Last Leg

 Wednesday 25th September

We were very grateful to examiner/surveyor Wayne Shrubb for fitting us in after a re-test at Braunston Marina. He was due to arrive at around 1130 so Helen went for a walk whilst I did a few jobs that were waiting to be done.

After a through check on everything the only thing we fell foul to was the fire extinguishers. We had the three extinguishers required but I hadn't added up the A's and B's to ensure that we reached the total required. It is quite confusing as some extinguishers don't have kite mark or other compliance codes that are required and some do not state what the A and B numbers are. For us we need 3 extinguishers and each extinguisher should have a rating of 5A and 34B. The A rating is concerned with the ability to fight solid fires and the B rating to fight liquid and gas fires. Not only must each extinguisher meet a requirement, but the total of the A and B ratings for the three extinguishers must meet at total of 21A and 144B, and this is where we fell foul. However I was able to pop down to Midland Chandlers and purchase a fourth extinguisher that brought us over the requirement and having emailed Wayne photos of the classifications and A and B ratings, and where we had mounted it Wayne was happy to issue the certificate and we have another 4 years. Wayne and I had a good chat and I enjoyed his company, and he passed us, so would highly recommend him for the BSE survey.

We set off about 3 o'clock, passing these thugs at the entrance to the marina. They were resting from holding up passing and moored boaters.

The wing walls of the bridge to the marina are definitely getting closer to finishing. It is a shame that very many other bridges around the system don't get the love and attention that this one has. Some of them are in quite a perilous state.

The black swan is still around. I wonder if they can interbreed with 'normal' swans to make a grey one! He/she must be quite lonely too.

We were following a boat going very cautiously but they turned up towards Hillmorton and then decided to stop at the services. Our way was clear.

A bird flew across the bow but didn't come out the other side. At first glance I had thought it was a turtle dove, and that would have been exciting. It stopped for a rest on the bow, and then a few minutes later staggered into the air and fluttered to the side. As we passed I could see that it was a young wood pigeon as it lacked the red eyes of the turtle dove. I have never seen one before so I'm not sure of their size compared with a young wood pigeon.

I think this is Bush Hill which is the hill that Flecknoe sits behind. The village was in the Domesday Book and probably means Flecca's Hill. It seems that the village may have been bigger in Medieval times as there is evidence of a chapel and areas of housing etc from then. Also interestingly there are possible cock fighting pits dug into the side of Bush Hill. We will have to walk up to the village again sometime. I remember last time the Olive Bush pub was shut when we were looking for a reward for a walk days walking.

Rothern are busy installing a bit more Armco to protect the bank further along. It looks like this will be claimed as a prime mooring as it is really only one boat long, nice and quiet and an open aspect.

We made the turn into the Warwick and Napton Canal and before we got to the locks it had started raining lightly, but looked set to increase. There was a hire boat shaping up to go down so we had a partner. They had come up the Hillmorton Locks, so this was their first 'down'. They were willing but slow, so we got wet. They were heading on towards Leamington. I mentioned a staircase lock and there were blank looks. I recommended they don't start going down the locks that night, and read the instructions for working the paired locks before heading down. We turned into Ventnor Basin and as it was after 16:30 headed to the fuel berth and moored up for the night to be ready for first thing in the morning.

We took fuel and packed up and were on our way before lunch the next day as we had to be home for picking up the Grand kids as their parents were off out out for the weekend.

Breweries and Braunston.

Tuesday  24th September

Helen had visited the old Crown and Anchor pub just near lock two, which is now the gift and ice cream shop. he was looking for post cards and bits for Christmas and birthday's and managed to find one or two things. The pub closed in 1934.

