Heartland

The most interesting removal of a bridge on the Leicester Navigation was the "Stephenson" Lift Bridge at Soar Lane Leicester that was used to carry railway waggons across the navigation. It went to the Snibston Discovery Park, but is now at the Great Central Railway

Then there are those that build new bridges and add a A or B etc. Bridge renumbering can involve a complex history, as noted elsewhere on this website.

A useful discussion and perhaps the term Wharf, Quay and Port need to be defined further. Such as what was the function of each, the types of traffic and the interchange of traffic there. A port tents to conjure up the belief that traffic was varied.

It is nice to know that the craft still exists.

Was there an element of personal choice by the engineer who designed the waterway?

At Meaford the 3 locks replaced a staircase pair which is buried in the undergrowth on the offside. At Etruria, Lawton and Middlewich, staircase locks were replaced by standard locks also. With Etruria and Meaford the prospect of railway competition may have influence the change, and such impetus seems to have been a factor for doubling the Cheshire Locks

It is a wide subject. I came across the newspaper accounts of the meetings for the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway which in reality only operated a railway between Colwick and Grantham, but also came to own the Nottingham Canal and Grantham Canal and used both as a source of revenue, In fact they seemed to encourage traffic and maintenance in the brief period before the Great Northern Railway gained total control of both the railway and the canals.

The question was confined to inland ports, and so places on the coast line were conventional ports. Pluto has a good example of goods to Blackburn, it would be of interest to decide the vessel type. Apart from the usual Leeds and Liverpool craft, could any of them be coastal vessels such as sloops?

I gather the CRT had changed their policy regarding the River Lea, following boater protests, but what is a Water Safety Zone ?

A general meaning of a an inland canal port would probably include the interchange of merchandise and other goods, warehousing, cranage and use of wharves for transhipment. The well known examples include Stourport (interchange between Severn craft and the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal) and Shardlow (interchange between the Trent and Mersey Canal and the River Trent) Preston Brook also had the interchange between flats and narrow boats. But when the interchange between turnpikes and canals are considered there is also a case of port title to places such as Derby, Nottingham and Wolverhampton. So how widely should the term Canal Port be applied?

It is useful to obtain further clarification, especially from a Tithe Map, which are useful maps for historical research

That could also mean The Weak And Tardy or may be the Persons Really Allied To Trivia. And may be this trend for Political Correctness is reaching a new level of ignorance. It will not be long before Thought Police become a reality. But if that happens there will be no need for the internet.

When the subject of carrying boats is delved into there is the diversity of narrow boats, trent boats, trows and flats for a start and many more. But confining the topic to the narrowboat. That evolved with time. There is a host of canal carrying stories which can be traced in records as are sometimes the individual boatmen and boat women. Some women like Elizabeth Swain operated narrowboats for a time. The Swain family warehouse faced Summer Row and backed onto the Newhall Branch in Birmingham. Then there are the male carriers, Thomas Sherratt, George Ryder Bird,and John Whitehouse are all in the early mix. Risk was pat of their business. Theft was not uncommon and Bird issued his boatmen with firearms, powder and ball in 1816!

This time is best described as the 1880's in the Midlands and earlier in the North West and North East.

It is certainly encouraging to see a district of Merseyside supporting the canals, I can only hope that the local troglodytes do not cause any damage.