Pluto

Until the 1980s, there was a Ministry of Agriculture leaflet detailing how to kill such things as water voles. On canals, part of the duty of lengthsmen would be to keep their numbers down because of the damage they do to canal banks at water level. The section on 'Canals' in Rees' Cyclopedia (section written c1809) has a couple of long paragraphs on the need to control such animals. On canals, it is also the reduction in numbers of maintenance men that has allowed water vole numbers to increase. Although it may be desirable to provide suitable habitat for such endangered species, I do think it reflects poorly on BW management that water voles are used to promote canals when historically they would have been killed off because of the damage they do. Really we should be looking at changing farming and river management practices rather than providing a home on canals, where they were never originally allowed to live.

If you have any problem with the towed boat catching up, just use some form of sea anchor, such as a small bucket on the end of a rope attached to the back of the boat you are towing.

John Rennie's letter books in the Institution of Civil Engineers archive have quite a detailed section on his work on surveying the route.

The Airedale vintage machinery group had a stand last year, with several old engines on display. The L&LC Society will also have their heritage boat, Kennet, there. There are displays on board with information about the canal's history, and you can sit in the boatmen's cabin. It's the only L&LC short boat open to the public. I will be around, but am not sure exactly when as I have offered to cover times when there are fewest volunteers.

I'll be there on Saturday, and will be giving a couple of short illustrated talks in the archive. The first, circa 12-15, will look at a variety of wooden inland waterway boat remains around the country, mainly photos taken by me in the 1970s and 1980s. The second, circa 2-30, will be photos from the Draper collection which was given to the archive a couple of years ago, the Draper family having been Foulridge tunnel tug captains, though not all the photos are of the L&LC. Some date back to circa 1900. Both talks will use a digital projector, with around 15 'pages' each, and last 20 mins to half an hour.

Thirty years ago it was quite common for Castleford Bridge to be covered by foam created by the weir, with road traffic being brought to a virtual standstill. The foam was the result of detergents used in the textile printing factories higher up the Calder. The few bubbles today just go to show that Castleford is a ghost of its former self.

Some of the more successful canals were able to compete with railways on speed. For example, the L&LC were able to deliver grain from Birkenhead Docks to Blackburn faster than could be done by rail, and in the 1880s the L&YR had to lay staff off in Burnley as improvements to canal operation meant traffic had gone back to canal. The problem for canals was the cost of loading and unloading, together with the road delivery necessary to factories built away from the canal side. The problem in Britain is that the country is too small for efficient modern canal or rail transport. Perhaps we would be better looking at the need for freight transport in the first place. It might mean a reduction in choice for the consumer, but could provide significant savings in fuel usage.

This year, World Heritage Day is on the 18th April and the theme is water. The Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society will have their heritage boat Kennet at the WHS in Saltaire from 15-18 April, open to the public from 11am- 4pm. Amongst the usual displays on board, there will be one about several waterway-related World Heritage Sites. I am also giving a talk about World Heritage and Canals in the Salt Building at 7.15 pm on Friday 15th. Kennet will also be open as usual during the Skipton Waterway Festival over the Mayday Bank Holiday, and the canal society should also have a stand at the event in Liverpool. Kennet returns to Saltaire for the Whit weekend, when their is an arts festival where we shall be promoting the traditional boat decoration on the L&LC.

One old boatman said to me that he always told people what he thought they wanted to know, whether it was true or false, as it would be unkind to do otherwise. To get something like the truth, you have to make sure you do not ask leading questions, and you should have researched your questions beforehand. That said, there is often more than a grain of truth in old stories. When living at Burscough, I remember being told about the Southport Canal, which I thought unlikely. Since then I have found two different plans for a canal to Southport, and there are even some earthworks where one project may have been started. The other thing to bear in mind, is that many boatmen were illiterate, and that telling stories was their way of handing down knowledge.

