John Brightley

It's a bit unfair to call it an 'economy-built' boat as Sagar were one of the best-regarded builders of the 1980's. You should be wary of any information on a 2019 survey commissioned by someone else. Most people on this forum would recommend you commission a survey yourself before putting any money down on the purchase.

I wonder whether this actually suggests that in 1811 the D&S works hadn't been abandoned but promoters still hoped to get new funding to restart the work.

I'm afraid I disagree. It's not unfair. When people acquire a listed structure, they knowingly take on all the responsibilities of maintaining it. Nobody has forced them to take on the responsibility. In my experience (as an architect) nothing I have seen that HE has asked for has been unreasonable.

In my experience HE do try to help as much as possible with technical advice on maintenance, but we can't expect them to finance every project. If they did, owners of listed buildings would have no incentive to keep them in good condition. Instead, people need to realise that if they purchase a listed structure, they take on the important responsibility of maintaining it.

Slightly incorrect -it was on the register in 2021 but it has now been taken off it because of the restoration. It is not for Historic England to finance the restoration of historic buildings -it is the responsibility of the owners of listed structures to keep them in good condition.

Actually anyone can view all the items currently uploaded - they are available at this link: https://www.rchsimagearchive.org.uk/ The archive includes the photo collections of a number of eminent deceased waterway historians, and critically (I quote from the webpage here) "The hard-copy images are stored, after being digitised, in archive-quality boxes at a secure facility designed for historical artefacts, and this Online Media Archive presents just a small, but growing, selection of the over 40,000 images we hold." A number of RCHS members including myself and other contributors to this forum are currently involved with digitising the images and ensuring they are titled correctly. Clearly it will take a long time to get all images on-line, but there are already a lot of interesting photos available to view -including for example some rare photos of the Shropshire tub boat canals which have been uploaded recently. There is also the facility to comment on images if you think that they have been titled incorrectly. So I would encourage all of you to have a browse of the archive !

@Heartland If you have the time, it's definitely worthwhile striking up a good rapport with the conservation officer, and this applies to all locations. As council funding has been cut back over the last few years, quite often the officers who have been tasked with the conservation role have little historic buildings knowledge themselves, so they will usually appreciate your knowledge to at least highlight which locations are particularly significant. They can then employ experts to advise them further. It is much easier to add conditions to a planning consent than to try to prevent a building being demolished. These days it is quite common for archeological conditions to be part of a consent so it should not be a surprise to anyone involved. @Nightwatch You are quite correct- if a planning consent has already been granted, we can't do anything to alter that. But if any new applications are submitted, then there is the chance.

@Heartland It's excellent that you've gathered this history of the area. Can I suggest that the way forward might be for you to write to the conservation officer at the planning department of Wolverhampton council giving him the information you've told us above, and asking him to put a condition on any future planning consents requiring an archaeological investigation to be undertaken before redevelopment takes place.

When you're coming down the flight, the left hand side of the bridge arch is very low. Cans should be moved over to the right (towpath) side.

It's the main road bridge below lock 18. If you're coming down the flight and your chimney and cans are on the left of the roof you need to get them out of the way before exiting the lock.

It's good that you like it after all our suggestions! Sounds like you might have time to try Warwick's other hostelries as well. It's worthwhile in my view making the hike over to the Fourpenny Shop and the Old Post Office on West St. It's a hard life......

In my experience, in the Midlands at least, most new housing developments include 30 or 40 per cent affordable.

Photo of Dory from the advert: For the record the asking price is £64,950.

Kenelm (Epsom) £87,500 https://www.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/harland-and-wolff-72-traditional-for-sale/718062

As you say, everyone has their own preferences. Personally I've had a number of bad experiences, both in business and personally, over the years, with day rates or estimates, so I won't now employ anyone on other than a fixed price contract.

The Coventry Canal from Nuneaton to Coventry was built quite early in the Canal Age so it's likely many of the original bridges were built quite narrow. Of course many have been rebuilt since. This photo from Geograph shows that the current Marston stop lock is not significantly larger than 7ft - though it could have been wider originally.

You will find the answer on exactly which company made Bix in Iris's first book which covers how they designed the boat. From memory I thought it was Fernie, but I may be wrong.

Do you intend that this questionnaire is to be filled in only by people who have bought or sold a boat? It certainly appears so, so if that's the case it would be useful if you noted this at the beginning. Also, you have spelt 'bought' incorrectly in the first question. I suggest you get someone to spell check the questionnaire.

Grand Union boats of more than 7ft wide regularly used the Griff Colliery arm so this is likely to be incorrect (unless some bridge hole widening was carried out between 1908 and the 1930's). There were no locks on the arm, just 3 bridges, only one of which was known to be tight (in height) where cratches of empty boats had to be taken down. This is the Coventry Road bridge which was rebuilt to full navigational dimensions in 1970 after traffic had ceased.

Obviously those who wrote the Act regarded Napton to Braunston as part of the Grand Union.

Have you seen this thread: https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/49772-doug-moore-plaque/#comment-927278 If the assumptions there are correct, it would suggest that you have the 31st boat built by Doug and the 1st built at Lower Park Marina.

'The Bargee' is available to view for free at this link until midnight on Saturday. https://www.tptvencore.co.uk/Video/The-Bargee?id=58a23262-e94f-419f-a860-58c633c17866

Many of the Geograph photos used have attributes like these attached to them already by the photographer/ contributor.

Yes, that's the correct location Ray. Interesting to see that RCHS view -I've been looking through the archive but hadn't seen that one previously. Thanks. The line of the old loop of the canal can still be followed westwards from this point (well, the other side of the M6) through an area of public open space to Deedmore Road.

Strange that they're continuing to ring you. If I get the chance I'll ask my friendly local councillor what their current thinking is...