The weather was dry and dull when we set off in the morning. Just before the bridge before the A5,  Brg. 12, I was hoping to get a glimpse of the old Anchor Brewery behind where the wharf had been. It seems in September 1868 the coal wharf, maltings, inn and various properties were for sale. A brewery was then established by Mongomery and Harris & Co in 1869 and by 1890 seemed to have acquired several tied houses in the area. These included The Champion at Braunston, The Why Not at East Haddon, Horseshoe at Long Buckby,  Shoulder of Mutton Crick, The Case is Altered in Northampton, and the George Inn Long Buckby. The brewery was taken over by Walker and Soames in 1898, a company formed by the partnership of two brewing families, one from Spalding and one from Beverley. Capt. Walker's daughter Geraldine married Gerald Soames and the two men set up the business. Geraldine threw her self into the community and the breeding of elk hounds and goats, She became the chair of each society. She bred the only recorded goat herd in Northampton and had the goat the was the first to produce 2 gals. of milk in 24 hours. She died in 1950 but they had had no children so left the chattels to their long term cook/housekeeper and Chauffeur/Gardener. Gerald had died in 1946, but the business had been bought by Brackley brewer Hopcraft and Norris in 1910. I think it would be around this time that brewing stopped at the Anchor Brewery, but certainly when Hopcraft and Norris were merged with Chesham Brewery in 1946.

We went up the last lock in the flight with the help of two voluntary lock keepers who told us that they had had as many boats before 09:30 today as they had had all day yesterday. I can't think why. We went straight on at the junction and headed towards the tunnel. This picture will be a different picture in a few weeks after a bit of frost and the leaves turn. Strangely after all the rain we have had there was still water coming out of the feeder from Daventry Reservoir.

As we approached the tunnel I could see a boat near the end so I waited for them. We passed another couple of boats in the tunnel and the first shaft had a torrent coming through, but otherwise, despite the recent rain, not that wet at all. My kindness was repaid as when approaching the end a boat waited for me to exit. As we exited I wasn't sure whether I could see the stern light of the boat that had gone in after us, or the tunnel light of one coming our way. It turned out that it was coming our way and we waited for them at the first lock and had a quick trip down the locks. They were heading for the Braunston Marina.

The shop at the bottom lock has just been taken over and both times we have transited these locks this trip Helen has come out with a loaf of bread, a new line the new couple who have taken it on are doing.

The lock keepers keep the bottom lock surrounding, around the dry dock, very neat and tidy.

I'm sure these buildings could tell a few canal stories. We found a mooring between the two marina entrances and before Butcher's Bridge and settled in. Chatting to the couple we came down the locks with I had asked if he knew somebody local to do a Boat Safety Certificate survey and he supplied a name. I phoned him up and he said he could come down the next day. I spent the afternoon checking over all that was required for the survey and getting everything ready for it.

We walked up the hill to the Old Plough and got in before any rush for a very nice steak and bottle of wine. Apparently the pub has been here since 1672. The first mention of a Plough Inn I can find is 1810.

Whistling Past The Wharves in the Wet.

 Monday 23rd September

Rain was forecast for much of the day but as we had about three hours until the first lock and there was little wind we decided to get going and give ourselves options for the next few days.

The first bridge of the day was a proto roving bridge which isn't quite so well designed as those on the Macclesfield canal and others. This is perhaps because there is a road bridge on the other side of the wall. Just through the bridge and on the port side was a brick and tile works. In 1912 it was the Northampton Brick and Tile works but it seems that they got into difficulties that year and had to sell up the equipment etc. Ten years later it was owned by the Blisworth and Stowe Brick and Tile Co and they had it up for sale or rent. It was said the yard could turn out 300 million bricks a year. It certainly seemed to have a very big kiln. It seems that it was after this sale in 1922 that the yard went down and soon closed.

Whilst not raining at the time these cows seemed to be heading for shelter, but not lying down. Just about as reliable as the Met. Office!

This is the old Gayton Wharf that is just past the old Banbury Road. There was a electric level crossing here but the railways wanted to close the road and put in a footbridge. As mentioned in a previous post Banbury Road was an ancient drovers road. In the end they built a new bridge for vehicles. It is good to see that somebody is looking after the buildings. It is on the land of a portaloo hire company so maybe they are being put to a more basic use.

As you can see it still wasn't really raining, just dull and damp, but nice and still.

