After the wind and rain of yesterday afternoon/evening the morning was still and bright with the smoke from the many boat fires rising straight up in the air. We must have missed moving yesterday as we both seemed to want to be up and away, without it being said out loud. Mind you it wasn't that early as it was just a little before 0930, and a boat had passed already an hour earlier.
The low sun shining through the trees on either side of the canal as we wiggled along the Coventry made me smile with the dappled light and the warm sun on more open parts.
When you see the trees along canals today it is in stark contrast to the photo's of old and even the film of the 1950's as it looked like the trees were deliberately removed to prevent leaves, branches etc falling in the water. Mind you on a windy it is really nice to have the protection of a hedge or wood as you wait for a lock or just trying to keep warm on the tiller.
Acorns were bouncing of the roof of the boat as we passed along, under the M42 and past the Pooley Heritage Centre and moorings and on to Polesworth.
By Bridge 54 is this set of lovely old buildings and in 1901 it was a blacksmiths shop and home. It certainly looks like it was too.
Just after bridge 54, on the off side, was a very busy wharf area. There was a basin with a tramway (from bottom left corner of extract) connected to the Birch Coppice mine that had two shafts from 1875, one near Birch Moor and one near Hall End. The bricks for the shafts were made on site at Hall End with fire clay from the mine. The pits were expanded during WWI and in 1957 the shafts were deepened and electric winding gear installed. In early 1960's Birch Coppice was home to an experimental smokeless fuel plant. When the method and recipe had been refined in 1963 the plant was closed and production started in Coventry. In 1982 improvements were made to ventilation of the pit and then in 1983 a new coal face was opened up. When this new seam came up to the expected fault in 1986 the pit became uneconomic and was closed.
The Wharf by the bridge was the Coventry Canal Co wharf and the Midland Sanitary Pipe Co. This seemed to start before 1870 and looks to have been a large affair with six or seven kilns.
This is what the site looks like today.
There is not much left of this swing bridge, but if rescued I reckon it could be reused at another location and with new timber. Of course we are lucky today as despite being close to the west coast main railway line all is quiet as the drivers are on strike. We did have one freight train pass, heading south, but that was all.
Yet another photo of light through trees.
We stopped for water at Bradley Green and dumped the rubbish. There was a boat just finishing so we didn't have a wait at all. So we were soon on our way. We were following a single hander up but we never really caught him up as we seemed to be waiting for boats to come down. On guy came down a lock and as the bottom gates wouldn't fully open he started taking his side fenders off. As he left he advised me to stop my engine as I entered as he had lost one of his fenders!! I told him that I never travel with fenders down as I have picked up far too many of other peoples. In fact I even picked up one as I was waiting for him to leave. Luckily it was a floating one.
At Lock 7 is Baddersley Wharf. This wharf had been connected to some mines up near Baddesley Ensor. There had been at least three mines, Maypole, New Church and Home but by the time another shaft was dug, Speedwell, the other three had mainly closed or being retained for ventilation.
It seems that a tramway was run through to the Coventry Canal about 1817. It was all formalised in 1871 after the new Baddesley Mine was opened in 1850. It the tramway was widened to standard gauge about this time to link up with the Midland Railway. In 1882 there was an explosion down the pit and 32 miners lost their lives.The basin seems to have closed for commercial use in 1965 but the pit didn't close until 1989. It is interesting to see that in this 1901 map extract the large part of the dock indicates it is full of weed!
It took us 2 hours to get to lock 7 and half an hour to get to the the top. It was that sort of a day. There were no moorings to be had at Atherstone, it was chocka so we steamed on to close to Hartshill.
Rothern's yard is always neat and tidy and it seems that they have spent some money on having a few of their craft painted too. Just down the way is their new marina that also looks neat and tidy.
All in all a nice day.
1 comment:
The site by the dilapidated swing bridge looks a bit different today with lots of excavation and building going on.
It looks as if HS2 will go right through where the colliery painted wheel stands.
Post a Comment