Where I am

[BEngo]

It was being rebuilt in September 1974 when we went  through on our first ever trip.  Round the Warwickshire ring in the Willow Wren Josher camper Tern.

 

N

[Heartland]

So this is the Bridge over the Canal where the name of the lane changed.

 

The 1938 ordnance survey shows

 

 

 

And this 1955 image shows the bridge as it was then with a tall tree

 

 

As to the other image I posted, the location is Wyken on the Wyken Arm of the Oxford Canal, which has a resemblance to bridge 17 Coventry Canal

Edited July 13, 2023 by Heartland

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Interesting. 

My parents always referred to it as Gipsy Lane Bridge and reckon to have first met there when youngsters/teenagers. 
That would have been about 1950.

My dad said him and his mates swam there as kids. Often pushing dead dogs out the way and getting the occasional tow from a boat for  fun. 


 

 

[Heartland]

The concrete replacement was installed in 1971 to replace the original hump back bridge. During construction, it seems the contractors placed barriers across the road to prevent access. There was no side wall at the time and some one removed the barriers and vehicles came to use what was then a dangerous bridge to cross until the barriers were installed again. It is evident from the curve in the road at the old bridge, cars might hit the parapets and that led to the gradual erosion of the structure. So blame the cars!

 

[Derek R.]

Personally I'd blame the drivers.

[Heartland]

Some collisions date back to the 1930's, but I agree drivers are at fault.

[Graham_Robinson]

[David Mack]

1 minute ago, Graham_Robinson said:

Titford Top Lock and pumphouse.

[ditchcrawler]

11 minutes ago, Graham_Robinson said:

And they say things were better in the good old days

[StephenA]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

And they say things were better in the good old days

 

Looks like they didn't bother mowing back then either.

[Heartland]

It is a view that deserves a date. The bridge below the lock looks like it might have been original.

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, Heartland said:

It is a view that deserves a date. The bridge below the lock looks like it might have been original.

That bridge was still there when the BCN Society 'restored' the locks in 1974. But the reopening plaque was put on the wall alongside, as the bridge itself was due to be replaced shortly afterwards. But the plaque disappeared before the bridge anyway!

[Graham_Robinson]

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

That bridge was still there when the BCN Society 'restored' the locks in 1974. But the reopening plaque was put on the wall alongside, as the bridge itself was due to be replaced shortly afterwards. But the plaque disappeared before the bridge anyway!

Well the blobs of adhesive that held the reopening plaque seem to have survived!

[Ray T]

Picture from a Midlands Museum.

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Ray T

[Heartland]

Another interesting puzzle 

This may be the same location as from RCHS Collection or one of the lift bridges on a canal built for a brother in law of James Brindley

 

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Heartland

[Ray T]

A little “Grander” Than Mr. Henshall’s canals.

😀

[billh]

Where's this? Taken about 1960, the train is a portion of an express from London. Neither of the two bridges shown exist now. The pole on the towpath was part of a Rediffusion cable TV route.

[Heartland]

Ray T's post is of interest because of the design of the lift bridge. The normal arrangement was a flat wooden deck,  In his post was a curved metal one and is indicative of an engineer who would incorporate iron in structures. The picture I added was from the Caldon Canal at Norton Green (Bridge 21). And how close to the first post is a matter that Ray T can reveal. This is a discussion that involves the skills of James Trubshaw which I discuss in my Trent & Mersey Book. Yet there was another of his contemporaries who worked as an engineer for the Montgomery Canal, George Watson Buck, mentioned in my Borders Canal book. His use of iron with locks was novel. An earlier engineer who used iron in structures was William Whitmore whose split bridges on the Stratford upon Avon Canal were also innovative.

[Ray T]

@Heartland The bridge in question was between Napton Junction and what is now referred to as Calcutt locks.

Most working boaters knew them as The Wigrams 3.

The picture came from The Warwickshire Museum, I had to doctor the image slightly as the original would have given the game away.

Photo was dated as circa 1910.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Ray T

[Heartland]

That now raises the question as to whom designed this "draw" bridge and when ?

Napton reservoir was completed in 1816 and engineers included Edward and William Dunn, although I have yet to discover if that family engaged in innovative design.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Heartland

[Ray T]

6 hours ago, billh said:

Where's this? Taken about 1960, the train is a portion of an express from London. Neither of the two bridges shown exist now. The pole on the towpath was part of a Rediffusion cable TV route.

Heaton, Manchester?

Edited July 17, 2023 by Ray T

[Rob-M]

5 hours ago, Ray T said:

@Heartland The bridge in question was between Napton Junction and what is now referred to as Calcutt locks.

Most working boaters knew them as The Wigrams 3.

The picture came from The Warwickshire Museum, I had to doctor the image slightly as the original would have given the game away.

Photo was dated as circa 1910.

Google image search found the picture on https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_wow/napton-on-the-hill-oxford-canal-6

[billh]

2 hours ago, Ray T said:

Heaton, Manchester?

None of the Heatons around Manchester or Stockport (Heatons Mersey,Norris,Moor,Park) have a canal . I think it's the name of the photographer!

[Derek R.]

15 hours ago, Heartland said:

That now raises the question as to whom designed this "draw" bridge and when ?

Napton reservoir was completed in 1816 and engineers included Edward and William Dunn, although I have yet to discover if that family engaged in innovative design.

I don't know about that one, but the ancient Egyptians were using them 4,000 years ago . . .