Foxton side ponds

[Cheese]

Interesting article:  https://www.harboroughmail.co.uk/news/environment/amphibious-machine-brought-in-to-dredge-sideponds-at-foxton-locks-3464894

 

Although the 2nd paragraph is amusing:  "[they] had to wade into the ponds to carefully relocate them to another part of the canal" 😂

[David Mack]

"They have to be cleared of reeds and silt every now and again to make sure that they have sufficient capacity."

 

Shame this doesn't always seem to apply to the main navigation channel!

[ditchcrawler]

I thought they were pounds in this case not ponds

[matty40s]

This is where sidepond cider comes from.

[Tracy D'arth]

I am glad to see that they pump the slurry

When I was there this year the head honcho told me that they dug it out and bagged it then transported by boat and lorry to a dredging tip.

[Keeping Up]

Back in the late 1960s we were on a hire boat and arrived at Foxton locks to find the side-ponds empty. We opened some paddles then heard a shout and saw a man standing on a bulldozer in the middle of the now-flooded pond. He had been digging out the silt from the side-ponds, and now we had stranded him. Getting the boat through the locks as quickly as possible, we then drained the side-pond for him again and he came over to 'discuss' with us the benefits of keeping our eyes open while locking.

[magpie patrick]

16 hours ago, matty40s said:

This is where sidepond cider comes from.

Yes, that legendary tipple of the unStable Bar that I could never get hold of....

[Ray T]

18 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought they were pounds in this case not ponds

I've always understood if water comes through a sluice it is a side pond, photo 1

Also at Knowle Flight on the GU.

 

If it is a area of water beside the main pound it is a side pound, photo 2

 

Always open to correction.

 

From here: Foxton Lock Flight - Grand Union Leicester Line | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)

 

Foxton Locks side ponds are to be dewatered to enable a fish rescue in advance of de-silting the ponds. 

The de-silting of the side ponds will be carried out during November, though this will not impede passage through the flight.

Also: Canal pound - Wikipedia

A side pound is a particular type of extremely short lock pound, which is extended sideways to make up for the short distance between locks so as to avoid excessive level fluctuations.

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by Ray T

[matty40s]

21 minutes ago, Ray T said:

 

A side pound is a particular type of extremely short lock pound, which is extended sideways to make up for the short distance between locks so as to avoid excessive level fluctuations.

 

Examples are the Farmers Bridge flight and Lapworth amongst others.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

Examples are the Farmers Bridge flight and Lapworth amongst others.

But it is effectively a pound because one lock empties into it and the next fills from it, its just not tied in between the two chambers.  Most side ponds the water drains out of and returns to the same lock chamber..

Edited November 20, 2021 by ditchcrawler

[Richard Carter]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

But it is effectively a pound because one lock empties into it and the next fills from it, its just not tied in between the two chambers.  Most side ponds the water drains out of and returns to the same lock chamber..

This. When I worked for FBS in the 80s we always tried to call them pounds rather than ponds to flag up the fundamental difference that you can't pass through the flight without using them, whereas side ponds are an "optional" water saving device. But as far as I know it was a local usage and never really adopted as a official distinction.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

But it is effectively a pound because one lock empties into it and the next fills from it, its just not tied in between the two chambers.  Most side ponds the water drains out of and returns to the same lock chamber..

The water does the same at places like Foxton and Bratch, but in those cases there is no boat access to the side pound/pond.

[magpie patrick]

Side pond/side pound - semantics above and beyond the pedantry often involved with historical classification. I've never heard the term "side pound" used by anyone other than attempting to correct someone who has used the term side pond. At Devizes the locals (I am one) refer to the side ponds 

 

I doubt either the working boatman or the canal company engineer drew any such distinction, they knew the canal and knew what they were referring to. 

[Mike Todd]

6 hours ago, matty40s said:

Examples are the Farmers Bridge flight and Lapworth amongst others.

Caen Hill gas rather large ones.

[matty40s]

18 minutes ago, MikeTodd said:

Caen Hill gas rather large ones.

Ones that people used to corral cattle and horses in until some hippy buggers filled it all up full of water again

[Pluto]

13 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

Side pond/side pound - semantics above and beyond the pedantry often involved with historical classification. I've never heard the term "side pound" used by anyone other than attempting to correct someone who has used the term side pond. At Devizes the locals (I am one) refer to the side ponds 

 

I doubt either the working boatman or the canal company engineer drew any such distinction, they knew the canal and knew what they were referring to. 

And on the L&LC boats sailed along pools, not pounds, with for example Blackburn to Barrowford called Burnley Pool.