Braunston Stop House, Grand Union Canal, Braunston, Northants. - Bygone Toll Houses on Waymarking.com

Located off the A45 between Rugby and Daventry in rural Northamptonshire, at the junction of the Oxford and Grand Union Canals, the historic village of Braunston has always been a focal point on the Midlands canal network.

The unique triangular junction there between the Oxford and Grand Union canals has two bridges carrying the tow-path over the canal. However when originally constructed by Brindley as a contour canal the junction of the canals was near where the marina is today. Improvements to the Oxford Canal in the 1830s to shorten the distance between Braunston and Birmingham resulted in realignment and moving of the junction to where it is today.

On the tow path near the Marina is The Stop House, where the boats were gauged and tolls collected by the Grand Junction (now Grand Union) Canal Company. You can still see where the canal narrows in front of the Stop House, where there used to be a stop-lock to prevent water from the Grand Junction Canal flowing into the Oxford Canal. Until recently it was the base for British Waterways, it now houses a small museum.

The plaque on the Stop House bears the following inscription:

                        THE STOP HOUSE BRAUNSTON
              Originally constructed in 1796, this building
                  was used for the  collection of tolls
                and registration of passing craft between
                  the Oxford and Grand  Junction Canals
                    up to the end of the 19th century.
                     It was officially reopened as a
                    waterway office on July 13th 1990
                           by the Lord Hesketh.

The whole building consists of a pair of houses and the former Canal Toll Office. Built in brick with a hipped corrugated tile roof and brick chimney stacks, it is of two storeys with a cellar and three bays. The doorways in the left and right bays have moulded wood surrounds, six-panel doors and moulded timber hoods on brackets. The central six-pane sash window have painted brick lintels, there are similar windows to the first floor. The cellar entrance has a concrete lintel on left side with a sash window in recessed brick arch above. At the 'front' there is a two-storey canted bay with sash windows facing the canal. An extension at the rear is probably the former toll collection office. It is brick, one storey, of two bays. The doorway has a flat arched brick frame and plank door in left bay. There is a window with similar frame and old iron glazing bars to the right.

The Grand Junction Canal was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1793, and the Braunston section was complete by 1796. In 1929 it was taken over by the Grand Union Canal Company and the name was changed.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   12/30/2014 Avanclan visited it