Day
24: Brewood - on the Visitor Moorings, Birmingham and
Liverpool Junc. Canal
11.5
miles and 7 locks in 6 engine hours
We
set off from Bratch just as the rain was clearing and headed steadily
northwards.
Our
first lock at Awbridge had ornate brick sides – quite unusual.
Brick pillars built into the bridge
As
has become a tradition, Chris does the first lock. Here she needed to
deal with scaffolding added as a H & S feature – this has
happened since a boy trsgicallly rode his bike off a tailgate foot
bridge in Stourport where there was a limited handrail.
Carefully crossing the tailgate
At
a further lock, I had a good look at the cracks in the lock due to
movement. Since the lock wall failure on the Wolverhampton flight,
there have been several comments on the canal forums about this –
including this lock at Dimmingsdale. It is a 9ft lock so takes a fair
bit of water.
Crack in the brick gate surround
Brick having cracked off in the lower lock wall – this though looks
quite old?
We
then came up to the Compton Lock, which is reputed to be the first
that the famous canal engineer, James Brindley opened by 1772.
Typical Brindley lock and bridge design – he often put the two
adjacent to each other
Bottom lock gates are 20 years old now – quite a few are older
still!
Leaky top gates!
The
next pound (the canal between locks) stretches right up to Gailey
some 10.5 miles further. It seems this stretch is prone to rainwater
surges and the Waterways have built a long overflow here.
Long overflow edge in times of heavy rain to avoid flooding?
We
then reached Autherley Junction, our turning point to head back to
home waters.
This
is the start of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal opened in
1835 to join the existing Chester Canal at Nantwich (completd 1779).
This gave the canal companies a direct route from Liverpool to
Birmingham and the Midlands- and west to the River Severn at
Stourport and Gloucester Docks.
By
1845, the canal companies had amalgamated to become the Shropshire
Union Railways and Canal Companies – and this stretch heading north
is known as 'The Shroppie'.
Water inlet from the Wolverhampton Treatment Works – providing a
plentiful supply of water. The notices reads “Final Effluent Sample
Point” and “Golden Measure Sample Point”
'The Narrows' at Bridge No.6 Lower Hattons Bridge – cut in a
sandstone bed, ther eis only room for one boat here
Our overnight mooing at Brewood – not that good really as no TV or
internet and the trees/birds left debris on the roof! Still, went
shopping and had a real ale pint!
No comments:
Post a Comment