Iirc that's the Frays river.

54 minutes ago, mark99 said:

Iirc that's the Frays river.

Indeed it is

Dropped pin
Near Fray's River
https://maps.app.goo.gl/cPXBH

Apologies, it is the SECOND aqueduct from the junction. The one over the Colne.

Barges were used on the Wolverton gravel pits. The pits were not connected to the Grand Union,although not far away. I suppose the old Newport Pagnel arm would have been the closest,but probably long closed before the gravel was worked. I remember one of the tugs pulled out of the water in early 70,s Apparently,the gravel company had the idea to have it as a feature at the entrance to the pits. No idea what happened to the tugs and barges.

On 17/03/2019 at 23:51, WJM said:

Yes, I found it today. The Coln really was navigable. Though the air draft was tight. 

This stretch was navigable and was in regular use by William Boyer taking gravel from Farlows lake and very likely two or more pits long filled in that constitute the adjacent farmland. Until the nineties there was a piled access cutting into Farlows about 200 yards upstream of the aqueduct pictured, now filled in. The traffic went down to the group of lakes at the end of Trout road and eventually to Boyers processing yard.

I am trying to work out from the interesting information in this thread the full extent of the Iver gravel workings that were navigationally connected.  The attached map shows the situation in the 1960s and 70s.

  - Which of the pits A,B,C,D had navigable links to the Colne?

  - Where was 'William Boyers gravel processing plant at Trout road' from which onward transport was presumably by lorry?

  - Does the watercourse I have coloured yellow finishing next to the Slough Arm embankment have any navigational significance?  It appears from maps to have been built in the 1920s.

I have a very vague recollection of seeing something in an early Waterways World about this gravel movement, but I cannot now find it.

5 hours ago, Cananalmaps said:

I am trying to work out from the interesting information in this thread the full extent of the Iver gravel workings that were navigationally connected.  The attached map shows the situation in the 1960s and 70s.

  - Which of the pits A,B,C,D had navigable links to the Colne?

  - Where was 'William Boyers gravel processing plant at Trout road' from which onward transport was presumably by lorry?

  - Does the watercourse I have coloured yellow finishing next to the Slough Arm embankment have any navigational significance?  It appears from maps to have been built in the 1920s.

I have a very vague recollection of seeing something in an early Waterways World about this gravel movement, but I cannot now find it.

Google Street View seems to show on the off side some sort of remains of a concrete edge and possible loading facility close to this point. OS circa 1900 does not show it so it seems to date from first half of 20C.

23 hours ago, Cananalmaps said:

I am trying to work out from the interesting information in this thread the full extent of the Iver gravel workings that were navigationally connected.  The attached map shows the situation in the 1960s and 70s.

  - Which of the pits A,B,C,D had navigable links to the Colne?

  - Where was 'William Boyers gravel processing plant at Trout road' from which onward transport was presumably by lorry?

  - Does the watercourse I have coloured yellow finishing next to the Slough Arm embankment have any navigational significance?  It appears from maps to have been built in the 1920s.

I have a very vague recollection of seeing something in an early Waterways World about this gravel movement, but I cannot now find it.

As far as I remember your Lake A or Little Britain Lake as I knew it was connected by your yellow cut to a gravel processing plant that raised the gravel to the level of the Slough arm where it was loaded into lighters, NBs and or Wide Boats.  The massive (for a ten year old lad in 1956) concrete and brick structures were still there well in to the 1970s having fallen into disuse before the early 60s.  I lived in Yiewsley from 1953 until 1969 but still visited until the early 80s.  This area was my playground and the Jolly Angler off Trout Road my first "local" with many a lock in.  Trout Lane was little more than a footpath beyond the little green at what is now Meadow Cottages.  I remember gravel boats being used under the aqueduct of the Slough Arm when transiting in my first "proper" boat, a Shetland 535 moored at Iver boatyard from 1968 to 1970 before relocating to Denham Yacht Station at Uxbridge Lock.  "Proper" as opposed to rafts of barrels or anything else that could be cobbled together to float and muck about with on these canals and gravel pits.  

On 10/07/2018 at 19:04, Paul H said:

One and the same.  It was known as Maple Lodge Sewage Works and I understand that coal dust was burnt as part of the process with some of the “residue”.  The boats had to be clothed up to keep the coal dry.  I believe the traffic was originally gained by John Knill.

 

One  of the last traffics carried by Willow Wren was concrete sewer pipes from West Drayton to Maple Lodge which in part superseded the need for some of the processing at Maple Lodge.  Not sure if I need to know the detail!

 

Paul

This would have been from "Mono Concrete" who were on the site of what is now the John Guest warehouse alongside Horton Bridge Rd . Mono had a short arm running back to Horton Rd parallel with Horton Bridge Rd on the East side of the plant.  You can still see the remains of the footings of the bridge on the tow path next to the JG warehouse. 

On 04/02/2026 at 16:57, CIEL said:

This would have been from "Mono Concrete" who were on the site of what is now the John Guest warehouse alongside Horton Bridge Rd . Mono had a short arm running back to Horton Rd parallel with Horton Bridge Rd on the East side of the plant.  You can still see the remains of the footings of the bridge on the tow path next to the JG warehouse. 

Thanks to Chris Lowe map update now know this arm was Cooper's Dock 

Grand Union Canal Cooper's Dock

Position 51.51003,-0.46330