John Brightley

Correct. You'll see in the photos that Leggers has posted that the pair on the Mon & Brec were called Rose of Brecon and Abergavenny Castle.

I'm no Thames expert, but I think you'll find that it is Boulters Lock, Maidenhead, which was a popular location for Victorian/Edwardian photographers.

Try these:

Another place where it has been possible to moor in the past is The Bond, Fazeley St. https://www.digbeth.com/spaces/the-bond-company It might be worth you giving them a ring.

Here's my view (for what it's worth), as a local (born in Nuneaton and lived about a mile away from the canal for many years) I'd agree that the Coventry Canal is unremarkable -I wouldn't use the words beautiful, exciting or tedious, it's probably an 'averagely pleasant' waterway. It's also got a lot of interesting industrial history along its length, especially at the Coventry end. It's certainly worth boating the length into Coventry Basin. Nuneaton as a town is much nicer than it's usually given credit for - it's worth walking into the centre from Boot Wharf, through the park. And at Hartshill you can walk up to Hartshill Hayes country park which has good views down into the Anker Valley/ north Warwickshire plain. So although maybe it's not a 'destination waterway', there's no need to rush through without stopping !

Richard Powell of Primrose Engineering, is the person you need. 01926 356400. (@RLWP on this forum) He lives in Kenilworth, so just down the road, and keeps his boat Tawny Owl at the top of Hatton where you are now.

Just posted on the BCNS Facebook page: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-rope-maker-1976-online?fbclid=IwAR0QgydcUImVff3Tx9L7zLBhrd2XRANCTvO5YWERhoBwtqk9q8FDv415iwI Alf was a well known figure on the BCN in the '70's and '80's.

Hello Julie. I've done a lot of family history research so know it can be frustrating at times. It's common to get to a point on a family tree where you can't take that branch any further -at least at the moment. It's quite possible for there not to be any record of your great grandfather living at Hatton. I've had ancestors recorded on the 1861 and 1881 censuses but absolutely no record in the 1871 census, for example. So don't be confused, just put that line of enquiry down at the moment and try research on another branch of the tree. There are lock cottages at Knowle.

I've just come across this film https://youtu.be/ZHQ0Tnw5NKM Although much of it is filmed in the Fens, a short part of it shows narrowboats at Stoke Bruerne.

I've never seen one of these before but it looks like it was built using the moulds of the Davison Bros. Trentcraft of the 1970's and '80's.

Just a thought - if they were living in the cottage at the bottom lock, their record in the census would probably be recorded under Budbrooke, not Hatton.

Can I request that you post copies of the photos on here please ? I'm sure that there are a lot of us who would be interested in seeing them.

There are 3 lock cottages on the Hatton flight, all dating from the late 18th century- the one at the bottom lock available for holiday lettings, the one at the top lock seen in Ray's photo, and this one at lock 34 in the middle of the flight - this is probably the most original.

From Waterways World October 1981:

From Waterways World Jan 1983: . Another photo of Winterburn:

Erebus for sale in Waterways World May 1981- Canal Leisure was Malcolm Pearson.

Thanks for letting us know about it. A great film.

Tur-lee.

I found this photo when looking for ones of Brumtugs - it was taken on 16th July 1983 at Gas Street Basin.

Hi all. I've been a member on here for 6 years, and I'm fairly certain that I've seen my name correctly placed on the member map in the past. But another member has pointed out that I'm not on there at the moment. My location is on my profile, so it's not obvious why I'm not on the map. Not important, but it seems a little odd. John

Hi Colin. It's been recorded before on this forum that LAD, LADY and LASS had Rugby Boatbuilders hulls and Teddesley cabins. https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/17283-hire-boats-gas-steet-basin-in-early-1960s/&do=findComment&comment=1473432

Hello Sara. Welcome to the forum. There are many very knowledgeable people on here so don't be afraid of asking questions. It will be interesting to hear how you get on. Sorry to disappoint you, but none of the cabin is original from when it was a butty. From what can be seen from the ebay photos, the cabin is probably no more than 40 years old, and looks to be in poor condition, so you will probably find it is much better to replace it with a new cabin in steel.

Great photos -thank you for posting them. I assume they are some of your dad's ? I'd love to see more, I'm sure other people would too.

Actually, Patrick, these photos aren't of the Cheshire Ring section of the Ashton. They're of the bit east of Portland Basin, which was a dead end at the time, and wasn't really navigable - certainly hire boaters didn't go along this bit. Sorry to disappoint ! We were on a hire boat and doing the Ring. But we only walked this bit. The main part of the Ashton was rougher than it is now though. We were warned not to moor anywhere between Portland Basin and the centre of Manchester. The Rochdale Nine were in poor condition, though a booking (and an extra licence fee) for the locks guaranteed a person from the Rochdale Canal Co would help you through them. I next went along this section last summer (2019), and was pleasantly surprised how nice the trip along the Ashton was. However I was disappointed that the condition of the Rochdale locks weren't much different than they had been in 1981.

You may find these photos interesting, as although the quality is poor, two of them show scenes which are very different today. They were taken on 12th August 1981. The first view is from Portland Basin looking eastwards to Cavendish Mill. The scene here hasn't changed much in the intervening years. The location of the next photo is very different, however. This is Wharf Mill, which was demolished not long after this photo was taken, to make way for the Asda store and its tunnel. We continue along the canal for another half mile and come to the end of the Ashton Canal and the start of the Huddersfield Narrow at bridge 111. Obviously the canal has been restored since !