Lincolnshire, England

Grantham Canal slipway, Denton

Launch — Volunteers from the Grantham Canal Restoration Society, the Inland Waterways Association and the Waterway Recovery Group built the slipway and declared it open in June 1990, at the wharf's existing picnic site. It is a popular launching point for canoeists on the canal.

Parking — A small, free car park and picnic area sits at the wharf, immediately by the slipway. The Grantham Canal Society advises that the access track leading to it is in poor condition.

Access — Reached via a track off Casthorpe Road, Denton, and by the towpath crossing the low, c.1797 Denton Canal Bridge No. 65. Paddlers need a Canal & River Trust Paddlers Permit or a Paddle UK waterways licence to be on the water.

Season — The Canal & River Trust publishes canal-wide closures and stoppages on its own notices feed. The pound above the Woolsthorpe lock flight, beyond the western end of this reach, is de-watered for angling matches from time to time.

Regulations — All unpowered craft, including paddleboards, require a Canal & River Trust Paddlers Permit or a Paddle UK waterways licence to be on the water. The Grantham Canal's only formally notified Site of Special Scientific Interest covers the Harby-to-Redmile stretch, several miles west of Denton; the Denton reach itself falls outside the notified boundary.

The Grantham Canal runs 33 miles from the River Trent at West Bridgford to Grantham, largely disused for through navigation since the 1930s. At Denton it holds a restored, watered pound between the seven-lock Woolsthorpe flight and the A1 embankment near Grantham, the five-mile stretch the Canal & River Trust promotes for paddling. Denton Reservoir feeds this stretch, and reedbeds along the banks support breeding warblers and reed bunting.

The canal continues west from Denton toward the seven-lock Woolsthorpe flight, a mile and a half away. East, it passes the low, c.1797 humpback Denton Canal Bridge No. 65 before the watered pound ends at a culvert under the A1, the end of navigation in this direction.

The canal here is shallow and prone to weed, at times reduced to only a few inches of water; the Denton-to-A1 length was dredged in 2007 to keep the restored pound navigable. The Canal & River Trust dates the end of commercial boat traffic on the canal to 1929, though the formal Act of Abandonment was not passed until 1936.

Reedbeds of common reed and greater reedmace line the banks between Denton and Woolsthorpe, supporting breeding sedge and reed warblers and reed bunting.

Nearby

Show on map

Belvoir Castle campsite

Public campsite at Woolsthorpe by Belvoir, roughly a mile and a half from the slipway; pitches with or without electric hook-up, and toilet/shower blocks on site.

Website

Conditions to check

Lock

A flight of seven locks at Woolsthorpe marks the western end of this canal pound, roughly a mile and a half from the slipway.

Source

Weir

A fixed weir and feeder inlet, supplied from Denton Reservoir, enters the canal a short distance toward Grantham from the slipway.

Source

Limited exit

The watered pound ends at a culvert beneath the A1 embankment east of the slipway; there is no navigable route beyond it.

Source

Shallow or rocky

The canal is shallow and weed-prone along this reach, at times reduced to only a few inches of water.

Source

Log in to add a photo. Paddled here? Add the first photo — we review each one before it goes on the page.

Questions

No questions yet

Ask about parking, access or conditions. Anyone who knows this water can answer.

Log in to ask or answer. Share what you know about this spot.

Comments

No comments yet.

Log in to comment. Add conditions or a photo to this spot.

Save your own spots

Keep the places you launch, check the wind and shelter before you go, and log every paddle. Add a spot to the directory too, and other paddlers will find it. Free to start.

Get started, it’s free Log in

Location data

OpenStreetMap

View this point on OpenStreetMap