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DandV

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3 hours ago, Pluto said:

I am fairly certain that these gates [Saul Junction lock] were originally made for Tarleton Lock, but were found to be of the incorrect size. The lock is wider than other L&LC locks. The local BW yard then offered them to anyone who could make use of them, and they ended up on the Stroudwater.

 

1 hour ago, Rob-M said:

The display they had out when replacing the gates had details of the gates coming from the L&LC which was why the new gates had to be of the same design.

Presumably, the design of the pre-L&L gates would have been different, and of similar heritage value if replaced like that. Anyway, a sort-of-reason for a picture of Tarleton Lock from 1977 - bottom gates point both ways.

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20 hours ago, John Liley said:

 

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A game-changer in the days when less than a handful knew or cared about waterways was the publication in 1949 of an issue of The Architectural Review. Its cover depicted "Mr Joe Hollinshead, retired boatman who personifies the tough independent spirit which built and runs our canals."

 

Totally devoted to waterways, it was produced by Eric de Mare* after a lengthy tour of the system in a converted pontoon called Pyrrha. Splendidly illustrated with the author's own photographs it enticed many, including my own family, into this alternative world. My brother, 10 years older than myself, aspired to be an architect at that time - hence us getting to see the magazine. It has appeared in book form since as The Canals ofEngland.

 

Whenever to topic crops up of verses on lock beams or special lighting, I think of this volume and the message it conveys. That the poetry is there already.

 

* Pronounced De Marray (I don't seem able to do accents in this format)

 

which sent me to the bookshelf for my rather delapidated copy of The Canals of England. APHerbert's foreward modestly denies that any of his words could be useful "But no words could compete with the pictures here", and that chimes with the thoughts above on verses and lighting; canal architecture and its quirky diversity speaks for itself.

 

gertrude8.jpg.9cf4454dba10b2798a82a9036ce1c7e2.jpgEric de Maré(*) uses this picture as a heading to "Chapter 3: The Canals Today" In my copy it's not a plate so the reproduction is poor, and it has been printed better elsewhere.

 

Here we are below in 1995 towing Gertrude on the Northern Oxford. We passed her last (probably) owner Jason bow-hauling with a sign inviting offers-of-a-tow, which was an excellent offer not-to-be-missed, and I wrote about it on a thread here.

 

We could spend the rest of the lockdown picture-mapping the book to modern images ?

 

P3060817.JPG.ea8398cb617e92f7c65d07180e765766.JPG(*) Windows10, in many contexts, allows the (with Num Lock on) Alt-key to be pressed while typing the ASCII code. Alt-130 gives é. Apols for computery-nerdiness.

 

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My boat (on the right), in 2017. Taken by a friend from a microlight. I'd moored on a bend between two long straight stretches of the Macc, just outside Buglawton to make it easy to find from the air. On the full resolution image you can just about see me waving.

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Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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2 hours ago, PeterScott said:

 

which sent me to the bookshelf for my rather delapidated copy of The Canals of England. APHerbert's foreward modestly denies that any of his words could be useful "But no words could compete with the pictures here", and that chimes with the thoughts above on verses and lighting; canal architecture and its quirky diversity speaks for itself.

 

gertrude8.jpg.9cf4454dba10b2798a82a9036ce1c7e2.jpgEric de Maré(*) uses this picture as a heading to "Chapter 3: The Canals Today" In my copy it's not a plate so the reproduction is poor, and it has been printed better elsewhere.

 

Here we are below in 1995 towing Gertrude on the Northern Oxford. We passed her last (probably) owner Jason bow-hauling with a sign inviting offers-of-a-tow, which was an excellent offer not-to-be-missed, and I wrote about it on a thread here.

 

We could spend the rest of the lockdown picture-mapping the book to modern images ?

 

P3060817.JPG.ea8398cb617e92f7c65d07180e765766.JPG(*) Windows10, in many contexts, allows the (with Num Lock on) Alt-key to be pressed while typing the ASCII code. Alt-130 gives é. Apols for computery-nerdiness.

 

I recall that  the Beatrice, when she went out of trade, passed into the hands of Peter Scott, naturalist, painter and son of the polar explorer. She was widely used in the campaigning days of the Inland Waterways Association under the leadership of Robert Aickman.

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1 hour ago, John Liley said:

I recall that  the Beatrice, when she went out of trade, passed into the hands of Peter Scott, naturalist, painter and son of the polar explorer. She was widely used in the campaigning days of the Inland Waterways Association under the leadership of Robert Aickman.

Yes, My Illustrious Namesake and Beatrice is an interesting part of IWA folklore. Beatrice3.JPG.ffc59651bf321790d8c0ce3596bd1815.JPG

7 minutes ago, Phil Knowles said:

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On this day in 2007 Harecastle tunnel

And an apposite posting for a favourite part of the Beartrice narrative, as part of a PeterScott lecture tour, when its cabin was stuck on the roof of Harecastle Tunnel, and Aickman writes "The only hope lay in the piles of slimy bricks which the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive had thoughtfully placed at intervals along the even slimier towpath,.... The wedged navigator loaded these bricks on to his vessel until her hull went down far enough into the water for the superstructure to clear the arch of the tunnel roof. .... Peter organised the whole party into a human chain through the near-darkness, and we started transferring the nearest pile of bricks to Beatrice's floor, ...It was discouraging work, ... and soon a youthful member of the party lost his head, and began screaming that he could stand no more and must get out, a bad case of claustrophobia. It was fascinating to see how Peter dealt with him; an impressive demon­stration of natural leadership and moral force. He reminded the lad that he was going to a good school …; a place where one just couldn't behave like that; he even spoke of the Empire (the term still being occasionally in use), and of the conduct expected of an Englishman. The effect was astonishing. The boy quietened at once, resumed work on the bricks, and gave no more trouble, as the saying goes."

  • Greenie 1
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A brief change of scene. This is Changsha, a city of over seven million people in central China. A friend who is a heritage consultant was on a water park project there and invited me along. What stood out very soon was the lack of understanding there of leisure, ie the idea of doing something for its own sake rather than gaining a qualification/ gathering kudos/ aspiring to be in the Olympic team. There has, after all, been little opportunity for such dalliance in times gone by. My suggestion for a dinghy sailing club  bit the dust early when it emerged that for much of the year there is hardly a breath of wind in the place.

 

Traffic on the Xiang River was more or less constant, with, amongst the bigger stuff, a steady flow of smaller craft, not unlike the west-European spits.

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On 19/03/2020 at 14:56, doratheexplorer said:

 

where's that?

On the Buckby flight, just above the 2nd lock. The far end house has a shop full of stuff you absolutely need on the canals like wooden ducks, painted canal ware, grasses, lamps......and ice creams.

(But it was shut 2 days ago)

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On this day 2008

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HNC Lock 23W

Lock operating mechanisms - gate beams and paddle gear - on the offside, leaving a clear towingpath for horses and ropes.

Edited by PeterScott
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More on Changsha. An incidental discovery was that here a business had produced well over a hundred narrow boats and shipped them to England, two at a time, in containers. With government aid it has since morphed into a substantial shipyard. 

 

Working hours are long, so our visit provided the welcome excuse for a business lunch. The lady in blue did the English-Chinese translation on the narrow boat job.

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