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fergyguy

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Just looking online to find a good source of river/ canal dimensions and stumbled across this for the Chesterfield canal. I used to live at Misterton which is the first village as many of you will know after leaving West Stockwith and the canal goes under some very narrow bridges there so is this just a printing error???

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The locks are wide but the bridges are not. 

There are a couple of bridges through Misterton that would cause  problems for anything that differs significantly from a cabin cruiser at the widest.

I had been reliably informed there had never been a wide boat reach Retford but recently someone told me their friend did in theirs some years back. They couldn't tell me details of boat dimensions name or date so it may be hearsay... 

It could be done with a crane and lorry.. .

https://canalplan.org.uk/waterway/qigg

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Definitely never been a Widebeam up to Retford... I lived as a boy in Misterton and it has 3 proper old canal bridges and 1 large road bridge. The 3 small bridges give just enough room for a narrow boat to pass through . I hired a narrow boat from stockwith basin some 10 years ago and spent a week on it sailing from the basin to Retford and it was lovely but yes Narrow.

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As @cheshire~rose says, there are some narrow bridges through Misterton that stop wide beams using the canal beyond Stockwith Basin. I remember reading somewhere that 9' beam was the limit, but can't remember where. This seems about right for the narrowest bridge hole, which is very noticeable as not having a lot of room left each side when you take a NB through. Can't remember the bridge number either!

 

The locks from Stockwith to Retford were built to take two narrow beam cuckoo boats at once, though they were all horse drawn and not motor/butty combinations like the Grand Union after its upgrade to wide beam locks.

 

Jen

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33 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

As @cheshire~rose says, there are some narrow bridges through Misterton that stop wide beams using the canal beyond Stockwith Basin. I remember reading somewhere that 9' beam was the limit, but can't remember where. This seems about right for the narrowest bridge hole, which is very noticeable as not having a lot of room left each side when you take a NB through. Can't remember the bridge number either!

 

The locks from Stockwith to Retford were built to take two narrow beam cuckoo boats at once, though they were all horse drawn and not motor/butty combinations like the Grand Union after its upgrade to wide beam locks.

 

Jen

9’ width for a bridge would be very small even on a narrow canal, that’s the domain of Dudley and Gosty Hill tunnels or the bridge into Coventry basin.

 

There’s nothing on the Chesterfield of that ilk. A bridge with a width of 13’ 6” isn’t big. There are a number of extant bridges of similar dimension remaining from the original narrow beam build that are incorporated into the widened GU Birmingham line. Some of them are of course difficult to navigate but as we are often reminded being able to physically fit a boat down a canal is a different thing to easily navigating one down that canal. Of course if wide boats have never ventured down the Chesterfield the channel itself may no longer be suitable, particularly under the bridges!

 

I’m still going to wager it’s not technically a mistake.

 

JP

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Hayton Narrow Bridge (which I think is on the long pound above Gringley) is narrow beam and I seem to recall looks to have been deliberately narrowed, perhaps when the canal was in railway ownership. Whether this was to stop wide boats or simply an acknowledgment that none ever traveled the canal anyway is unclear. 

Edited by magpie patrick
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27 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

Hayton Narrow Bridge (which I think is on the long pound above Gringley) is narrow beam and I seem to recall looks to have been deliberately narrowed, perhaps when the canal was in railway ownership. Whether this was to stop wide boats or simply an acknowledgment that none ever traveled the canal anyway is unclear. 

There’s a Hayton Low Bridge but it’s neither particularly low or particularly narrow.

 

JP

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1 hour ago, Captain Pegg said:

There’s a Hayton Low Bridge but it’s neither particularly low or particularly narrow.

 

JP

I'll have to check when I'm back off the  boat - memory says there were two Hayton bridges (cruising guide I used in 1998 so memory may be wrong!) - one low and one narrow, but I notice only one has the name Hayton now. 

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The narrow bridge is Manor Farm Bridge No 78.  Sometimes called Walkeringham Bridge.

 

This so called research quoted in the OP shows how just reading dimensions from a table can be totally misleading.

 

  • Greenie 1
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2 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

9’ width for a bridge would be very small even on a narrow canal, that’s the domain of Dudley and Gosty Hill tunnels or the bridge into Coventry basin.

 

There’s nothing on the Chesterfield of that ilk. A bridge with a width of 13’ 6” isn’t big. There are a number of extant bridges of similar dimension remaining from the original narrow beam build that are incorporated into the widened GU Birmingham line. Some of them are of course difficult to navigate but as we are often reminded being able to physically fit a boat down a canal is a different thing to easily navigating one down that canal. Of course if wide boats have never ventured down the Chesterfield the channel itself may no longer be suitable, particularly under the bridges!

 

I’m still going to wager it’s not technically a mistake.

