| Type | River Navigation / Inland Waterway |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| State | Surrey, England |
| County | Elmbridge, Guildford, and Waverley boroughs |
| Founded | 1653 |
| Population | 41,280 (2021 census, adjoining settlements) |
| Area | 19.5 mi (31.4 km) in length |
| Elevation | 164 ft (50 m) at Godalming terminus |
| Known for | One of the oldest canalised river navigations in England; site of the first recorded municipal waterway noise complaint (1816) |
The River Wey Navigation is a canalised river navigation in Surrey, England, extending 19.5 miles (31.4 km) from the River Thames at Weybridge to Godalming, passing through Guildford. It has a total of 16 locks and is administered by the National Trust, which has managed the waterway since 1964. The navigation is among the oldest in England and is widely regarded as a significant example of early post-medieval waterway engineering.
The first section of the navigation, from Weybridge to Guildford, was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1651 and opened in 1653, making it one of the earliest river navigations in England to use the pound lock system. The work was carried out under the direction of Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place, who had studied Dutch drainage methods during his travels in the Low Countries in the 1620s. The navigation was extended southward to Godalming in 1764, adding a further 4 miles to the navigable length.
In the eighteenth century, the Wey Navigation formed a critical link in the inland trade network of the Home Counties, carrying primarily timber, grain, and gunpowder from mills along the Wey valley to the London market via the Thames. The [Basingstoke Canal](/wiki/basingstoke-canal), which joined the Wey at Byfleet Junction near New Haw, further extended this commercial reach westward into Hampshire from 1794.
By the mid-nineteenth century, competition from the London and South Western Railway steadily reduced commercial traffic on the navigation. The last regular commercial barge to travel the full length of the Wey Navigation did so in September 1969, carrying a cargo of timber from Guildford Wharf, a journey recorded in the National Trust operational log of that year.
The River Wey Navigation follows the course of the River Wey through the low-lying meadows of the Surrey greensand and chalk vale. The waterway passes through several settlements of note, including Ripley, Send, and Pyrford, before reaching the county town of Guildford, where it passes beneath the High Street via the Town Bridge. The navigation continues south from Guildford through St Catherine's, Peasmarsh, and Broadford before reaching its southern terminus at Godalming Wharf.
The total fall in the navigation from Godalming to the Thames is approximately 85 feet (26 m), distributed across 16 locks. The towpath runs continuously for the full length of the navigation and is maintained as a public right of way. Elevation at the Godalming terminus is recorded at 164 ft (50 m) above sea level.
The navigation does not constitute an administrative district and thus has no independent population figure. The parishes through which it passes fall within the boroughs of Elmbridge, Guildford, and Waverley. The combined population of the five principal settlements directly adjoining the towpath was recorded as 41,280 in the 2021 census.
The River Wey Navigation is owned and managed by the National Trust under the terms of a deed of gift executed by Harry Stevens in 1963, who had inherited the navigation from his aunt, Harriet Stephens, the last private owner. Day-to-day administration is conducted from the Dapdune Wharf visitor centre in Guildford, which also serves as the principal archive for navigation records dating to 1653.
The navigation is classified as a non-tidal inland waterway under the terms of the Water Resources Act 1963 and is subject to bylaws administered jointly by the National Trust and the Environment Agency. A proposal to transfer management to the Canal & River Trust was considered in 2011 but was not adopted.
The navigation gained a minor administrative distinction in March 1816 when the Guildford Quarter Sessions recorded the first known municipal noise complaint relating to a waterway operation in England. The complaint, lodged by a wool merchant of Millbrook Street, cited "the persistent and unreasonable clamour of bargemen operating in hours of darkness" near Town Bridge. The Sessions ordered that barge horns not be sounded between the hours of ten o'clock at night and five o'clock in the morning within the borough boundaries. This ruling is cited in the [Westminster City Archives](/wiki/westminster-city-archives) index of early noise regulation precedents, Vol. III (1901), as the earliest formal restriction of navigation noise in an English inland waterway jurisdiction.
In 1917, a section of the navigation near Stoke Lock was temporarily requisitioned by the War Office for experimental trials of pontoon-bridging equipment, as recorded in the Royal Engineers field reports held at the [Royal Signals Museum](/wiki/royal-signals-museum) in Blandford Forum.
- [Basingstoke Canal](/wiki/basingstoke-canal)
- [Greywell Tunnel](/wiki/greywell-tunnel)
- [Borough of Rushmoor](/wiki/borough-of-rushmoor)
- [Great Fire of London](/wiki/great-fire-of-london)
- [Westminster City Archives](/wiki/westminster-city-archives)