THE IRON TRUNK

One of the noted features in the Wolverton area is the 'Iron Trunk' built at a cost of some £3600 between 1809 and 1811 for the Grand Junction Canal Company, to carry the canal over the River Ouse. The current aqueduct structure consists of two spans constructed from cast iron plates bolted together and framed to appear as arches, and supported on a central masonry pier. It is Scheduled as an Ancient Monument.

The structure was built to replace an earlier three arched aqueduct which dramatically collapsed. There are also traces of the flight of locks that were used prior to construction of the aqueduct, and proved a major bottleneck to the rapidly developing trade on the canal in the early 1800's.

The Canal itself was proposed in 1792 to provide a link between the industries of the Midlands and London via the Thames. It was built under the supervision of William Jessop.