The idea of a canal from Salisbury to Redbridge was announced in 1768, after the canal engineer James Brindley had made a survey of a possible route. Two years later, Robert Whitworth was working on plans for a canal from Andover to Redbridge, and the Salisbury Committee wanted Brindley to survey an amended route that would join Whitworth's Canal at Kimbridge. Brindley was too busy and so sent one of his assistants, but the scheme foundered in 1772 when the Andover bill was not presented to Parliament.