Is Rotherham a Seaport Town?

[Mick and Maggie]

Is Rotherham a Seaport Town is a film made in 1959 by Charles Chislett documenting a trip by barge along the Tinsley Canal and then by trip boat from Rotherham. The trip continues on along the River Don as far as the site of the Swinton flood lock.

To watch the film Click Here

 

The film starts on the canal quayside at Sheffield Basin now called the Victoria Quays. Several other boats and barges are shown, including one with ‘Hull’ on the side, moored under the Straddle Warehouse. There is a barge named ‘Good Luck’ with a teenage boy sitting on top of the canvas coverings. Someone might recognise the skipper or the teenager?

 

This is a cut of a much longer film. 10:15 into the film clip there is a Mystery Lock, I do not recognise the lock and so the film at this point must be out of sequence. This one has a white house next to it, and the film shows the lock being opened and closed. There are a couple of other bits in the film out of the correct running order.

 

 

[Rod a mod from Tod]

 

Smashin'.

 

Nice to see Tinsley pre M1. Shame to see all the industry that's long gone.

[Pluto]

Of course, Sheffield was going to be a port in the 1909 plans for the navigation. One scheme also included boat lifts for the Tinsley length, with enlargement of the navigation below.

 

[Athy]

What a fabulously evocative piece of film; it brings back memories of being a small boy in Sheffield at that time. Do the barges Good Luck and Clarencey (I would guess they are "Sheffield Keels" but I'm not sure) still exist?

 

Plenty for the railway fan too: early on its journey the boat pases under the Sheffield Victoria to Manchester line (recognisable by its overhead electric catenaries), then we see what's probably a B1 4-6-0 pulling a rake of former LNER wooden-bodied carriages, meybe on a local train from Leicester Central (express trains to Marylebone had more modern stock), and later there's a glimpse of what looks like a J39 0-6-0 goods loco, of which there were many in the Sheffield area at that time.

 

Thanks so much for posting it, watching the film has quite made my morning! Greeno to M&M.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Athy

[andywatson]

I'm from round there and had an impression that some clips were out or sequence.

Judging by the scenery I think the mystery lock is in the Denaby/Conisborough area.

I'd expect Carlt or Naughty Cal to have a better idea though.

 

A vaguely similar looking trip boat moored near Sprotborough Lock in recent years

[pearley]

The lock at Conisborough was removed in 1972. You can still see one of the walls on the right as you go up river.

 

Regards

Pete

[Pluto]

The trip boat is one of three Canal Transport Ltd boats off the L&LC which were converted by BW for passenger use.

[archie57]

I've never seen an "Austerity" on a passenger train! - perhaps empty stock

[Athy]

I thought it was a B1 or similar - if I paused the image it went fuzzy so I was none the wiser. If there had been a soundtrack we could have heard whether it clanked or not, which would have been a bit of a giveaway.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Athy

[archie57]

It did look like a B1 on the first passenger....

[Mick and Maggie]

The lock at Conisborough was removed in 1972. You can still see one of the walls on the right as you go up river.

 

Pete, I think you could well be right. I had completely forgotten about Conisborough Lock. I must have passed through it dozens of times in the late 50's early 60's. I remember thinking a few times as we passed that it looked like an old coal wharf behind what remains of the lock. Even then I never twigged, because it was close to Cadeby pit (my dad retired from Cadeby pit!) It had been completely erased from my memory.

 

Well done... I'm enjoying a senior moment now.

[Guest]

It's a great video but I don't think it matches the associated description or the title which refers to Barnby Dun and Thorne.

 

I don't recognise anything in the video that looks like either of those locations even allowing for the passage of time.

[pearley]

 

Pete, I think you could well be right. I had completely forgotten about Conisborough Lock. I must have passed through it dozens of times in the late 50's early 60's. I remember thinking a few times as we passed that it looked like an old coal wharf behind what remains of the lock. Even then I never twigged, because it was close to Cadeby pit (my dad retired from Cadeby pit!) It had been completely erased from my memory.

 

Well done... I'm enjoying a senior moment now.

Mick

 

The book I have says that the rise was only 14 inches so BW decided to raise the weir at Sprotborough by that amount and do away with the lock. On the subject of Cadeby Pit, what has happened at the Earth Centre site?

 

Regards

Pete

[Timleech]

It's a great video but I don't think it matches the associated description or the title which refers to Barnby Dun and Thorne.

 

I don't recognise anything in the video that looks like either of those locations even allowing for the passage of time.

I think the film must have been truncated, the description carries on for quite a bit after the end of what is downloadable.