 

JP

Just had a look in the Nicholson's. It is worse than I remember. The beam limit to Retford is 7'6", not 9'. It says bridge 78 is the most restrictive structure, but that includes air draft as well as beam. The beam restrictions are definitely caused by a couple of bridge holes and they are indeed very narrow. If it was like this as built, or is a later modification, I've no idea. I've done this bit of the canal a couple of times. Reached Norwood tunnel once.

 

Jen

 

There are a couple of photos of this bridge on CanalPlanAC.

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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4 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Just had a look in the Nicholson's. It is worse than I remember. The beam limit to Retford is 7'6", not 9'. It says bridge 78 is the most restrictive structure, but that includes air draft as well as beam. The beam restrictions are definitely caused by a couple of bridge holes and they are indeed very narrow. If it was like this as built, or is a later modification, I've no idea. I've done this bit of the canal a couple of times. Reached Norwood tunnel once.

 

Jen

 

There are a couple of photos of this bridge on CanalPlanAC.

I had a look at those photos earlier today and it’s definitely been rebuilt but the angle of the photos is such that it’s hard to tell how wide the channel really is.

 

It very well may be the pinch point but 7’ 6” would be very small for any bridge hole. In terms of air draft it doesn’t look any worse than many arched bridges but of course if you are measuring width and height in combination it becomes far more restrictive then either measurement in isolation.

 

JP

 

 

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43 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

I had a look at those photos earlier today and it’s definitely been rebuilt but the angle of the photos is such that it’s hard to tell how wide the channel really is.

 

It very well may be the pinch point but 7’ 6” would be very small for any bridge hole. In terms of air draft it doesn’t look any worse than many arched bridges but of course if you are measuring width and height in combination it becomes far more restrictive then either measurement in isolation.

 

JP

 

 

I've boated there. Some of them really are that narrow. Not making it up! Not enough room for much more than a narrowboat to get through.

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20 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

And another source :

 

CHESTERFIELD CANAL
Maximum craft dimensions
River Trent into West Stockwith Basin only
Length 21.95m 72ft
Beam 5.33m 17ft 6"
Draught 2.44m 8ft
Headroom unlimited

 

 

BW figures 2010

Beam 2.08m

Draught 0/76m

   

Yes we went in there last year with Sabina H 67 x 16.5 didnt even touch the sides!!

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9 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

As @cheshire~rose says, there are some narrow bridges through Misterton that stop wide beams using the canal beyond Stockwith Basin. I remember reading somewhere that 9' beam was the limit, but can't remember where. This seems about right for the narrowest bridge hole, which is very noticeable as not having a lot of room left each side when you take a NB through. Can't remember the bridge number either!

 

The locks from Stockwith to Retford were built to take two narrow beam cuckoo boats at once, though they were all horse drawn and not motor/butty combinations like the Grand Union after its upgrade to wide beam locks.

 

Jen

Richard and Simon from the Dorothy Pax have taken their 10 widebeam down the chesterfield this was about 7 years ago or so

West Stockwith Basin to tail of Morse Lock (narrow)LengthBeamDraughtHeadroom21.95m 72ft2.13m 7ft0.98m 3ft 2" 2.15m 7ft 1"Tail of Morse Lock to Shireoaks (narrow)LengthBeamDraughtHeadroom21.95m 72ft 2.08m  (narrow)LengthBeamDraughtHeadroomNote: Locks up to Retford are 4.57m (15ft) wide but Navigation for broad beam craft is restricted due to the width 2.59m (8ft 6in) at Manor Farm Bridge, Walkeringham.

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12 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Richard and Simon from the Dorothy Pax have taken their 10 widebeam down the chesterfield this was about 7 years ago or so

West Stockwith Basin to tail of Morse Lock (narrow)LengthBeamDraughtHeadroom21.95m 72ft2.13m 7ft0.98m 3ft 2" 2.15m 7ft 1"Tail of Morse Lock to Shireoaks (narrow)LengthBeamDraughtHeadroom21.95m 72ft 2.08m  (narrow)LengthBeamDraughtHeadroomNote: Locks up to Retford are 4.57m (15ft) wide but Navigation for broad beam craft is restricted due to the width 2.59m (8ft 6in) at Manor Farm Bridge, Walkeringham.

Interesting. I wonder how far they got? Will have to remember to ask next time I'm there.

 

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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23 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Not sure but they managed to get turned around wherever it was ?

There's a winding hole just before the bridge hole.

 

In the 1980s it was our half-day trip out from Stockwith with visitors.  Two locks a picnic near the winding hole and then back.  Lucky ones got the full-day, Stockwith to Drakeholes and back four locks and a tunnel.

 

Pub optional.

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1 hour ago, fergyguy said:

I knew the Chesterfield canal wasn’t suitable for Widebeam from stockwith to Retford my point was it would be very easy to read the lists and assume they are correct... this is why forums like this are the best source of information 

Well it would be if anyone could actually definitively state which bridge is the pinch point and how wide it is. Collectively we’ve answered nothing, just cobbled together some conflicting research and experience.

 

JP

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