Basin bound.

Boats were moving early this morning but the rain had stopped so all was well. We moved off and headed down the Coventry Arm after the Junction. Of course it isn't an 'arm' at all as it was the main canal until the junction with the Oxford Canal was made.

The current junction was made in 1803 after 25 years of having the junction about a mile further in towards the city centre at Longford. The two canals ran parallel with each other so that the Coventry Canal could get the most tolls possible.

The engine house was built in 1821 and installed an already 100 year steam engine to pump water up from mines into the canal. It ran until 1913 and now sits in Dartmouth Museum.

The original junction at Longford had a stop lock to control the levels but errors were made and there was a difference of 7". The new junction has a stop lock with the Oxford Canal usually being a little higher. The Greyhound pub can be seen under the bridge engineered by J Sinclair in 1837.

I love the sculptures on this bridge just after the junction

The canal is fairly clean in the water and the tow path and tyhere are some nice rural looking bits as you pass down. Just after Longford we tied up near the 24hr Tesco's and went in for a few supplies before heading off again.

Cash's Hundred Houses were built by the Quaker family in 1856/7. The idea was to allow individual workers the benefit of mechanisation whilst not having to work in a factory. The workers lived in the two lower floors and the looms were on the upper floor. The looms were driven by a steam engine with a  drive going right through the top floor. A hundred were planed but only 48 were built on two sides of a square. The plan failed when there wasn't work for all the weavers as there was no way to isolate the non working looms and those without work were un-willing to pay for the running of the steam engine for those that had work. In the end the top floor was converted to a 'proper' factory. The factory closed in 1984 and the house became housing association properties. It looks like they have also put a false floor in the upper storey to create more apartments.

There was plenty of space in the basin and a couple left after we arrived. We decided to take the cross berth between the two arms and next to the sculpture of James Brindley.

The buildings on the east side of the basin were rebuilt in the 1920's. below the level of the canal on the outside there are vaults where the imported coal was stored. The weigh house at the end of the basin is still there too. The basin was first opened in 1769 and then extended in 1788 so that explains the two arms.

The canal bridge was the entrance to the basin and was made deliberately small to make it easier to close the basin off. In fact no boats were allowed to remain in the basin overnight at one time. I assume that this was to prevent pilfering etc. The sanitry station is just to the left of the bridge but following a quick look we couldn't find the water. There are two taps not far outside the basin though.

We may go for a 'walk' later to get our bearings and see the lie of the land. Helen has found that there is an Ikea here so we may got to find that (as there is a pub close by too!).