 

Tim

[Guest]

I think the film must have been truncated, the description carries on for quite a bit after the end of what is downloadable.Tim

Thanks Tim I will try downloading when i'm next on my PC.

[Timleech]

Thanks Tim I will try downloading when i'm next on my PC.

Just spotted the vital info on the page:-

"14 mins 37 secs of 25 mins "

"This film is an extract. To access the complete film please contact the Yorkshire Film Archive - See more at: http://www.yfaonline.com/film/rotherham-seaport-town#sthash.J1QKzuir.dpuf"

 

Tim

[luctor et emergo]

Bideford is a freeport

[Mick and Maggie]

The book I have says that the rise was only 14 inches so BW decided to raise the weir at Sprotborough by that amount and do away with the lock. On the subject of Cadeby Pit, what has happened at the Earth Centre site?

You mean the white elephant.... I remember going to have a look round... I thought it was ripe to crash and burn because it was almost devoid of anything of interest. (The centre for popular music in Sheffield was another such fiasco. Hundreds of thousands of projected visitors and no car parks.) The Earth Centre was a roller coaster ride of false starts, wild hopes and dashed plans. Well after justifying the initial 41.6 million investment with estimated target numbers of visitors that seemed unbelievable at the time. and were unbelievable in reality. Even after building a new rail station and platforms... err nobody came after the first flurry of visitors. It opened and closed until it eventually went bankrupt and shut, soon becoming derelict. Jeremy Clarkson did a TV program about the earth centre, that sealed its fate. £140,000,000 later, its a tip once more! There were houses for sale in Denaby at £1 each and no takers. We used to moor up and have a wander round the place. If you can imagine tumble-weed rolling around the asphalt bits and everything else being over grown. Doncaster Council was supposed to be spending £200,000 a year to maintain the site. Some business called Kingswood purchased it and it is being converted into some sort of outward bound / boot camp. There are a few people on site now. But as it was supposed to open last year... who knows what will happen next.

 

Have a read at http://welovetheearthcentre.blogspot.co.uk/

Edited November 23, 2013 by Mick and Maggie

[billh]

I've never seen an "Austerity" on a passenger train! - perhaps empty stock

I saw a "Dub-dee" with ECS on the Down Slow line at Guide Bridge- not that unusual, except I counted 20 coaches behind it. This was in nineteen nought plonk

Canal interest- the Ashton is right next to GB platform 1.

[lydfordcastle]

It did look like a B1 on the first passenger....

 

I thought the first train was hauled by a K3, not a B1. The second was definitely an Austerity 2-8-0, the tender and the smokebox of a lesser diameter than the boiler were the giveaways.

[Athy]

I don't think I saw the second train - I stopped watching when the trip boat took over from the barge.

 

B1s were just about ubiquitous in that area at that time - I was a little train spotter then, mainly at the Sheffield stations and occasionally at Doncaster, and I have just looked at my old Ian Allan Combined Volume and noted that I "spotted" over 150 of the class. But I also spotted 39 K3s (though I have little memory of them) so i guess they were present in the area too.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Athy

[Pluto]

I don't think I saw the second train - I stopped watching when the trip boat took over from the barge.

 

B1s were just about ubiquitous in that area at that time - I was a little train spotter then, mainly at the Sheffield stations and occasionally at Doncaster, and I have just looked at my old Ian Allan Combined Volume and noted that I "spotted" over 150 of the class. But I also spotted 39 K3s (though I have little memory of them) so i guess they were present in the area too.

Was 61181 one of them, and is that you sat on the platform?

 

[Naughty Cal]

Mick

 

The book I have says that the rise was only 14 inches so BW decided to raise the weir at Sprotborough by that amount and do away with the lock. On the subject of Cadeby Pit, what has happened at the Earth Centre site?

 

Regards

Pete

The earth centre. What a complete waste of money that turned out to be. Complete and utter failure.

There were certainly some out of sequence clips there but an interesting video non the less.

[Athy]

 

Was 61181 one of them, and is that you sat on the platform?

 

The number looks like 61180 - which I did see, yes. Don't think any of those boys is me but the general appearance is similar!

I remember those diesels with the two stripes - Brush Diesels they were known as, built in Loughborough. I had also forgotten that the platform on one side of the station was wooden rather than concrete.

Obviously it's not a professional photo - who took it? I have some photos taken at Victoria with my Kodak Brownie 127 somewhere, including one of 'Butler Henderson' the ex-Great Central 4-4-0 which is now preserved (in the 1990s I would teach two Butler-Hendersons, great-grandsons of the director after whom the loco was named). I know roughly where in the house those photos should be. Should.

[Pluto]

It's one I took around 1963 after a trip from Manchester behind one of the electrics.