Coventry Canal Water

[BEngo]

I know the Coventry Canal has a long summit level and with the Ashby no longer stop-locked it's now even longer, plus the run off from urban Coventry and Nuneaton into that summit must be quite significant. I also know that it can be fed from the Oxford and ultimately the GU Braunston or Leicester summit reservoirs in extermis, but few of these things pertained when the Coventry was built. So, does (or did) the Coventry canal have any reservoirs?

 

N

[nomad - tuttle hill]

the water feed around Nuneaton has a good flow from small stream at br 22 and the a good flow of water from jukin quarry on Tuttle hill br 24 . always brown looking colour from the old quarry pits

[ditchcrawler]

Wouldn't all the water coming down the Hillmorton locks end up in the Coventry assuming it didn't all leak away first?

[Flyboy]

The old pumping station at Hawksbury Junction (Sutton Stop) would have topped up the Coventry originally I assume.

[Scholar Gypsy]

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkesbury_Junction

 

"The junction between the canals was the source of great controversy"

Although this article is mainly about tolls - and the saga is nearly as bonkers as that at Worcester Bar - it mentions water as well.

 

As noted above the local colliery needed to pump water from its workings, and it would be convenient to put it in the canal.

 

My hunch would be that Oxford canal company would have emptied their water into (say) the Avon at Rugby (where there are lots of overflow weirs) rather than giving it to the nasty Coventry company, though the stop lock. I have never seen a bypass sluice at Hawkesbury, but (see this posting re Aynho weir lock...) there may be one hidden away somewhere.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Scholar Gypsy

[ditchcrawler]

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkesbury_Junction

 

"The junction between the canals was the source of great controversy"

Although this article is mainly about tolls - and the saga is nearly as bonkers as that at Worcester Bar - it mentions water as well.

 

As noted above the local colliery needed to pump water from its workings, and it would be convenient to put it in the canal.

 

My hunch would be that Oxford canal company would have emptied their water into (say) the Avon at Rugby (where there are lots of overflow weirs) rather than giving it to the nasty Coventry company, though the stop lock. I have never seen a bypass sluice at Hawkesbury, but (see this posting re Aynho weir lock...) there may be one hidden away somewhere.

I think there is one just to the right of the top of the lock going across into the Coventry. But of course that is a modern connection.

[IanM]

Remember the original connection between the two canals was further towards Coventry than it is now.

[Ray T]

Alittle more information from Coventry's Waterway, a City Amenity

Published by The Coventry Canal Society

 

"About 1816 a water shortage was being experienced due probably to increasing trade and so side ponds were constructed at all the locks.

 

Then with the appointment of John Sinclair (who had been one ot Telford's pupils) as the Company's full time engineer, the era of prosperity was at hand. One of his first tasks was the supervision and erection of a secondhand Newcomen steam engine at Hawkesbury, which was named Lady Godiva. This was to pump water from a well which was about 114 feet in depth. About 1837 a larger beam engine was installed also to pump water into the canal at the same place and is believed to be named 'The Earl of Mercia'. This engine was scrapped during the second world war while Lady Godiva was dismantled and re-erected at Dartmouth in 1960 in honour of Thomas Newcomen its builder".

[archie57]

Oldbury reservoir near Hartshill is one that feeds the Coventry Canal

[Pluto]

The original Act should give some idea of where the water was expected to come from, though the effect of canals on local water supplies was not fully understood in the 1760s-1770s, and there may only be a limited number of clauses specifically about water. Later Acts, from the 1790s, tend to have more clauses protecting the rights of established mills etc to their water supply and restricting supplies to new canals. Water pumped from mines was considered an important source, with the supply to the southern section of the Lancaster being almost limited to this, should the L&LC close off their supply down Johnsons Hillock locks.

