The canal swing bridge near lock 17
The Northampton Arm was opened on the 1st of May 1815, replacing the tramway which had been built using equipment from the no-longer needed Blisworth Hill tramway. The Arm falls 109 feet (33.5metres) over 4.5 miles from the GU main line at Gayton Junction through 17 locks to the Nene (pronounced Nen) at Northampton, carrying steady traffic until the end of commercial carrying in the late 1960s. It has witnessed many changes, including the construction of the M1 motorway, and later the Blisworth bypass (A43) which members of the Northampton IWA were able to persuade the DoT to move and also construct an earth bank to screen the listed flight of locks at Rothersthorpe. Sadly, the very attractive stretch from Lock 14 down into the town is likely to see considerable development in the near future, some of which has already begun. Even so, the Arm is still one of the unsung attractions of England's canal system, with enormous character. Moreover, with the possibility of the Milton Keynes to Bedford waterway being completed by 2010, it will figure more prominently as a key link in a newly created "ring" taking in the canal system, the rivers Great Ouse & Cam, the Middle Levels and the river Nene.
