Surrey Photo Gallery - River Wey and Dapdune Wharf

The River Wey was one of the first in the country to be made navigable, opening to barge traffic in 1653 for a 15 mile journey to Weybridge on the Thames. Conceived by Sir Richard Weston, who lived along its banks north of Guildford, he saw how the Dutch and Belgians built canals to shorten river journeys and wanted to do the same to help transport goods to London. Cargo was transported by barges with oak heading downtream to the Thames while corn was brought back upstream for the mills. A further extension upriver, the Godalming Navigation opened in 1764 to allow barges up a further 4 miles. When the railway arrived in 1845, it was possible to reach London in less than 2 hours, and it soon became the popular transport mode for goods, taking away the river business. The National Trust took over these facilities in the 1960s and now manages them as a leisure waterway.