I think this building by Bridge 36 was the pub called the Swan in the old days and where the modern pub called the Wharf is where the old Bugbrooke wharf used to be. A William Harris ran a coal and corn business from the wharf from about the 1840's. He sold up in 1874. By 1889 there was a warehouse of 40' x 20' an enclosed yard a spacious wharf and a weighing machine and a good house and garden. The Swan Inn was lumped in with the sale of the wharf along with 5 houses that were the opposite side of the road opposite the pub, but have no gone. This was a Mr. Hinks who was leaving the area.

Needs a good paint job, much like 'Holderness' but we are getting closer.

This was the old Crown Inn by Bridge 35. In 1859 the pub was up for sale along with adjacent Crown Inn Wharf and three lime kilns that seemed to be on the opposite side of the canal to the inn along with a store.

This Furnace Wharf by Bridge 32. Here was Heyford Iron Works from around 1857. Ore was brought in by boat and railway, that is just beyond the wharf. Stowe Iron works was just the other side of the railway line, just beyond the buildings. Ore was also brought by narrow gauge railway from a site to the west of both works. In later life bricks and tiles were also produced on this site. The site had become disused by 1901.

What a shame this unsual wooden boat has sunk. I hope they manage to get it floating again before it is too late.

From about 1987 to 1998 Marion and Philip Gardner ran 3 hour boat trips from here, High House Wharf, near to Bridge 29. The boat was called 'Saucy Sue'. It was also one of the stopping off points for a performance by the Mikron Theatre Co.

By Bridge 27 is Floore Lane Wharf. It seems to have been run by a Mrs Tibbs who had it up for sale in 1878. It consisted of the house, granaries, warehouse 3 stall stable, cow barn and pig sty and cart shed and lime kilns. In 1880 Mrs. Tibbs died at the wharf so it probably didn't sell and it isn't real heard of after that date.

It was about at this time that it started to chuck it down so no more photos. We got to the straight canal just before the bottom Buckby Locks and could see a boat just going in. They very kindly waited for us. They were an ABC hire boat when just two blokes aboard. They had been hiring for many years so we raced up the locks to moor up in the long pound as I thought that the other moorings would be full of people that hadn't moved in the rain. We sat still and didn't venture out into the rain.

Rapidly Rising.

Sunday 22nd September

We got back to the boat and after a cup of tea we decided to head on up the locks to see how far we could get.

We had turned around when we had arrived so it was just a matter of letting go and heading off. It was overcast still but we didn't have any rain all the day. The wall seems to have been the retaining wall for the railway that looped up to the current Northampton station. On the towpath side of the canal was the locomotive depot that is now an industrial estate behind a fence.

As we left this lock a boat heading down were quite worried about the river levels, but we couldn't enlitten them. However I wouldn't have gone on to the river if I hadn't a safe place to get to after the days of rain that we had had. This was the first lock on our upward journey. The scaffolding is over a pipeline and behind is the old railway bridge of the Roade, Northampton and Rugby Railway line.

The second lock of the day and the second boat coming down. On the left where the tall trees are was the Hansbury Hill Iron Works as well as a brick and tile works. The smelter was started in 1873 using ore mined in the hill behind the factory. The mines then spread around the surrounding hills and being brought by light railway. Ore was also brought by boat and rail in small quantities. It finally closed in 1936. The mining of the hill caused the loss of much of an iron age hill fort although some artefacts were recovered.

Like many parts of the system reeds are encroaching the water. I don't suppose that many boats come up and down this branch due to the many locks, only those set on using the River Nene. However the reeds don't really block the route as they are pliable and if you lean into them you can push them aside and so pass other boats even in this sort of cover.

On the way down to Northampton a couple of days previously there was not much of a trickle in this feeder for the River Nene but there was already a good flow on it. It doesn't bode well for anybody out on the river in the next few days me thinks.

As you come to the motorway the lock wheeling starts in earnest. The motorway travels roughly east/west but there is a connecting road that heads nearly north/south. This has been built along the route of the old Northampton and Peterborough Branch Railway of the L&NWR. At the top it joined up to the mainline at Blisworth Junction.

The bottom gates have no foot boards or bridge so should entail walking right around the lock to close one of the gates. I was at the helm so I was able to close one of the gates from the stern and when we had risen up enough I could open/close the offside paddle as Helen had gone up to ready the next lock. To save her walking back I would also close up. We sped up the flight and from setting off to leaving the top lock was a very good 3 hours and five minutes. We were flying, so hence no photos.

