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GU canal route through Hemel South to Kings Langley


Duchess

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I'm looking for evidence of a change in water way route through Hemel Hempstead area.  Does anyone know whether it was built to plan or plans changed or what? Also wondering what actual ages the associated lock cottages are between Boxmoor and Hunton Bridge.

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The canal used to run on a different route from above Apsley down to Kings Langley, it was changed very early in its life due to pressure from the mills.I can't remember the dates but early 1800's springs to mind. 

 

Edited by Loddon
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14 minutes ago, Tam & Di said:

King's Langley Lock 69A gives a clue, plus the locks known as the "New 'uns"

Which, to be clear to those not having access to the books, are the 3 Apsley and 2 Nash locks, all on a rerouted stretch.  These replaced 4 original locks, each having a greater fall, and hence using more water each time a boat locked through.

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I was told many years ago the the depression marked with this pin

https://goo.gl/maps/e7Apf21U3522

Was the origional course of the canal, however according to the map it seems to be the wrong side of lower road.

I guess the only way to really trace it would be with a detailed contour map.

Edited by Loddon
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From just above what is now the top of the New'uns, I suspect the cut followed close to the 300' contour line taking it a little higher than Nash Mills, then dropping through four locks to a point where the railway bridge is today. The Apsley Paper Trail map also shows the new "Proposed Variation".

I've made a passable impression of where the original line may have gone with the four locks from an 1888 - 1913 OS map with the help of that in Alan Faulkener's 'The Grand Junction Canal'.

canvas.jpg

From Alan Faulkner's book it seems the original line lasted but 20yrs only.

Edited by Derek R.
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Thank you, it's amazing what people know and have gleaned.

It's amazing also that there doesn't seem to be any trace at all of the old route now and so surprising that it never followed the river in the first place. 

20 years, not long at all.

So do we know when the new un opened? the act was passed in March 1818, there is evidence of the new course being there in around 1822. One of the other questions was when was the Nash lock house built?

 

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Much of the following is from Alan Faulkner's 'The Grand Junction Canal' ISBN 0 9517923 1 8. It provides a detailed history.

In brief: An Act was passed in 1818 authorising the abandonment of the "Long pound" from Frogmore to Nash. There had been a loss of water in said pound, and water was being drawn from the river to maintain levels, making less available to the mills causing actions against the Grand Junction. By February 1819 the work was almost complete, and opened soon afterwards. We can only presume the Nash cottage having been built at the same time or very shortly after.

It doesn't take much new development to fill and cover old canals to the point that - in many places - there appears to have been no canal at all, much as so many rural and urban railways have 'disappeared'.

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