Basingstoke Canal in the context of "Weybridge"

Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure, and can be thought of as artificial rivers.

In most cases, a canal has a series of dams and locks that create reservoirs of low speed current flow. These reservoirs are referred to as slack water levels, often just called levels. A canal can be called a navigation canal when it parallels a natural river and shares part of the latter's discharges and drainage basin, and leverages its resources by building dams and locks to increase and lengthen its stretches of slack water levels while staying in its valley.

Woking (/ˈwoʊkɪŋ/ WOH-king) is a town and borough in north-west Surrey, England, around 23 mi (36 km) from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as Wochinges, and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Palaeolithic, but the low fertility of the sandy local soils meant that the area was the least populated part of the county in 1086. Between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, new transport links were constructed, including the Wey Navigation, Basingstoke Canal and London to Southampton railway line. The modern town was established in the mid-1860s, as the London Necropolis Company began to sell surplus land surrounding the railway station for development.

Modern local government in Woking began with the creation of the Woking Local Board in 1893, which became Woking Urban District Council (UDC) in 1894. The urban district was significantly enlarged in 1907 when it took in the parish of Horsell, and again in 1933 when it took in the parishes of Byfleet and Pyrford. The UDC was granted a coat of arms in 1930 and Woking gained borough status in the 1974 reorganisation of local government. In 2022, a total of 30 elected representatives serves on the council, each with a term length of four years.

The River Wey Navigation and Godalming Navigation together provide a 20-mile (32 km) continuous navigable route from the River Thames near Weybridge via Guildford to Godalming (commonly called the Wey Navigation). Both waterways are in Surrey and are owned by the National Trust. The River Wey Navigation connects to the Basingstoke Canal at West Byfleet, and the Godalming Navigation to the Wey and Arun Canal near Shalford. The navigations consist of both man-made canal cuts and adapted (dredged and straightened) parts of the River Wey.

The Wey was one of the first rivers in England to be made navigable; the River Wey Navigation opened in 1653, with 12 locks between Weybridge and Guildford, and the Godalming Navigation, with a further four locks, was completed in 1764. Commercial traffic ceased as late as 1983 and the Wey Navigation and the Godalming Navigation were donated to the National Trust in 1964 and 1968 respectively.

North Warnborough is a village in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Odiham. It is located less than 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the town of Hook, on the opposite side of the M3 motorway, and just north-west of the village of Odiham. The Basingstoke Canal passes through the village, and the River Whitewater flows to the north.

Fleet is a town and civil parish in the Hart District of Hampshire, England, centred 38 miles (61 km) south-west of London and 13 miles (21 km) east of Basingstoke, near the towns of Farnborough, Aldershot and Farnham. The town is sometimes referred to as Fleet and Crookham, as the urban development is continuous and inseparable between Fleet, Church Crookham and Crookham Village, while the civil parish of Fleet Town Council manages Fleet town centre and its surrounding areas.

It is the largest town of the Hart District and features several major technology business areas, fast rail links to London, and a nearby connection to the M3 motorway. The nearby motorway service station, Fleet services, is named after the town. Fleet railway station is the only railway station in the town, providing direct commuter services to major cities such as London, Winchester, Southampton and Portsmouth. The Basingstoke Canal runs through the town; once a major transport route for goods, it has become a leisure route and an important habitat for waterfowl.