Derek R.

Yes, you are correct. My mistake in assigning the wrong name, since corrected in my original post. Thank you.

Aah! Thank you Paul.

He didn't suffer fools. Possibly because he carried quite a lot over the years.

I think just LARK. Probably wooden. Can't make out the carrier, but looks like Leicester B??????? - Braunston? Birmingham? beneath. Not listed in any of the 'small' books.

Bottom lock of Sarah's two, Cassiobury. Looking South. https://tinyurl.com/ycyxkn8c

A fascinating item. I imagine it would be designed to fit a cylindrical stove with a front aperture into which the kettle fitted. Never seen the like before.

Albert & Sue Beechey were the subjects of the artist Christopher M. Jones where their boats TWEED & GIFFORD are depicted below Somerton Deep lock. It was on the cover of 'Narrow Boat', Spring of 2006, and featured an historical profile of the Staffs. & Worcs. and Claytons of Oldbury. It was also the first issue of said quartelry journal. Sam Albert is seen mopping off the fore-cabin of GIFFORD, while Sue is standing in the hatches with a cup of tea. Edited to add: There are two pages within that issue of tracing family ancestries by Lorna York. https://narrowboatmagazine.com/issue/issue1

A vent yes, but for surface water not foul. Never spotted those. Looking at the Scottish Library maps for 1798 - 1878, there is little to see that supports any more accuracy, quite poor in fact. Oh for a time machine, but without the limitations of trespass! The SL maps for 1830 - 1880 OS six inch, show a Mill, and what looks like a Cress Cutting stream in the vicinity of the reed beds. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.5&lat=51.68242&lon=-0.43217&layers=257&b=1&o=100

Gumpy: Well, your in the right area! I recall driving buses on the 301/302 routes over bridge 162, the one close by what was the Blue Star petrol station (now Shell), and on the towpath just South of the bridge is the plaque I recalled earlier. I was looking in the wrong place. There's a brick structure there, with a black standpipe (vent) atop. Something to do with drainage from the 'new road'.

That reminds me of something a former neighbour told me when I lived just outside Tring back in the late sixties. She told me her Father was involved in an incident that took the life of one of the workers prior to the M25 spur being built, and that there was a concrete plaque erected in memory. Searching the Goggle eyed maps shows nothing of it today, and it may well have been removed, or simply buried under the undergrowth. The slight straightening of the off-side bank (no path there) fits, but the reed banks are older.

Re. 'captions' - so correct! But if it says: 'Passing Cassiobury Park', then technically that is correct, and the reed beds make a distinctive landmark.

Yes, I know the bit you mean, but what are they loaded with going North I wonder? Not coal, but could be something from Brentford dock. I think you may be right, so instead of 'Below Ironbridge', it's 'Below Hunton Bridge'?

Below Ironbridge, you sure about that Mark? Given they are loaded and heading South with the tow path on the left, the closest I can guess is below Grove Mill Lane, before the wooden turnover bridge in Cassiobury. Could be wrong though. https://tinyurl.com/4cmtvrmb

The reputation of PD2's breaking cranks. 'Chip fryers', due to the shape of the air cowling resembling same. Ours in YARMOUTH was installed by John Pattle, who obtained it from a ships lifeboat out of East Anglia somewhere. It replaced the BMC Commodore (still extant in KALAMAKI as last heard). That PD2 stonked us all over the system, from London to Gargrave, never missed a beat. We had heard of crank breakages, and various theories discussed. Some said they broke at tickover after starting, but could not explain why. I always turned the engine over at least twelve times by hand from cold, just to get some oil around the system. Most folk seemed to dislike them for the noise being air cooled. Oil pressure needed to be watched, as the oil cooler 'could' leak (it was hidden inside the ducting) reducing oil pressure. Ours never did. Hand starting was almost impossible alone - bags of compression. Roger Alsop and I did it once with both of us on the handle at the same time! After we sold YARMOUTH, we heard the crank had broke! It got replaced with a JP2. Added text: That day boat with the motor stern looks like it's been used as a skip! There'll be a reason for that.

Whilst tied up at a rally in Caversham (Thames) in 1981 we heard odd noises (whizzes and pings), which turned out to be boys from a scout base on the far side of the river firing air rifles at the boats. The police were notified and put a stop to that. Elsewhere we had observed youths carrying air rifles on the towpath, only the once, and that later when on the N. Coventry IIRC. Most aggressive action was from bridges and 'stoning'. There was a story of a boater using a shotgun in Milton Keynes who fired at a wheelie bin about to be dropped on the passing boat. Blew the bin back onto the assailant who ran off.

Oiks on the bridge. Nothing changes. "Oi Mister, don't empty that - it's our swimming pool!" Figures were often posed for comparisons of size. They could be passers by, or friends/family of the photographer. The passing boats most likely an unwanted intrusion when filming.

I read somewhere that the estate built the lodge to house a 'keeper' to ensure pheasants were not being poached by boaters. The alleged trick was to lace corn with alcohol(?) such that the birds were easily caught.

'Wonderful London', yes indeed. Another of theirs: The anglers are sited at the entrance to the Cumberland Arm. Behind them now is the floating(?) Chinese restaurant, and the truncated basin. But the butty (motor alongside) is TRING.

You cannot see the reflection of the left hand balance beam because the bulk of the stonework of the left hand lock tail is in the way, casting a shadow on the water. What does appear to be missing, is the section of the beam that joins the two uprights on the gate. I wonder if there is some photographic error involved?

That's what I've heard too. The original site was only about two full length boats in depth (entrance to end) and maybe less than five boats in width. Mike's video with the 'celebration' at the Jam 'ole' site after the 2006 run: (There is precious little indication of where the dock was, and only a slight change in the piling where the entrance was).

Someone painted this image showing the Jam 'ole as seen from beneath the towpath bridge (long gone):

Is that a horse boat, or a pair on cross straps? St Clements seems to be powered. My memory may also be wrong, but I thought they were lorry wheels. It's been a while since they went. Aah! MM has an answer.

Not a site of another breach! Nothing doing on the Bridgewater, and it's been a year now. Whitchurch is very active. I fancy there'll be some heavy winching coming soon - and after dark . . .

I wonder if that's more 'grass' for Dickinson's.

Magnetman's image is that of barge No. 1393, same as is seen being towed downriver in Mark's other thread. (1913 might be the image number). Can't make out the writing on the barge in Batchworth lock, but the load is Esparto grass, used in paper making and heading for Dickinson's. 'Tug' Wilson was on that trade, horsed drawn from Brentford to Dickinson's. He had a modern boat in later years adapted to take a wheelchair for his wife which incorporated a hydraulic lift in the forewell. Very proud of that he was. After his wife passed, he lived in some Alms houses in Watford. Looking at that image of Batchworth, it might be noted that the lockside house is the 'old' one. There's just a perceptible leaning back that got worse over the years, causing a rebuild. Roger Alsop might know more.