Even though the relevant acts were in place, the construction work and improvements only began in 1620 and even then, very intermittently.
The length of the River Welland from the sea via Spalding to Crowland to the Deepings was managed by another body called ‘the Adventurers’, and had an investor who brought 600 men in to improve the line and the flow of the Welland.
By 1633 the Stamford navigation and the tolls arising from it were leased to Alderman Daniel Wigmore for 80 years and in his hands it was eventually completed by 1670; though various parts of it were in use as soon as they became navigable, especially the lower stretches.
Who actually dug the Stamford Canal is not recorded but careful joining up of ditches made it a fairly easy job to plan and build - apart from the locks!
When was the canal built, how and by whom?
The Stamford Canal << The earliest proper canal in England? <<
