Rubbing posts/strips on the Shroppie Bridges

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

😃 no I didn’t mean to suggest they were all for show,

but there are a few that seem to not ring true, 

and it’s those that I thought may be cast from the originals and in the process someone got carried away putting in a few extra deep cuts for effect,

 

I don’t think it helps at all that they’ve been painted.

Makes ‘em look odd. 
I guess that’s down to an enthusiastic society caring for them. 

 

[magnetman]

8 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

😃 no I didn’t mean to suggest they were all for show,

but there are a few that seem to not ring true, 

and it’s those that I thought may be cast from the originals and in the process someone got carried away putting in a few extra deep cuts for effect,

 

I don’t think it helps at all that they’ve been painted.

Makes ‘em look odd. 
I guess that’s down to an enthusiastic society caring for them. 

 

As I said earlier on yes I think some of these are non original. 

 

I do believe in horse boats but am a dinosaur sceptic. 

 

 

if you look at the picture kindly provided by a previous poster it is interesting to note there are wear marks on the tapered part at the top.

 

One could suggest that a loaded rope might tend to slide orf this part.

 

 

 

This one looks quite good because there seems to be matching damage to the stonework. 

But... The angle of the grooves cut does not seem to coincide with the load which would be needed presumably due to the animal going further in to the towpath after the bridgehole. 

I wonder if these were worn by give way boats which slowed down then needed extra haulage to get going again.

 

 

Reminds me of the fork biscuits my mum used to make 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps these items were originally cast with grooves already in them to reduce the chances of the rope wandering up and damaging the stone work. 

 

I once had a forged iron version of one of these with the magnet and the rope grooves were much shallower (southern GU) but did look real. 

 

 

[haggis]

I don't think these metal bridge protectors are the original ones. There are far too many grooves on them and the grooves are far too deep. Any genuine plates I have seen have most of the wear in just a couple of places and the wear tends to be wider with a deeper bit at the middle. This would be caused by ropes moving up or down as the horse pulled the boat. They are all so well painted too and if they were originals they would show bits where rust had started. I think it unlikely that they were painted in horse drawn boat day. My vote is on replacements to make the canal look as it used to be.  

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

 

1 minute ago, haggis said:

I think it unlikely that they were painted in horse drawn boat day.

no they wouldn’t have been painted, the painting will have been done by the Shroppie Society in recent years. 

[magnetman]

Also worth considering the costs of casting v the cost of a blacksmith making such a disposable item.

 

I think it would be a blacksmith in those days and the only one I ever found with the magnet was forged wrought iron. 

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

17 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

 

 

 

This one looks quite good because there seems to be matching damage to the stonework. 

But... The angle of the grooves cut does not seem to coincide with the load which would be needed presumably due to the animal going further in to the towpath after the bridgehole. 

 

 

 

those 3 little grooves together are so thin yet deep,

and…and…yes… and they’re all so neatly parallel.   

[magnetman]

It is those three which I think people on the Shroppie need to look out for. No way would this happen on more than one bridge guard unless they were originally made like that. 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

3 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Also worth considering the costs of casting v the cost of a blacksmith making such a disposable item.

 

I think it would be a blacksmith in those days and the only one I ever found with the magnet was forged wrought iron. 

 

 

if you ever visit Bradley Workshops you’ll see all the wooden patterns for lock paddles and what not from BW days and before. 
 

[magnetman]

 

 

Carbon dating might work. Could someone drill out a piece and get the swarf carbon dated?

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

It is those three which I think people on the Shroppie need to look out for. No way would this happen on more than one bridge guard unless they were originally made like that. 

 

yes, I’m gonna get some anorak mates together and go looking 

[magnetman]

2 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

yes, I’m gonna get some anorak mates together and go looking 

Can you get some drone flyunder footage to make it all more exciting ? 

 

Keep up the traditions of the RAF boys. 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

6 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Can you get some drone flyunder footage to make it all more exciting ? 

 

Keep up the traditions of the RAF boys. 

I’ll make some Vlogs for youtube. 
 

 

[magnetman]

Turn ads orf please if you have that privilege. 

 

I don't watch youtube videos which had ads. As soon as the ad turns up byebye do something else. Terrible attention span. 

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Starting with alien abduction 

[magnetman]

I abducted some aliens once. They really liked it but sadly I had to let them go as there were not enough palladium capsules to sustain their vital systems. 

 

Their ship was cool. 

 

 

[Peanut]

Maybe, BW took an old worn iron from a bridge, and used it as a pattern for the sand casting of replacement irons, in order to keep the canal heritage alive.

[jam]

I have yet to be convinced that they are mass produced with grooves in them. I travel the Shroppie quite a lot during the course of a year and have never found two the same. Maybe some enterprising person could take a clear photo of each bridge as they pass them. Will consider that myself next year as I will do the length of the Shroppie from Barbridge to Autherley several times.

[David Mack]

No way are they modern 'fakes'. Nobody would have thought to do such a thing before the 1970s or 80s, and if they had been done more recently it would be well documented. The only possibility is that some unused castings (or perhaps ones recovered from demolished bridges) might have been found in the back of a depot somewhere and installed in suitable locations.

My guess is that they do not date back to the canal's construction, but were added at a later date when rope wear to the original stonework was becoming an issue, and a decision was made to fit cast iron guards to all (? - or most) SU bridges. This would have been during the peak horse-drawn years, before the railways had too much impact on trade (and before motor boats rendered them unnecessary) so perhaps 3rd quarter of the 19th century?

Edited December 6, 2023 by David Mack

[system 4-50]

Presumably some grooves are imperial and some metric...

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

22 hours ago, system 4-50 said:

Presumably some grooves are imperial and some metric...

....depending on the discs in the angle grinder 

[Creaking Gate]

Recast, then grooves added and then fixed? There is next to no chance that ever happened.  They simply would not be removed at all, whatever condition they were in. 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

If we accept they’re genuine, (which they most likely are), there’s been no offer of an explanation so far, other my guess work earlier in the thread, why this set of guards on the lower Shroppie are so well used/worn in comparison to others on the system. 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by beerbeerbeerbeerbeer

[Deep]

More sand in the water.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Just now, Deep said:

More sand in the water.

Yes magnetman suggested grit earlier in the thread. 
and yeah a fair amount of the Shroppie is deep cutting through sand stone, 

but so are sections of the Staff and Worcester. 

🤷‍♀️

[magnetman]

6 hours ago, Creaking Gate said:

Recast, then grooves added and then fixed? There is next to no chance that ever happened.  They simply would not be removed at all, whatever condition they were in. 

To be fair there would be no need for the grooves to be added because the original used to make the mould would already have the grooves in it. 

 

A potential reason for the original items being removed could be because they were cut in half and became useless.