When the canal system was developed in the 1700s its primary aim was to facilitate trade between existing sources of material and customers.  Market Harborough is an "inland port" nowadays but has been a market hub for centuries with ready access to Watling Street and Ermine Street which were the most important routes in Roman England. 

In 1800 the Grand Junction Canal was under construction twenty miles away at Rugby and was to be the route to London and Birmingham.  It made great sense to include a spur towards Leicester link up with the River Ouse and provide a waterway south with Foxton Locks acting as a level changer. The spur would have a clear and lockfree run to Norton Junction where the story of Muddy Brown Water commences.  It made great sense to include a spur from Foxton Locks to Market Harborough. 

Market Harborough had been an important centre and a junction of trade for well over 2000 years.  So it made great sense to consider a site halfway between Leicester and Northampton as a terminal for a major development.
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LTC Rolt came to Market Harborough during a substantial tour of the canals of central England on a boat he had bought in 1939 and is by far the most influential in the canal revival after WW2. 

An engineer, writer, journalist, polymath, he saw Market Harborough as a worthy base for The Inland Waterways Association which he was instrumental in setting up.

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