We topped up with water at the top, turned to starb'd onto the Grand Union and found a spot on the visitor moorings after a very good day.

Happy at Delapre Abbey.

Sunday 22nd September

On a dull but largely dry day we decided to pay a visit to the Delapre Abbey that was just down the road from the canal basin.

We had booked a guided tour of the building at 11 0'clock and as we were a little early we went for a walk around the outside of the building and found our way to the walled garden. The garden is very large with a green house and a game store and surrounded by red brick walls. The original building on the site was a nunnery, the Abbey of St. Mary de la Pre (St. Mary of the countryside), a Cluniac nunnery, one of only two in England. When the wife of Edward I, Eleanor of Castile died she was laid at the chapel here on the way  to burial in Westminster, and up the road are the remains of one of the Eleanor Crosses.  In the land to the front of the house in 1460 the armies of York and Lancaster. Despite being outnumbered the Yorkist won the day when some of the opposition came over to them and allowed them through the defences. Henry VI was captured and York won the day.

After Henry VIII abolished the nunnery the estate passed to the Tate Family. They were gentlemen and knights and staunch protestants. They took the side of Parliament in the Civil War and Zouch Tate gave evidence against Charles I, luckily, or cleverly, he did not sign the death warrant so when Charles II was restored to the throne he did not lose his lands, or his life. This range of buildings at the rear of the house was built during their tenure.

Near the greenhouse is this brick sculpture by Walter Ritchie called Lady with Kittens.

When the Tate line ran out the estate was sold to the Bouverie family in 1764. They were a Huguenot family. They had become the Earl of Radnor and made a fortune out of silk weaving and being merchants. They were still at the house in 1851 and the gardens were maintained by a gardener, a farm bailiff, six labourers and a boy. Nowadays it is just volunteers and they had managed to keep lots of colour in the garden.

This is the front of the house and was erected by the Tates when they were sweeping away the old nunnery buildings. There was no great hall to walk into just a passage that was a bit like a cloister of a cathedral, or nunnery! There were only three of us on the tour that was only £5 and our guide was very good, full of knowledge and humour too.

There is an inner courtyard to the building. The stone lower floor is the cloister like passage that was built around the mid 1600's by the Tate's. The tiled upper floor was added later to give access to the rooms above without having to go through each one. In this courtyard until 1958 were other buildings and even a covered staircase that ran from left to right to where the window id to the left of the stone chimney.

I didn't get many pictures of the interior that were worth reproducing here but they were very fine. This is the salon that was created by the early Bouverie family. The Bouverie family continued until 1895 and it was rented out for another 60 years. After that the County Council bought it and were keen to demolish it it seems. However a campaign was started to save it and it finally became the Northampton Record Office until again becoming redundant once more but was saved by a Trust set up to safeguard it and restoration was commenced in 2015 and is ongoing.

It is less than 30 mins walk from the canal basin and is well worth the walk even if it is just s troll round the grounds and a visit to the cafe.

Nosing around Northampton.

Saturday 21st September

The next day was dry and sunny and we had a day looking around Northampton and doing a little shopping.

The first building of note I noticed was on the corner of Fish Street (where the Medieval fish markets was held) and The Ridings. I love a carved stone or brick frontage and this one had the lot, bull's heads, seductive ladies, fishes and sort of trees with bold lettering. Malcolm Inglis and Co. Glasgow were leather factors and dealers and so were the centre of the show making business here. The company was set up in 1796 by George Inglis in Edinburgh. His son John took over in 1848 and moved the business to Glasgow seeing that it was fast becoming the industrial centre of Scotland. The business grew slowly as by 1868 there were only 4 employees. John retired in 1874 and his son Malcolm took over and straightaway grew the business by opening branches in Northampton, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Leicester. Northampton was the best and biggest. The crests below the bull's head have the names of all the branches. It was to be their showroom and offices. It was designed by Glasgow architect and the stone carving was done by Yorkshireman Abraham Broadbent who also did the work on the Victoria and Albert Museum. It opened in 1900. After the business closed it became a pub for a while.