[Scholar Gypsy]

The original Act should give some idea of where the water was expected to come from, though the effect of canals on local water supplies was not fully understood in the 1760s-1770s, and there may only be a limited number of clauses specifically about water. Later Acts, from the 1790s, tend to have more clauses protecting the rights of established mills etc to their water supply and restricting supplies to new canals. Water pumped from mines was considered an important source, with the supply to the southern section of the Lancaster being almost limited to this, should the L&LC close off their supply down Johnsons Hillock locks.

 

I tried the wonderful legislation.gov.uk but this only covers Public Acts.

 

But this archival site gives the name of the Private Act (Coventry Canal Act 1768). I can't yet find an online copy, maybe a trip to Kew is needed.

[thorne lass]

Wouldn't all the water coming down the Hillmorton locks end up in the Coventry assuming it didn't all leak away first?

 

When Hillmorton Locks were doubled in the 1830's there were culverts and paddles linking each pair of locks to halve water usage off the Braunston pound, and presumably the River Swift at Rugby was helpful in augmenting the Rugby - Hawkesbury pound (via what is termed the Cosford loop).

[Pluto]

 

I tried the wonderful legislation.gov.uk but this only covers Public Acts.

 

But this archival site gives the name of the Private Act (Coventry Canal Act 1768). I can't yet find an online copy, maybe a trip to Kew is needed.

The local libraries are probably an easier bet than having to go down to Kew. Does Coventry have a local history library? The Act is unlikely to be online, though it is always worth having a look on Google books.

[steven wilkinson]

as an aside - there is an information board at Fradley Junction that says the Trent and Mersey canal people (?) built a bypass channel past the junction with the Coventry Canal so 'their' water didn't get used by the Coventry Canal.

[Scholar Gypsy]

The local libraries are probably an easier bet than having to go down to Kew. Does Coventry have a local history library? The Act is unlikely to be online, though it is always worth having a look on Google books.

 

280 volumes of records at Kew ... Annoyingly, they have "how to do research" guides on railways, but not on canals.

[Ray T]

The local libraries are probably an easier bet than having to go down to Kew. Does Coventry have a local history library? The Act is unlikely to be online, though it is always worth having a look on Google books.

 

Yes, the Reference Library in the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery building.

 

http://www.theherbert.org/

 

Also there is a reference section at the main library.

 

http://www.coventry.gov.uk/libraries

Edited January 19, 2014 by Ray T

[Pluto]

 

280 volumes of records at Kew ... Annoyingly, they have "how to do research" guides on railways, but not on canals.

Kew has archive material mainly related to the administrative history of canals, and you are probably better looking at http://www.virtualwaterways.co.uk which also includes many engineering records. Archive research requires a certain amount of lateral thinking as records are not necessarily under the heading or location you would expect. As one of England's more successful canals, the Coventry does have extensive archive material.

[Heartland]

Oldbury Reservoir was built to feed the canal, but it must be remembered that the Whittington Brook to Fazeley section was BCN owned and therefore was supplied by water from the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal. Other canals also provided a supply, including the canals on the Arbury estate.

 

Ray Shill

[Ray T]

I took Millie for a walk this afternoon at Hawkesbury Junction as, at the time the weather was glorious.

However we got about 1/2 a mile down The Oxford Canal, the sky went very black and we got the lot; lightning, thunder, hail, rain and a bitterly cold wind.

 

We got absolutely soaked.

 

Then it dawned on me where the water for Coventry Canal comes from..........

 

 

 

 

The sky

Edited January 25, 2014 by Ray T

[ditchcrawler]

Must give Ray a greeny for that

[RLWP]

I took Millie for a walk this afternoon at Hawkesbury Junction as, at the time the weather was glorious.

However we got about 1/2 a mile down The Oxford Canal, the sky went very black and we got the lot; lightning, thunder, hail, rain and a bitterly cold wind.

 

We got absolutely soaked.

 

Then it dawned on me where the water for Coventry Canal comes from..........

 

 

 

 

The sky

Latest theory is that it came from comets impacting the earth

 

Richard