Coventry Canal History

[Aurelia]

Has anyone any information, please, about Henry Bradford, credited with surveying a line from Coventry to Tamworth in 1766, supposedly a fore-runner to the Coventry Canal? Is he, for instance, the Quaker timber merchant (b.1698) from whom, apparently, Birmingham's 'Bradford Street' is named?

 

I ask, because the Coventry promoters seem to have taken things ahead with their canal very fast. Although Jim Shead's website claims that Brindley surveyed for them in January 1767, Josiah Wedgwood - rather closer to the action - notes in March 1767 that when the Coventry men asked James Brindley for a survey, he had told them they were 'too precipitate' but that he would 'look over the country in a year or two if he could.' In the event, by November 1767 the Coventry contingent were petitioning Parliament for a Bill on the basis that they had ' a survey lately taken.' So might it have been Henry Bradford's line that they meant? Of course, this question may be one to which there's just no clear answer.

[Ray T]

I don't know whether these can help?

 

http://covcanalsoc.org.uk/

 

A history here:

 

http://covcanalsoc.org.uk/?page_id=67

 

ETA there is quite a comprehensive history of The Coventry Canal in this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coventrys-waterway-COVENTRY-CANAL-SOCIETY/dp/B0011GJXF0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412177347&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=coventry%27s+waterway+a+city+amenity

 

It however has no mention of Henry Bradford? It mentions Brindley being dismissed and the Clerk of works similarly being threatened if he were again to disregard the Committee's orders.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Ray T

[Pluto]

It is likely to be difficult to find out. The Coventry Canal material in The National Archive starts in 1767, so there may be mention of earlier surveys there, and Charles Hadfield's notes held at the LSE re that canal, and those covering canal-related individuals, could also be useful. Have you looked at contemporary local newspapers, which sometimes report meetings at which surveys have been presented? The other area to research is family archive material from families involved with the canal. These are now much easier to locate through A2A and its successor Discovery. I have recently found some previously unpublished material about several early surveys for the Leeds & Liverpool Canal though looking at family papers found this way.

[Aurelia]

Thanks so much, Ray and Pluto. They're very helpful suggestions and much appreciated. Aurelia

[Heartland]

Coventry Canal minute books refer to surveys made by Brindley (see p 42-44 Silent Highways) and through this the route as built from Coventry to Bedworth should be to his credit and that of Joseph Parker, his clerk of works. It would useful to know if a plan exists for Henry Bradford's survey.

 

Ray Shill

[Aurelia]

Thanks, Ray. I haven't seen a plan for Henry Bradford's survey; I wonder if one survives. Charles Hadfield certainly mentions Bradford and indicates that 'in1766 and 1767 he 'surveyed for a canal from Coventry to Tamworth, with a river extension thence to Fazeley,' ( Charles Hadfield, 'Canals of the East Midlands' (1970 edn, footnote to p.15).

 

As for Brindley, Wedgwood is very clear about his reluctance to let the Coventry promoters rush him (see my original question quoting Josiah Wedgwood’s letter to Thomas Bentley, 2 March 1767.) Over the spring and summer of 1767, he was supposed to be undertaking canal-related business both in Scotland and Ireland. In the event, unwell, he appears to have delegated the Irish work on a section of the Lagan Canal for Lord Hertford to Robert Whitworth and postponed his surveying commission in Scotland for Samuel Garbett until the following year.

 

Uncertain health notwithstanding, over April, May, June and July of 1767, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal occupied much of his time. Notebooks (now in Stafford RO) kept by Staffs & Worcs Clerk of the works, John Fennyhouse Green indicate that Brindley made site visits on 24 and 30 March; 15 and 29 April; 15 May; 6, 20 and 30 June and 10 July. Nevertheless, it appears that somehow Coventry got the survey it wanted. As early as 4 August 1767, the Leeds Intelligencer reported that ‘a survey has been made and found practicable ’ for a canal’ initially intended to run from the Trent & Mersey through Tamworth, Amington, Polesworth, Grindon, Atherton, Caldecote, Weddington, Nuneaton, Chilver’s Coton, Bedworth and Foleshill, ‘to the city of Coventry.’

 

Did Brindley, in between inspecting the works in progress on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, accede to the Coventry promoters’ pleas after all and complete the survey with Joseph Parker’s assistance?

[Pluto]

Have you checked Charles Hadfield's indexes which are now in the LSE Library? There may be some indication of where he found the map. He also had a list for people involved with canals.

 

On Brindley, I have copied his notebooks held in the ICE library, and have made them into a pdf booklet. I have put a file in my dropbox, so you can download it. Look up 'Mike Clarke canals' on Google, and my webpages with email address should come up top. If you then email me, I can send back the address for my dropbox.