John Goodchild, whose collection is the basis of that at Wakefield, is/was local history librarian for Wakefield. He has quite an extensive collection of canal papers, and is very happy to help researchers who publish their results. He has Peter Smith's printed archive, but I think the photo archive is at the Yorkshire Waterways Museum at Goole. Give them a ring and ask for Rachel Walker.

Careful Tim, You're showing your age! By the way, I was looking at a Harry Arnold photo of Charlie Atkins on Mendip at Stretford in the late 1960s. It looked like Edith moored in the background. Did you keep her there?

I am still pushing for a management plan to control the trees around Bingley 5-rise, and most people, when the problem of too many trees is explained, are usually supportive of cutting back some trees so that the canal structures can be seen as they would have been throughout most of their history. Balancing the management of the built compared to the natural environment needs more informed discussion. Getting back to the original post, where else were there railway interchanges, besides the best-known ones on the BCN. On the L&LC, besides coal tips, there are remains at Niffany, near Skipton, a possible site just above the bottom lock at Blackburn, and one at the 21st lock at Wigan. Several loco sheds also had their water from the canal - at Bank Hall, Rose Grove and Leeds.

Probably correct with regard to narrowboats, though eyes were used to decorate some old sea-going boats, and there are other possible religious - in its widest sense - origins.

A Leeds & Liverpool Canal boatman would not be happy with someone calling his boat a barge. They considered a barge to be something that worked in the docks or on esturial waters. On the L&LC, a bargeman would not be considered as skilled as a boatman.

He also has an article in the next issue of Waterways Journal, due out at Easter.

There are several other pinch points which have a much more problematic history than that on the Droitwich. How about the motorway bridge at Ellesmere Port or, worse still, the Ribble Link. Funding for the Ribble Link was based on voluntary workers doing a lot of the work, and when the scheme was pushed through to be done professionally, there wasn't really enough money for a proper job. It was made worse by the so-called engineers on the job not listening to Harry Mayor, who has many years experience of the estuary and canal craft. The result is a a new canal between two wide canals which cannot be used by the traditional wide boats of the area, as well as the tidal entrance being difficult for smaller boats.

I suspect that the canal Act gives boats legal precedence at swing bridges, though it is not mentioned specifically in the Byelaws. On road bridges, it was required that the bridge be shut after the boat passed. Handcocks Bridge at Aintree was often left open when the canal was first in use, and Lord Derby complained that he had been held up because the bridge was left open. The canal company then installed a bridge keeper to ensure that the bridge was shut after boats passed, the name of the keeper being Handcock, and hence the present name for the bridge. I think that the closure of this bridge would be arranged legally by the police during Grand National week, but at other bridges the canal has priority.

Old boatmen up here on the L&LC told me just to get a bucket of small coal and keep chucking pieces in front of the bow. You then follow the splashes.

There are significant differences in the design of a sailing coble to that of a motor coble, and it is the latter which are still being built.

That's me on the other side of the plaque to Barry.

No, it's two locks which are now out of use. The two locks at Poolstock replaced them because coal mining subsidence has affected the whole area between Worsley and Wigan, with the ground 30 feet lower than when the canal was built. There was a lock at Plank Lane as well, and I can remember the remains of one of the boats used for filling the bottom of the canal to reduce water pressure on the embankment sides which was sunk in the basin at Plank Lane. In one place nearer to Wigan you can look down onto a former canal basin now separated from canal by ten feet vertically.

On the L&LC, in areas where there had been mining subsidence, movement of the chamber stonework made it very difficult for the carpenters to balance a gate properly so it would stay either open or closed. To ensure that the gates stayed where required, iron bars were fitted under the balance beam. These could be swung down to hold the gate in place. Perhaps, now that there are so few canal carpenters who understand how to hang a gate properly, such bars should be introduced more widely.

I certainly remember helping to remove some of the concrete. IIRC, it was when we were taking a B&MCC butty to the national rally at Northampton.