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Canal map - pre 1950?


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Photos of a map I've just pulled off my own shelves. I have several and I've never looked in detail at this one before. Superficially it looks like the popular Stanford map of the 60s and 70s but the print is more crude and there are some interesting anomalies. 

 

The Hatherton Route via Churchbridge is marked as open, as it the Lancaster to Kendal. The Ogley locks route is "unnavigable at present" - yet the Lapal Tunnel route is marked as open! This last one closed in about 1900 so that's clearly not right, the map's not that old! 

 

Milton Keynes isn't marked, although Fenny Stratford is, The Glamorgan canal is shown as navigable in Cardiff. The K&A is "closed at present"

 

There's no date on the map. Any guesses? Pre 1950? 

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Looks like the Montgomery canal is shown as closed.....the act of abandonment was issued in 1944, so presumably this map is no older than that. In 1955 the Lancaster Canal was drained from Stainton to Kendal and the last 2 miles to Kendal filled in, so it can't be any newer than 1955.

 

The above assumes the map is completely correct and accurately depicts the state of the canals when it was printed!

  • Greenie 1
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11 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

Milton Keynes isn't marked, although Fenny Stratford is,

 

Up to 1967 "the" Milton Keynes was a small village. In 1967 the "New City" (still disputed whether "City" is correct) of Milton Keynes began. The two ran in parallel for a while until the village was renamed "Middleton" to prevent HGV's looking for "Milton Keynes City Centre" getting lost / stuck.

 

So pre 1967 - ish.

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42 minutes ago, Ogwr said:

Looks like the Toll End  Branch is open om the BCN


Not only that I think there’s a new bit of canal that never was shown on the map nearby as well.

 

There’s clearly a lot of detail missing on the BCN, not least Smethwick Junction to Steward Aqueduct and Spon Lane locks. Maybe there’s an inset with more detail.

Edited by Captain Pegg
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2 hours ago, Ogwr said:

Looks like the Toll End  Branch is open om the BCN

I've read somewhere that the IWA held a rally on the Toll End Branch in the early 60s, so presumably it was still navigable then.

1 hour ago, Captain Pegg said:


Not only that I think there’s a new bit of canal that never was shown on the map nearby as well.

 

There’s clearly a lot of detail missing on the BCN, not least Smethwick Junction to Steward Aqueduct and Spon Lane locks. Maybe there’s an inset with more detail.

It would also appear to be possible to boat from the top to the bottom of the Rushall flight without passing through any locks!

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Thanks for all the feedback folks

2 hours ago, 1st ade said:

 

Up to 1967 "the" Milton Keynes was a small village. In 1967 the "New City" (still disputed whether "City" is correct) of Milton Keynes began. The two ran in parallel for a while until the village was renamed "Middleton" to prevent HGV's looking for "Milton Keynes City Centre" getting lost / stuck.

 

So pre 1967 - ish.

 

I'd forgotten the detail - I just figured the map was pre -MK new town. I've got canal guides that are pre - MK new town too! 

Cathedrals seem to be marked at random too, not necessarily related to the canal network - Wells Cathedral is on for example

2 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:


Not only that I think there’s a new bit of canal that never was shown on the map nearby as well.

 

There’s clearly a lot of detail missing on the BCN, not least Smethwick Junction to Steward Aqueduct and Spon Lane locks. Maybe there’s an inset with more detail.

 No inset = not are the Broads covered, I guess Imray had a different map for those.

I think the two Ocker Hill branches have become a through route, and heaven knows what's happened on the Wednesbury Old Canal, seems to have become a gyratory!

 

55 minutes ago, David Mack said:

I've read somewhere that the IWA held a rally on the Toll End Branch in the early 60s, so presumably it was still navigable then.

It would also appear to be possible to boat from the top to the bottom of the Rushall flight without passing through any locks!

 

Much of the BCN and associated waterways needs to be taken with a pinch of salt - the locks on the Hatherton Branch are missing, as are Walsall, Bentley and Bradley. 

12 hours ago, booke23 said:

The above assumes the map is completely correct and accurately depicts the state of the canals when it was printed!

 

I think it would be their best attempt. That would probably start with an historic map (say, from the back of Bradshaws 1904) and update it - in the absence of history books, forums such as this or other cruising guides that might be a bit hit and miss! 

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Milton Keynes - the Village, 1888 - 1913 map:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=52.03984&lon=-0.69618&layers=6&b=1

 

The area was simply known as 'the fields' to boatmen. Todays conglomeration of roundabouts and dual carriageways, with a shopping mall at its heart, surrounded by acres of housing estates, hardly makes it a 'City'. Similarly, Telford as a town doesn't exist to locals. It's just a shopping mall. All the villages and small towns around and about, still retain their original names, though collectively for 'political' purposes, they are called Telford. Unlike Milton Keynes, there never was a village called 'Telford'.

Edited by Derek R.
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2 hours ago, Derek R. said:

The area was simply known as 'the fields' to boatmen. Todays conglomeration of roundabouts and dual carriageways, with a shopping mall at its heart, surrounded by acres of housing estates, hardly makes it a 'City'. Similarly, Telford as a town doesn't exist to locals. It's just a shopping mall. All the villages and small towns around and about, still retain their original names, though collectively for 'political' purposes, they are called Telford. Unlike Milton Keynes, there never was a village called 'Telford'.

 

1st Ade lives in MK so he'll have a view no doubt - I think most towns above a given size struggle with identity - I've only lived one place where the ID is unequivocal - Frome. Everywhere else has had subsets, To outsiders I lived in Bath and Cardiff, to insiders I lived in Bear Flat and Roath, the city names are too generic if you live there and the local ones too obscure of you don't 

Edited to add - I'm struggling to find a map in my collection new enought to name Milton Keynes... :o 

Edited by magpie patrick
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My Father had a copy of a similar map in 1960 and used it to plan a trip to the Thames in 1961 from the North West.. I cannot confirm edition Number etc . as if it still exists it will be with a set of B.W. Cruising guides in a long unseen corner of the attic.  One of my best memories is coming through Hawkesbury  in what I assume was the pit holidays and pairs tied both sides  out of the stop lock . which seemed to a young boys eyes to go on for ever.

  • Greenie 1
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Another pair of maps - Stanford's this time. Matching covers save for the price, one being a shilling more than the other and presumably newer. Interesting to note the cheaper (older) one has the Derby Canal and half the Cromford Canal on it (but not the same half as the Imray map) whereas the newer one terminates the Erewash Canal at Ilkeston! The older one also marks the Wye to Hereford and the Severn to Welshpool, apparently with a flight of locks at Pool Quay! 

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Edited by magpie patrick
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Have any of the maps got in the margins a combination of letters thus UM/RE If yes you can date them. The letters relate to month/year of publication using the CUMBERLAND convention where the C=0 U=1 and so on to D=9. Geographia and others used this code for dating maps when they did not want the public to know how old they were!!

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