magpie patrick

As a mod, may I suggest you post "source unknown" - if you lifted from a website and can cite which one do that. Whilst technically everything should be sourced the heritage and history forum would suffer if this was taken to the letter, as we often don't know.

This perception is recognised in law, as there is less need to protect the public from an obvious danger. I would suggest the parapet at Marple indicates the parameters of "obvious" may have moved. Certainly people have less opportunity to be reckless on Cosgrove Aqueduct Someone fell from the aqueduct whilst the fence was being proposed, which kinda made the case.for it although I don't know the details. It is not that difficult to get to the other side on foot, you don't have to leap. The incident I particular remember was in 1982, one of my school friends went missing, his body was found three weeks later in the river below. The coroner concluded he had fallen from the aqueduct, open verdict as he may have jumped. It's fair to say the determined could still jump.

Good stuff - these memories need collecting while this generation is still here to tell of them, as they contain information not recorded in any other way. Thanks @davidwheeler

Also, if you were going to do a dry dock or a wharf you wouldn't do it like that. A wharf wouldn't need a bay on each side, unless there was a customer on each side - to add there would need to be something to serve at this location - there is nothing here that couldn't be served immediately above or below the three, no building or kiln, just fields. A dry dock fails on several counts - the shelves are big enough for a boat but only just, no room round the boat for working (and again you don't need two bays) plus unless you close the flight they're not very dry! The way to do a dry dock here would be to have the bays above the normal lock full level and overfill it to get a boat on or off, then use the lock as normal. There was a dry dock next to the lower chamber of the lowest staircase pair in Beziers that workec on this principle until they were converted into a single deep lock.

The traffic was predominantly downhill with unladen boats returning, so that was my assumption Other theories I heard were wharf or dry dock -'neither really works, as neither required two bays

It's thought to be a passing place - a three in the middle of the twos would disrupt traffic flow. Many years ago I measured the bays and found that both were big enough to take a boat over the shelf and the one on the towpath side was about twice the depth of the other shelf with the lock full. This means a fully laden boat could pass an unladen boat in lock 11 - whether they ever did is a matter of conjecture

Just aeen the @CourtAboveTheCut video of the two boats being dragged out - very impressive! And kudos to Steve for getting agreement for access. There was a similar breach near Disley on the Upper Peak Forest in the early 70s - I think three boats went down that one too, but being wooden they were smashed in the incident. First time I recall the word "insurance" being used when I asked dad if the owners would be given new boats. The way these have landed is testament to their weight and structural integrity. Lutine (GRP cabin, steel hull) would probably have broken her back and lost her cabin. Juno, GRP cabin cruiser, would survive but be half way across the county on the tidal wave.

To make much impact on a conventional tank you'd need a lot of containers, and the tap may be frozen or off when you get to it anyway. Do enough to get by until it's safe to move

The man in charge was Pip Dunn I remember the name of the two boats we hired, that they were based in Haskayne. The Ship Inn riings a bell....

We hired Wirral Dawn in 1972, travelling to Rodley and back from Haskayne, and then Wirral Mist in 1973 - she'd had a one way hire to Rodley, and we brought her back but first visited Selby, Goole and Sowerby Bridge. I can confirm they were narrow boat style but I'd have been 6/7 at the time and can't remember details of their construction

There are many reasons why I love exploring details of the Fringe waterways, and their bucolic charm is among them. The Grand Junction was a well oiled machine, the L&LU just had to work after a fashion This picture would have been right at the end of the lock's working life, so the rough cut beam was probably a bodge job to keep the lock going for another few months

Yes, or rather so carved up by the railway as to make what was left useless. Also with so many locks it was not much used for local traffic although apparently some use by small boats persisted. The lowest length and first lock from the river survived rather longer..

Good evening Photo of a lock in "working order" on the Liskeard & Looe Union Canal (good example of why not to use initials!) - most of the canal ceased operation in the 1860s including this lock, and it's the only photo I've ever seen of the canal in anything resembling working order. I'm putting here partly as a place holder for my own benefit, although I'm sure others will be interested. Also, by way of acknowledgement, the website I've lifted the photo from Lodge Lock

Lovin it! Thanks @John Brightley for the thread, and @davidwheeler for the words and images that followed. The wooden work boat you show is a joy to behold, there is something very pleasing to the eye about it's basic lines suited to the job it was built for. One of the things that intrigues me is the way the leisure industry for so long pursued the river cruiser as the model for canal boating, much more elegant but much less practical than the sawn off narrowboats that Tingay, Canal Cruising etc offered. Does any hire company today offer a wheel steered cabin cruiser on the canals? Far more common are narrow boats on rivers!

I've got my head round my issue now. First, clearly this works for the relatively low levels of traffic (best described as a boat every now and then) but.. Lock layout below heading towards the Wash - left to right. Tide out, ebb gates closed, go past inner flood gates, close them behind you, wait in the chamber for flood tide to open ebb gates, go (someone will close upper gates behind you and prevent inundation of Spalding) Heading from the Wash, hang around outside of the ebb gates waiting for the tide to come in - not much chamber as outer flood gates are also here , when the ebb gates are pushed open hoof it before the flood gates have to be closed. You've probably got a window of an hour or more outbound between level and the tide starting to ebb (they don't allow passage in the ebb level) but only a few minutes inbound before the flood gates close and you have to wsit for the next flood level

Fulney Lock dates, I think, to the 1960s. It was built as part of a flood relief scheme and prior to this there was no look or sluice at Spalding and the river was tidal. I guess the lock was built due to the right of navigation and the need for a control structure anyway - easier to build a lock than make the case for not building one. The notes say one can only pass on a rising tide, as a falling tide risks the ebb gates closing in an uncontrolled manner. It also says the inward flood tide gates have no paddles and the outer ones have had the paddles disabled. This makes getting out relatively easy, tide level open all gates, go. Incoming is more tricky as you can only use the lock on a rising tide, in theory the same principle but in practice the timing will need to me more precise as they presumably won't let the lock overfill and then empty when the tide goes out, whereas on the way out so long as the gates behind you are closed you're good to go.

My cruiser Juno has a kill cord - Tohatsu 10hp outboard. One end is fastened to the kill switch, the other to the dashboard next to the kill switch... Even on a cruiser like Juno one needs the freedom to step away from the helm without turning the engine off.

Boating, although not general boating I admit! Further idle musings from my hospital bed led to me looking up Fulney Lock, the tidal lock (indeed the only lock) on the Welland. I have seen this lock once, about 30 years ago, and recall being surprised that it could only lock up into the tide, if the tide lower than the non-tidal side then there is only a single pair of gates, known, according to the linked document, as the ebb gates. Fulney Lock technical note what really surprised me in this note is that the flood gates - two pairs making a proper lock - have no paddles! What strange beast of a lock is this?! Of course the level seaward side is not fixed so there are ways to pass, but it does seem a bizzare structure... (should this be in history and heritage)

It has been done, but be ready with a corker of an explanation if something goes wrong, CRT will not be impressed if your boat ends up on its side. Also have someone watch the top paddles and gates. There is a reason CRT drain the canal immediately above a lock they are working in.

First picture again - the lock is out of use as the balance beams have been sawn off. If you look carefully the bottom gates sre in the picture, which begs two questions. First, what is the photographer standing on, second, what is above the bottom gares in the second picture I think the answer may be seen in thus shot this is also lock 2 - with a bridge over it. Were there three pairs of gates? The third set below the bridge?

Having had a closer look I think the second picture of lock two might be the bottom gates with the basin below drained. Extract from OS plan shows a bridge across the lock which can be seen in the picture. That said - no bridge in the first picture of lock 2