A bit of heritage today

Tonight we’re tied up in Theale which is just to the West of Reading – tomorrow we should be in Reading itself.

Our mooring is right opposite Kate’s house.  Kate Bush that is, of rather squeaky ‘Wuthering Height’ fame. She owns Shenfield Mill, a rather nice nine-bedroomed, seven bathroomed georgian house, which was on the market a while back at £3.5 m.  In the grounds are the ruins of the original mill building which burned down in 1877 – you can just make out a wheel to the left in the picture below –

Kate Bush’s pad

In a recent post we mentioned shopping trolleys having been abandoned in the canal. Examples ….

This one looked quite new, but already had plants growing through it

 

However this was from a much earlier date – trolley heritage perhaps ?

 

Talking of heritage whilst out walking the dogs we passed an old working narrowboat, TOWY.

Thomas Clayton boat Towy

Towy is a ‘river’ class narrowboat built by Fellows Morton and Clayton Limited, at Uxbridge, Middlesex in July 1938, and was one of a small batch of motor boats designed to work between Stanlow Oil Refinery on the Manchester Ship Canal and the West Midlands.
Like her sister craft, the Towy was named after British rivers, the “T” names signifying craft built or acquired in 1938. Othe 1938 sister boats were Tweed, Tay and Tees. They were owned by the carrying firm Thomas Clayton (Oldbury) Ltd, specialists in the carriage of liquid cargoes, such as tar, crude oil and creosote.

Not a shopping trolley this time, but close

It was great to welcome Paula on board for the day – we’ve known Paula and her son Keiran for twenty odd years since our four boys and Keiran used to go to judo lessons on a Saturday morning.

Thinking back, Deb and I enjoyed watching so much we joined a judo club ourselves.  Didn’t last long – Deb did her elbow in and I my back ! The GP’s reaction was to question what we were thinking of at our age (what age !).

Anyway, Paula helped us down through Newbury with a strong river flow under the boat – the canal/river had only just reopened after recent floods.  Luckily the river diverts off the canal for a while, dropping down a sluice. The following video shows the flow at that point.

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A trip to a very convenient Tesco the next day meant we could wheel the shopping trolley right up to the boat, however we resisted the temptation to push it into the canal – they are a common sight in canals. Instead, someone had hung a supermarket hand basket in a tree………

Different from the usual trolley at least !

 

 

Kintbury Insects

A bit of a damp day brought us along the canal from Hungerford to Kintbury, a little village around 6 miles to the west of somewhat larger Newbury.

It was great to catch up with friends Nick & Roberta, and a chance to be indulgent with a posh lunch and glass of wine in the middle of the day (it wasn’t quite wine-o’clock).

Hungerford is around half way along the Kennet and Avon canal and was evidently important from trading point of view, as it has a good sized wharf.

Hungerford Wharf

The Act of Parliament authorising the building of the canal was passed in 1794, but through various delays it wasn’t completed until 1810.

A chart of trade on the Kennet and Avon in 1814 shows the most important cargoes being carried at the time: coal from Wales, Somerset and Gloucestershire was being carried eastwards along the whole length of the canal, as was building stone from Bath. Limestone from Bristol and Bath was carried to Newbury and Reading, as were slates from the port at Bristol. Flints came west from Reading, as did peat ash from Aldermaston. Tin plate, iron, copper, and salt, timber and pitch from the West Indies, and tea from the East Indies, were all carried.

The wharf at Hungerford was especially busy loading gravel, chalk and whiting for the westerly route, and timber for the east. Grain and flour were very plentiful here, and a fairly equal volume went in both directions. In 1818, over 200 boats were using the canal, some seventy of these were barges of over 60 tons capacity – I don’t know of any remaining.

We moved on to Kintbury. It was clear they welcome everyone – this hotel had been recently built by the canal with a waterside view….

High-rise insect accommodation

Life on the canal

We’ve cruised back to Hungerford today – sunshine all the way !  Looking at the map above it seems we were last here on Nov 6th – five and a half months ago.

The trip today has involved negotiating both locks and swing bridges, however just before Hungerford is a combination of both together. Before driving the boat into the lock it’s important to remember to open the bridge first !  Going uphill (with an empty lock) the bridge is directly overhead. If you forget to open it, the boat gets squashed underneath as the water level rises ! If you look again on the map above you might just see both lock and bridge referenced in the middle of ‘Freeman’s Marsh’ to the left. This was/is common land where locals had/have the right to graze livestock, collect firewood (and watercress), as well as fish.

Freeman’s Marsh swing bridge and lock

There are always a number of unexpected boats along the way with unusual people living on them. That’s life and boats for you.  What better than a life-boat ….

In the event of a high tide……..

Heritage

Canals cross the country, and in doing so very often have to climb over hills – this is where locks come in handy. When the original surveys were carried out, bearing in mind that water always flows downhill, it was important to ensure a supply of water to the summit of the canal. Water could then drop with the locks on either side.

