Beware Flying cars.

 We set off in the sunshine the next day, although it was a bit cool first thing.

We were soon passing through Junction Lock with the help of a well wrapped up Volunteer Lockie and then turned left on to the Coventry Canal.

They must have done a bit of tree clearing as I don't remember such a good view of the hanger from Fradley air field before.

We were soon through Fradley Village and under the A38 Ryknild Street Roman Road and then the canal is lovely. We are particularly taken with the canal cottage by Brookhay Bridge, 88, just past the pumping station that you can see through the trees and next to the railway line and crossing. Looking on the old maps it looks like there was a little basin off the canal in front of the house. Whether this was a rural farm wharf, or for gravels etc or maybe even a transhipment place I don't know.

As we approached Huddlesford Junction these cows were enjoying a drink in the sun. Something the human population have been severely restricted in doing this year!

We were soon passing through Hopwas Woods not a boat stirred and hardly a walker to be seen either. It is magical with the sun filtering through the trees and some fantastic walks too.

We were soon at Peel Wharf at Fazeley. I wasn't surprised to find that the basin here is not old but was dug out when the wharf was sold for building in the 70's or 80's I should think. There was a wharf here with a crane but along the bank.. There used to be boats moored in there but no more it seems. It is such a shame that these facilities are lost and folk can benefit from the lift in house prices by being next to the water but not put anything in to the water ways economy. I'm not sure how you could do it though.

I thought I would write a bit about Streethay wharf as we have docked the boat there before and have always though they are particularly friendly and helpful, and there is a bit of a story to tell too.

It appears that Streethay Wharf was originally set up for general trading and a maltings that was on site fairly soon after. It was run for the City Brewery of Lichfield, whose brewery backed on to the old canal that went through the city. It started in 1874 but was sold to the Wolverhampton and Dudley Brewery after a big fire caused damage that couldn't be repaired whilst at war as the Ministry of Munitions was against it as they worried about spending resources on beer and also the need to keep production up rather than drunk workers! The fire was in October 1916 and the business was sold, along with 200 pubs, the following year. It seems that the maltings were retained and continued in production. By 1838 John Dean was working the wharf and selling coal and the Dean family seems to have stayed there for a while.

Just as an aside, John Wilkes of Streethay Farm close by the wharf also had a threshing machine and it is curious to note that he was taken to court by Henry Giles from Fradley (see my last post) for running a threshing engine too close to the public byway. The law said that it should be at least 25 yards away so as not to startle horses. In this case the horse was upset and was hurt and damage caused to gig and horse. The jury found it was sufficiently away from the road.

By the turn of the century Henry Griffiths was running a coal yard from the wharf and continued right up into the 1970's still owning it but it being run by K. Gibson from the mid 1960's. I think the maltings shut in the late 50's or early 60's and in 1968 Swam Line started hiring boats. It was called Swan Line as one of the directors was the Landlord of the Swam pub at Fradley. They had plans for a Marina and I suppose this is when the moorings were put in and the canal repair and chandler started.

The main story though is that on the stretch of canal between Bearshay Bridge and Streethay Wharf the canal runs close by the Exeter - Leeds Trunk road, the A38. This was the Ryknild Way Roman Road and in fact Streethay means the enclosure by the road. (the common Hay in these parts must be the enclosure). Over the last couple of years this leg has been quite overgrown and although straight it is difficult to find a spot for passing other boats. However in times gone past bushes and trees were not the only things you needed to avoid. This came about because after 1958 the old single carriageway road was made dual from Streethay to Branston just to the west of Burton on Trent. The improvements seemed to have an immediate effect as between 1964 and 1970 there were ten accidents with vehicles in, or partly in the canal, and six fatalities!

The first was in February 1964 when a car ended up in the canal. The driver escaped with cuts and bruises

The next incident was later that year in June. A young man was driving his mother in a MG Midget when it left the road and somersaulted through the hedge and landed in the canal upside down. It seems the mother was thrown clear. There men, and off duty police officer and two lorry drivers dashed to the scene and jumped into the water. They found the young man by the door of the car and stuck. by his arm. They managed to lift the car and free them feller and once on the bank gave artificial respiration until the emergency services arrived. He later died in hospital.

As you can see they were awarded a testimonial by the Royal Humane Society in the following year.

And so it continued with a van with 6 men in ended up in the canal in July 1964. In November 1965 the lads came back to work at Streethay Wharf on Monday morning and saw the wheels of a mini upturned in the canal. When it was recovered they found a man inside who had died of drowning! At the other end of the straight two lorries narrowly avoided ending up in the canal. 1967 a Mercedes rolled several times before ending up through the hedge and half in the canal. In early 1968 action had been taken and crash barriers had been erected. Almost immediately there was another serious crash into the newly erected barriers and in May another incident happened with serious injuries resulting.

In June 1969 a local man, the publican of the Anchor Inn at Streethay was killed in another van crash. This time the van had crashed into the central barrier and rebounded into the canal.

Despite the vehicle not looking as badly damaged as one may think the publican was thrown clear and was found later in the canal!

And that wasn't the end of it as in January 1970 two cars ended up in the canal and with all the occupants submerged. One of the cars contained a young man and his bride of only six days. Their car stayed upright but it took a while to free himself before going back and freeing his wife. Once she was on the bank he once again went in to try to rescue the occupants of the other car which was upside down. They managed to right the car and force a door but all three occupants were pronounced dead at the scene. There was some recriminations about the 50 or so onlookers some of which refused to give assistance, once saying he didn't want to ruin his suit! The man from the first car was assisted by another couple of blokes who immediately came to his aid, another started pushing men in deliberately to help lift the car!

After this it seems there were further road layout changes made and the vehicles in the cut seemed to stop. Originally it was thought that a dip in the curve was the cause of the cars getting into the canal. However it seems that the dual carriageway ended just at the spot so the cars were going at speed when the lanes reduced. Coincidentally with this there was a bit of a dog leg in the road that had been dead straight for a long way. The putting up of the crash barriers was trying to prevent vehicles getting in the canal but not the real root cause of the problem. It seems that after they continued the dual carriageway right the way to the A5 and taking the bend out has prevented the carnage that took place for six years, 10 accidents with 6 killed and many serious injuries.

I have no idea what you could do if you heard a collision on the road and it was heading for you. Hopefully the steel hull would protect you somewhat. However I will never pass down the lengths of canal that run alongside these main roads without having my senses on high alert.