Aurelia

Very sorry, Magpie Patrick. All condolences.

I visited the Rea aqueduct in 2018; it was not in a good state.

In view of current stringent - 'strapped-for-cash' - conditions, it seems unlikely that the corrections will be made. But that doesn't alter the fact that it is an important point and well made.

That's sad news. I didn't know him well, but we met once or twice and he struck me as a warm-hearted, interesting man. RIP, Andrew.

Ursamajor4148 - there is, for the record, an article in the Autumn 2017 NarrowBoat magazine entitled 'Brick Boating' which is probably the one you have in mind. Written by Chris M Jones, it takes a broad look at vessels used by the west London brick-manufacturers, including businesses based at the places you mention. It includes a short section on independent carriers. Hope that gives some indication of its scope.

It's an impressive set, Pluto. Thanks for posting.

The old Barton Aqueduct caught several artists' attention. It is intriguing to examine (and a cheerful way of wasting time) the various modifications made to the bridge over the years. G.F. Yates, for instance, painting in 1793, shows a modest sized room occupying the upper portion of one arches. William Orme, sketching at the site slightly earlier, appears to show this storage space (if that is what it was) in the process of construction. Alfred Dunnington's 1893 picture bears comparison with two slightly earlier paintings (c. 1890) by one H.J.Hawkshaw. Entitled respectively 'Barton Aqueduct' https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/barton-aqueduct-165191/view_as/grid/search/works_auto:barton/page/1 and 'River Irwell and Barton Old Aqueduct' https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/river-irwell-and-barton-old-aqueduct-165192 , the originals are both in Salford Museum and Art Gallery. Apologies for not posting the pictures themselves, but I'm not clear whether Art UK's image permissions allow it.

Delightful, Pluto, and a very agreeable diversion. Thanks for posting.

For what it's worth, on 1 August 1767, this notice appeared in the Oxford Journal:- 'It is proposed to make a navigable canal from the canal now making along the Vale of the Trent in Staffordshire, to pass through the parishes of Tamworth, Amington, Polesworth, Grindon, Atherstone, Caldecote, Weddington, Nuneaton, Chilver's Coton, Bedworth and Foreshill [Foleshill] to the city of Coventry, with communications to all the great collieries betwixt Tamworth and Coventry, and a survey has been made and found practicable and [?construction (word missing)] will be undertaken as soon as an Act of Parliament can be procured; And a further proposal has been made for continuing such navigable canal from the city of Coventry southwards through the parishes of Stoke, Binley, Newbold-Revel, Lawford, Rugby, Barby, Willoughby, Granborough, Stockton, Ladbrook, Wormleighton, Banbury and rom there down to the City of Oxford, to communicate with the navigation of the Thames.' No mention whatever of its being a 'bottom' route, but perhaps that isn't entirely surprising at this date. What the notice strikingly shows, is that in their initial conception, the Coventry and Oxford Canals appear to have been viewed as a single waterway - a detail which may owe something to the energetic promotion of both by Sir Roger Newdigate of Arbury, sometime MP for Oxford University.

Much recommended! I caught this morning's installment, thanks to a kind neighbour who knew I'd be interested and alerted me. Julian Glover has an eye for the telling detail and the reader - sorry, can't recall his name - is excellent.

Visiting the Bridgewater Canal in the winter of 1767, Sir Joseph Banks observed a 'broad-stemmed boat' drawn by a single mule thrusting her way through ice 'near an inch thick'. On board, seven or eight men 'swayed her with great force [and] struck any large pieces of ice with clubs they held in their hands'. Swaying the boat created a sizeable wave which ran ahead of the party, cracking if not shattering the ice in its path before the vessel's advance. Banks recounts the sight in his 'Journal of an Excursion of Wales, etc. 1767-68.' The manuscript is in Cambridge University Library but sadly it does not appear to exist in printed form.

What a great song, Ray. Thanks!

I cannot let Pluto's remark 'Praising Brindley's work was, in effect, praising the governing elite' pass unchallenged. About three weeks after James Brindley's death, the Oxford Journal published a letter chronicling the recent opening of a section of the Trent and Mersey Canal. 'The banks on each side' writes the correspondent, 'were covered for many miles with an innumerable crowd of spectators, whose shouts with the ringing of bells, and the discharge of cannon, seemed to rend the sky. A solemn goblet was drank to the immortal memory of our lamented engineer, the late Mr Brindley, who is now supposed to preside (a guardian genius) over this canal.' (For anyone who is interested, the letter appeared on 17 October, 1772). The October 1772 festivities celebrated a big boost to the economy of the Potteries. To view the carnival as a grovel to the aristocracy requires cynicism of no small order.

Maybe some of the fine detail in the ‘Canal Pioneer’ piece has gone awry, and I don’t suppose Machpoint005 is the only reader to quibble about the lock claim. At the same time, it is worth bearing in mind that it very much easier to cavil over errors than it is avoid them. Cheers to the BBC for celebrating James Brindley’s 300th anniversary in such style.

It was an impressive performance. Arguably the cheese was on the small side.