David Bick, in the introduction to his book about the canal, says throughout the length and breadth of England, no major navigation is so lost in obscurity. He has a point. Completed in 1845, it was never the commercial success its promoters had hoped. By 1885 it had closed, rented for £5,000 per year by the Great Western Railway which re-used some of its route to build the Gloucester-Ledbury railway.

Building began at Over in 1793 at the height of "canal mania". The priority was to reach Ledbury so that revenue could be earned but the greatest obstacle was the 1¼ mile Oxenhall Tunnel. Some 20 shafts were sunk along the line of the tunnel so that gangs of men could work from each one, aiming to create a seamless passage. Horsepower proved insufficient to remove the water that kept pouring into the workings so the builders had to resort to the expense of steam engines.

At the same time work had been taking place on the "Coal Branch" so that coal from Newent’s diminutive coalfield could be taken economically to market. In fact great play was made of the potential of the Newent coalfield in the attempt to raise money for trial mines. Ledbury was finally reached by the canal in 1798 but Newent’s coal was of such inferior quality that, ironically, the completed canal simply enabled quality coal to be brought in from further afield.

The expense of building had been far greater than anticipated and for the next 50 years the canal stopped short at Ledbury.

The Stephen Ballard page tells how the canal was eventually completed to link Gloucester with Hereford.

The Ledbury - Hereford section of canal found itself marooned from the rest of the country’s inland waterways and slowly drifted into obscurity...until the H&G CT began restoration.