Kings Barton put-in (Gloucester)
This slipway opens onto the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal at Barge Arm in Gloucester Docks, beside the Grade II listed Llanthony Warehouse, now the Gloucester Waterways Museum. OpenStreetMap tags it as a free, canoe-designated slipway with a plastic surface, not suited to trailers.
The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal opened in 1827 as a ship canal, built to let vessels bypass a dangerous, meandering tidal stretch of the River Severn; on opening, at 86ft 6in wide and 18ft deep, it was the biggest canal in England. From the docks it runs lock-free for 16 miles to Sharpness, still shared with commercial and seagoing traffic as well as narrowboats and other leisure craft. The water in the docks is a still, non-tidal pound, pumped up two metres from the River Severn.
The canal corridor is a County Wildlife Site valued for its bats and otters. West of the docks, the ruins of Llanthony Secunda Priory, founded in 1136 and cut through when the canal was built, still stand.
Nearby
Independent café on Barge Arm East, in the docks, with indoor and outdoor seating.
Independent café on the docks with wheelchair-accessible toilets and outdoor seating.
Conditions to check
Shared with narrowboats and marina craft; the canal remains a working ship canal, with Sharpness Docks at its far end still in commercial operation for seagoing vessels.
SourceGloucester Lock, with its lift bridge, sits at the head of the docks, where the canal meets the tidal River Severn.
SourceThe docks are lined mostly with vertical quay walls and piling, so landing usually needs a slipway, pontoon or steps rather than an open bank.
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