Thank you for the brilliant article in the Adver about “Bridging a gap in our history” and the photographs included.

Living near both the York Road Bridge and the Whale Bridge sites the photos are more poignant.

I read somewhere that in the late 1920s the then Swindon Town Council decided to keep the canal as a ‘Linear Lake through Swindon’, however, due to the 2nd World War, this was not followed up and after the war the canal had deteriorated too far and the idea was abandoned.

So, if fate had not intervened, the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust’s dream of a canal through Swindon would have been a reality I would be great to know if the above information is correct.

The dream of a canal in the environments of Swindon is not yet ‘Dead in the Water’ (sorry!) as, with a bit of imagination and using existing stretches and rivers, the canal idea could become a reality.

This has been successfully demonstrated by the work that has been undertaken at Wichelstow.

Back in the late 1970s I spent a lot of time surveying the old canal route and the various rivers to look at what financially viable options there were available for the regeneration of a canal route in the Swindon area, but I will not bore you, at this moment in time, with the notes that were made, suffice to say that the idea still has some credence.

I still occasionally walk various stretches of the old canal and, maybe, one day I will see more stretches of the old canal brought back to life.

Gerry Taylor, Newcastle Street, Swindon