The Wey & Arun Canal - from the Wey to Pallingham
Vachery Pond and the canal feeder
The Wey and Arun Junction canal had just one water supply and this was made using an existing lake known as Vachery Pond. This was an artificial pond built for a forge that has long gone. Its original size was said to be about 61 acres, and when the canal was built they utilised the pond, extending its area to 100. To supply the canal itself a mixture of artificial channel and natural watercourse were used. It is difficult to work out what was which now as the feeder supply has not been used for a century and a half. It does appear that the first part of the waterway was a series of sluices and channles to supply the forge and the canal. This still exists but does not resemble its origianl layout and it is difficult to ascertain how the arrangement worked. It then appears that an artifical channel was used for a distance to the south west of Vachery Pond, and part of this cut can be seen near the Guildford-Horsham railway (now the Downs Link) route.
The other end of the feeder entered the Wey & Arun at two locations so it is said. It split at a location which is known on some maps as 'Tumbling Bay.' This may have been a means of ensuring that the canal got its percentage of the water supply and the only way this could have occured would have been by some sort of weir that only passed water to the Wey and Arun when an equal amount was passed downstream from Vachery Pond. It is diifuclt to envisage such an arrangement and it must have been awkward to monitor. Certainly life would have been simpler if there had been an artifical feeder the entire distance from Vachery. One feeder into the canal was said to be near Mill Farm though I am not sure it actually existed. A glitch in investigating this section is that the canal south of Mill Farm is out of bounds, being on private land. The second, and certainly an official route of the feeder, was in a slightly western direction towards Fast bridge. The path leading form Fast bridge to Farnhurst bridge (as mentioned elsewhere) paralleld the feeder's course
Not much of a view to write home about, but this is looking from the railway line to Vachery Pond. The entire site is private and bounded by high barbed wire fencing that has recently been put up. There doesnt seem to be anywhere from which the pond can be viewed.
A view looking south east along Vachery Lane. This is the route to Vachery House (private) and Vachery Farm. On the left, obscured by the trees is the large embankment holding back Vachery Pond. This may have been constructed by the canal compnay when it enlarged the pond
On the south side of Vachery Lane there are moats, I dont know what these were for they may have been to do with the forge that stood here at one time. However there appears to be some sort of arrangement that ensured the water was diveted into the nearby stream or into the Wey & Arun's feeder channel, which I presume was regulated by sluices and weirs
What is possibly the canal feeder eixts south of Vachery Lane
The artificial channel near the railway line, if it was associated with the feeder. Beyond here there is no further trace, currently work is being done in the field on the far side obliterating any possible traces. It appears it joined the nearby stream a short distance away. There might have been a culvert through the embankment but I do not think this was the case as the canal was hardly in use when the railway was built - the situation at Whipley where the railway crosses the canal shows us that the canal was evidently seen as not in use and thus a un-navigable bridge was built
White Bridge, a austere and modern structure over the stream from Vachery Pond. No indication of any canal related structures or works at all
The bridge by Bridge Farm. It looks very much like a Wey & Arun structure. Another nearby sturcture, known as Flash Bridge, has the same style as well. It has been claimed that the canal had a feed by Mill Farm, and perhaps some of the reasoning for this comes from the fact that Flash Bridge appears to have the same origins as the one at Bridge Farm. It is possible, but it would have required a complicated arrangement to feed the canal at two points on the same level, especially when the one at Fast Bridge was sufficient. I think Flash Bridge was built when the Cranleigh Waters were straightened by the canal company in order to make way for the canal itself
The bridleway to the west of Bridge Farm meets the stream from Vachery Pond at several locations. Here is the location where there was said to be a Tumbling Bay, which I assume was the means by which water was sent on its separate ways either down the Cranleigh Waters or along the artifical feeder cut to Fast Bridge. A close examination of the area reveals that no traces of a regulatory structure or weir now exists, so it is difficult to know how the canal company managed the water coming down from Vachery
Deep in the undergrowth on the east side of the Guildford Road at Fast Bridge is the overgrown feeder cut
Looking west across the Guildford Road to the other section of the feeder cut, sited just to the left of the road sign. The feeder here is not so overgrown and in water at least
A peep through the undergrowth shows the watered section of the canal feeder
The Wey South footpath leading from Fast Bridge towards Farnhurst and the Compasses Mobile Park parallels the feeder for a short distance
The Farnhurst Lane (Wey South) footpath crosses the canal feeder on a brick built structure
The canal feeder heading north away from the Wey South footpath
A small brick culvert can just be spotted where the feeder passed into the canal itself
The site where the feeder (in brick culvert at lower left) enters the canal, just a short disatnce from Fast Bridge
Bramley Linersh Run Common Elmbridge Fast Bridge Tickners Heath Fir Tree Copse Sidney Wood
Gennets Wood Devils Hole Loxwood Drungewick Newbridge Lordings Pallingham The Feeder Map