Most summits were planned with a local river, or lake at the summit for this purpose, however not Kennet & Avon canal. The nearest natural water supply was six locks below the summit level, and half a mile away, so they built a pumping station to get the water up there. Two steam beam engines were installed, the earliest manufactured by Boulton & Watt in 1812, and which is now the oldest working beam engine in the world.

Steam engine beams at Crofton – each beam weighs 6 tons

 

Cylinder head and valve gear

The boiler in use is an old Lancaster boiler, however the very original Lancaster boiler is now too old to safely steam.

‘Lancaster’ boiler front. Made at the Great Western Railway works in Swindon

 

The 25m chimney

This afternoon’s dog walk was to the local windmill. A ‘smock’ mill built in the 19th century, it is one of just a handful still in existence, and reputedly the only one still grinding flour. The road to the windmill is part of an old Roman road, which ran from Winchester (called Venta Belgarum at the time) to Marlborough in virtually a straight line (as most Roman roads did), passing straight through Andover on the way.

Wilton Windmill

Baby Noah’s Day

Moved on along the canal from Wooton Rivers to a place called Crofton. As you can see on the map above, there is a Beam Engine museum there (said to be the oldest working beam engine in the world – 1815), and a windmill (reputedly the last working windmill in the country). So guess where I’ll be visiting tomorrow !

Yesterday was Christening day for our little grandson Noah, and after a bit of logistical organising we got over to the church in Ludgershall for the ceremony. The rector obviously has a bit of a sense of humour – there was a plastic duck floating in the font ! For family and friends that might be reading this, here is a photo of the happy parents and baby….

The happy Hunt (Jr) family !

The Long Barrow

We got wet again !  Having become fed up with the rain after about three hours, we decided to stop for the rest of the day near a village called All Cannings, in the Vale of Pewsey.

The valley sits between the Marlborough Downs and Salisbury Plain, and we’d found from previous walks that the views from the hilltops were extensive, so once the rain had stopped off we went with the dogs.

A mile and a half took us up to Rybury Camp, an old Iron Age hillfort built on the site of an earlier causewayed neolithic camp. Then on the way down again and near the canal, we came across what looked like other prehistoric burial mounds (barrows) we’d seen elsewhere across Wiltshire. They were created to bury the remains of several people in a number of underground chambers, and each generally well marked on Ordnance Survey maps. But nothing was marked on the map for this one.

Entrance to the barrow

A quick walk around revealed a small sign with a website address, and after a quick search on the net all was revealed !

The Long Barrow at All Cannings is apparently a columbarium or place for cremated remains in urns to be kept. The web site mentioned that it was built in 2014 in the style of a traditional long barrow in natural materials, and aligned to the sunrise of the winter solstice when the sun will illuminate the internal stone passageway.

Within the chalk mound there are apparently five chambers arranged off a central passageway that starts at the local Sarsen stone entrance.

The chambers, or columbaria, have niches built into the natural limestone walls, designed for the storage of cremated remains in urns, and available for anyone to use !

Photo of the internal passageway – taken through the locked entrance gate

 

On a lighter note ( ! ), on our last day in Devizes we came across this sign outside of a pub ….

The Devizes White Horse

Our last day in Devizes – it was five months ago we arrived, and we’ve got quite attached to it ! Today we walked from the town up on to the hills to the north.  This is where in 1643 the Royalists defeated a larger Parliamentarian force in the ‘Battle of Roundway Down’, during the English Civil War. The battle ended after the ‘Roundheads’ were driven over a 300 ft drop (men and horses) into what is known as Bloody Ditch.

View of Devizes from Round way Down

 

‘Bloody Ditch’ at the bottom

There’s a white horse on the side of the hill which looks a lot more like a horse from a distance than close up !

The Devizes White Horse

 

The horse’s ears and eye (I think) close up

 

One of his legs. Certain other features seem to be missing (or am I thinking of the Cerne Abbas Giant)

Back in Devizes

Today we climbed the 29 locks of the Caen Hill flight – with help from a couple of friends and five volunteer lock keepers. Starting at a misty 8:00 am, it took us an average of eight minutes and 47 secs for each lock. I thought it was going to be at least twenty mins a lock and take all day; as it was we were at Devizes wharf at 12:15.

Three nights here and then on to Pewsey or Wooton Rivers for a day or two, so we can get to our little grandson Noah’s christening on Sunday.

Misty start at the bottom lock

Reducing carbon in canal water

The Caen Hill flight of twenty nine locks to the west of Devizes is the longest continuous flight in the UK.  The pounds (stretches of water between locks) are short, however each does have a side pond ‘resevoir’ of water to try and help the locks work with the right levels.

During busy spells (lots of boats up and down), the reserve water is still not enough to prevent levels dropping. The solution was to ‘back-pump’ from the bottom of the entire flight of locks from the bottom back to the top.

To help save electricity and reduce the ‘carbon footprint’ of the pumping station, a solar farm has been installed to help run the pumps. Not much power is generated at night, however no boats use the locks then either, so all in all a well thought out scheme.

The solar farm

 

Control panel and display

The back-pumping station

 

Whilst not connected to the pumping, we thought the following two boats were quite interesting :

A very pretty varnished wooden narrowboat

 

A converted aluminium ships lifeboat