Middle Ages

The Seven Streams at Seven Bridges

The Kennet Navigation

The Kennet and Avon Canal

The Kennet through Reading

In the Middle Ages, the Kennet was navigable up to Reading by reasonable sized boats. Smaller boats could go beyond, and also use the network of small streams that ran through the lower part of Reading. These were used to transport cloth between the workshops, the dyeing grounds and the fulling mills. Many of these streams have long since been filled in or have become drainage channels.