1793 - Kennet & Avon Canal Planned and built
The Kennet and Avon can was planned and built by John Rennie between 1793 & 1810 and runs through the parish.
Here is John Rennie’s initial 1793 proposal for the route, running south of Wilcot Green:
Shown here by kind permission of the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre
Susannah Wroughton, the owner of Wilcot Manor at the time, did not like encroachment of that route on land round the Manor, and persuaded Rennie to shift the route further north, and to provide the delightful lagoon of Wide Water along with the stately Ladies Bridge, as shown in the 1810 revision of the 1773 Andrews and Drury map:
