A long day, but worth it

As we came up through York Street Lock last night I took this photo of the tolls house below it.

Before getting to Gilgal Bridge you pass this building, the rear of it shows its relationship with the canal.It was the Baldwin Foundry. Thomas Baldwin from Shropshire and worked in iron. He came to work here and by 1814 had bought the business. The foundry specialised in hinges and they were known as Baldwin's Best Butts! He was so successful that he started buying up the local mills. The business employed many locals for 5 generations and they were so busy that the furnace worked day and night. In later generations the family supplied two Prime Ministers in Alfred and Stanley Baldwin!

There is the random roller seen in the top photo, but is next to the basin, lower photo on the off side. This was old Severn Valley Railway transhipment basin, later Great Western Railway. The railway wagons were lowered down to the basin via an inclined plane. The main cargo was iron ans steel bars from Wales that were taken to Pratts Wharf, on the Stour, (see later). They must have received coal and sand too. The basin must have been built in the late 1880's as it doesn't appear on the 1883 map but it does on the 1891 map.

There is another old warehouse that has been converted to a nice house at Upper Milton outside Stourport.

This the arm down to the River Stour and Pratt's Wharf. The raw materials for the Wilden Ironworks were transshipped to smaller vessels to take the cargo down the river. The large Wilden Pool was used to flood the river to a suitable depth when the traffic was working. By 1948 the ironworks had become a tinplate works and was closed when Baldwin's amalgamated with Richard Thomas Co. Ltd and the factory was closed. 

This is the Severn Valley Railway Bridge. The railway started as the Shrewsbury to Hartlebury railway and had 15 stations, but no Bewdley and Kidderminster stations until a loop was built, this line, in 1878. It had always been a quiet line and in the end it closed in 1963. Two years later plans were made to purchase the line. In 1966 a new society paid £25,000 to buy it and it has gone from strength to strength and has increased in its original length.

Caldwall Lock is quite picturesque and a volunteer was painting it on his own. He seems start at one lock and finish them and starts again! A cyclist stopped and asked if he could watch as he had never seen a boat going through a lock. He was cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats!

Some of the buildings on the canal side in Kidderminster have been preserved. They are beautiful brick buildidngs and well made chimney. In the distance, on the left side of the canal is an old corn mill. The first over bridge was to an arm to the Slingfield Spinning Mill. The site of the Weavers Wharf development has saved the buildings that were latterly part of the Brinton carpet works.

As you come up from under the main road into Kidderminster Lock you get a great view of St. Mary's and All Saints Church. at the foot of the church was a canal wharf and an arm heading off down to the right, so it would have been a busy place.

It seems that there has been a church here at Wolverley since the Domesday Book in 1086. This building was erected in 1772 attached to an older tower. It stands on a knoll and can be seen for miles. It was quite a rich congregations as the local charcoal and, mill owners and iron masters were generous.

The trees gave nice cool shade and made a very attractive picture as the spots of light and dark bring jungle clearings to mind. 

The cave at Debdale Lock is Grade II listed and was constructed at the same time as the lock, about 1770. It is 9m x 3m and is up to 2.5m high with a bench around the wall. The lock and the lock house are also Listed Grade II. We had some help from a family with young children who were familiar with canals and loved to work the locks. Helen wasn't going to be arguing as it had been a long day.

This is another spot on this canal where you aren't quite sure which way to go, as it looks like you should be going under the bridge, but that is an old arm to Cookley Iron works. It seems that there was a finery mill here, this is where wrought iron is made from pig iron. There was a slitting mill here in 1639. This was a mill that split bars of iron into rods so that they could be used to make nails etc. There had also been a corn mill on the site. A forge appeared in the 1670's and in 1690's an iron works. It passed to the Knight family and they became rich and the main employer of the area. They benefited from the canal, and the arm built into the works, but by 1886, into the railway age they were missing out in not having a rail link and moved their plant to Brierley Hill. Iron and steel working still carried on here and steel wheels are still made here.

Cookley Tunnel is only 25 yds long and as always got me wondering when is it a tunnel and when is it a bridge? I came to the conclusion that if there is something other than a road or railway over the canal it becomes a tunnel. What do you think? There are lot longer bridges than this.

We were 'rushing' to meet up with a friend of ours, and to have a pint of Batham's with him at the Plough and Harrow in Kinver. As we passed through the Whittington Horse Bridge, the last before Kinver, we decided not to risk all the moorings below the lock being full, and to moor up a little further out of town which we duly did, and ended up only being 10 mins late. The beer was as good as always, and it was great to catch up with Chris. I hope Cyd gets well soon and we see you both again soon. I think it was called the Horse Bridge as it has just a bridleway over it. In the early 1900's it linked the Anchor to the left and the Whittington Inn's to the right that was close to Whittington Hall.

It had been another long day in the sun but well worth it for a pint and a catch up. Everybody seems to stay moored up so not a bad trip, and quiet on the canal.