Wandering Around Weedon

Weedon has been a transport hub for many years. Two trunk roads - the A45 and Telford's Holyhead Road - now the A5, the West Coast Main Line Railway and the Grand Union Canal all pass through the village. Although the roads are quieter now that most long-distance traffic uses the parallel motorways, "Road Weedon" as the area around the crossroads is known, still has a number of hotels, pubs and restaurants that make a living from the passing traffic.With an hour or two to kill until Kris arrived to take us to Crick I had a wander up into "Weedon Bec" a settlement that grew up around first the canal and later the railway. The two run in parallel giving rise to this juxtaposition of aqueduct and viaduct on the road into the village. (The aqueduct is the one in the distance).

The main feature of interest in Weedon is, of course, the Military Stores and Depot, built during the Napoleonic Wars and situated here because of its central position and distance from the coast and fear of invasion. 

It was originally served by a branch canal from the main line, which entered via a portcullis gate similar to those found in mediaeval castles.

Although use as a military depot ceased many years ago the interior is remarkably well preserved. Parts of the site are used by various light industries but there seemed no obvious means of access, although it was possible to take this photo through the fence, from which the line of the canal through the centre of the depot can be clearly seen.

I'm not sure what the residents of Weedon feel about having this empty and unused edifice in the centre of their village, but I found it fascinating and well worth walking up from the canal to see.