliament and a second act to allow the canal to be sold and abandoned was obtained on 27 July 1846.

It would be more than a year before the sale of the canal was finally completed, on 29 October 1847, but just six months after that, the line from Melton Mowbray to Oakham opened on 1 May 1848.