In St. Giles Square is the 3rd Guild Hall for Northampton. This one was designed by Edward William Godwin and opened in May 1864. This was the building that has the square clock tower at the centre of three bays either side. The clock and bell were added in 1867. Strangely it seems that the bell is not bell shaped, but a hemisphere!

The extension to the west was added in 1892 giving 14 bays and sculptor R. L. Bolton was commissioned to provide statues for between each window of Monarchs and other famous people. In then great hall, that unfortunately wasn't open, is a mural by Colin Gill of famous local people completed in 1925 and then another mural of Muses Contemplating Northampton by Henry Bird finished in 1949. There is also a statue of Spencer Percival, MP for Northampton and the only Prime Minister to be assassinated. To the east of all this is a 1992 addition too.

The Plough Hotel on Bridge Street was built in the 1890's as a coaching inn with brick and stone exterior and mock beams inside. In WWII it was taken over by the American Red Cross and was used as a leave centre for American troops. Over three years it hosted 174,000 troops. In 2016 they applied for planning for 56 apartments. It was turned down but it seems that the original building will remain, but some extensions at the back will be demolished to make room for 34 apartments, parking etc.

On George Row and facing Gold Street is the church of All Saints. It was built on the site of the Church of All Hallows that was burned down in the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675. King Charles II gave 1,000 tons of timber for the rebuilding. At one time its design was attributed to Christopher Wren but it is more likely to have been Henry Bell of King's Lynn. The main body of the church was completed in 1680 but the columned portico was added in 1701 and the cupalo in 1704. The statue at the front of the portico is of Charles II was placed in 1712. The church is of the Catholic tradition within the Church of England and as the parish rejected the ordination of women I think they only have male priests

Looking east towards the chancel you can see that the nave is just about square with four central columns. To the left is the original pulpit with Victorian base. The reredos, the screen behind the altar on the eastern wall, has the Crucifixion in the centre and then a panel of the Ten Commandments on either side. There was little stained glass and maybe this was why it looked nice and bright within the church. There is a nice cafe at the front of the church partly under the portico.

We saw that the Holy Sepulchre so after lunch we decided to go and have a look. From this end of the church it looks like a 'normal' church made from the local ironstone. These parts of the church were added after the original church was erected.

The outstanding feature of the original church is that it was round. There are only 4 round Medieval churches still in use in England, London, Cambridge and Little Maplestead in Essex are the others. The Earl of Northampton Simon do Senlas went on the first Crusade and would have seen Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This is where the site of the Crucifixion was supposed to have taken place and of the tomb where the body was laid, hence the name. In Northampton the church is roughly half the size of the Jerusalem one and was built in 1100.

A. Watts and Sons Ltd are one of the few department stores that are left these days. They were established in 1896 here in Northampton and are still today a home furnishings hub. Until the end of the 90's they had a very large toy department too.

Further down Abington Street is the Northampton Central Library. It was erected in 1910 after a design by Herbert Norman, a local architect. The statues in the niches are of John Dryden, a Northamptonshire poet and critic, Thomas Fuller, a Northamptonshire Churchman, historian and a writer. In fact he was one of the first English authors who could make a living from his writings. There is also George Washington and Andrew Carnegie up there. This library was one of the first to have a children's library within it, introduced in 1912.

This lovely Art Deco building was built in 1938 as the Co-op store in Abington Street. There is another entrance on St. Giles Street that has the name and date above it. The shop closed in 2005 and since then it has been restyled with an arcade running through known as The Ridings Arcade, with small shops accommodated.

On the way back to the boat we crossed South Bridge over the River and we could see this on the gable end of a building just across the bridge. Norton's Corn, Hay and Chaff Store. Sack's ...  Hire. and then low down it says Norton's Sack Depot, Corn sacks Let On E......  Looking back on old maps there may have been a blacksmiths here at one time. Across the road was the goods depot of the Northampton and Peterborough Branch Railway and just to the south was another goods depot. The N and P Branch Railway became part of the LNWR in 1846.