We set off at 09:20 on Thursday (16/09/2021) morning with only 3 locks on our route. These were the unique twin locks at Hillmorton. Work began on the Oxford Canal in 1769 by the renowned engineer James Brindley (1716 -1772) following an Act of Parliament.
Brindley was assisted by his son-in-law Samuel Simcock. In 1770 Brindley sent a letter of resignation to the company following a minute that they had issued saying "The Engineer Surveyor and Clerks of this Company do not associate or drink with any of the Inferior Officers or Workmen". The company appologised for any offence caused and the resignation blew over.
In 1771 Brindley caught a chill whilst surveying a section of the Trent and Mersey canal, he took ill and was later diagnosed with diabetes by Dr Erasmus Darwin (Grandfather of Charles Darwin) he died in 1772. Brindley is remembered in Hillmorton with the near by Brindley Road named in his honour.
Simcock took over the construction of the Oxford Canal which by then had only reached Brinklow. By 1774 the locks at Hillmorton had been completed but a further Act of Parliament was required to raise more funds to complete the navigation to Oxford.
We made our way through Rugby where we were overshadowed by huge industrial units and warehouses.
There were some impressive bridges along the way.
There were more of the Horseley Iron Works bridges over the entrance to side arms and marinas along this stretch. The date when the ironworks were constructed is unknown but is believed to have been by 1815. Industry in the area prospered and the location retained the name of the Horseley estate as shown in an 1822 survey of the area.
With the increasing popularity of canals, the ironworks quickly became popular for manufacturing canal bridges, mainly in the local vicinity. Canal bridges made by the ironworks include the Engine Arm Aqueduct (1825), two roving bridges at Smethwick Junction (1828), Galton Bridge (1829), and Braunston Towpath Bridges (1830).
By the end of the canal construction era, Horseley Ironworks had emerged as one of the most prolific manufacturers of canal bridges in the West Midlands region, especially in Birmingham. This was a result of their signature bridge design which had become popular amongst canal constructors. The design has been replicated more recently, for example in Birmingham during the regeneration of Gas Street Basin where Worcester Bar is linked to Gas Street.
We moored up for the day at Newbold on Avon by Bridge 50 on the 14 day moorings.
Newbold-on-Avon (usually shortened to just Newbold) is a suburb of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, located around 1½ miles north-west of the town centre, it is adjacent to the River Avon from which the suffix is derived. Newbold was historically a village in its own right, but was incorporated into Rugby in 1932. The name is derived from the Saxon Niowebold ('New house').
We moored up and Steve and Vera went to investigate the Barley Mow pub on the other side of the bridge.
An aggressive swan defended it’s cygnets on the tow path by the pub car park and we had to run past as it lunged and hissed. A bloke in a “Fuck Boris” T-shirt parked up in the pub car park and we decided to come back later.
This we did for a quick pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord on the way to the shop.
There was a popular fish and chip shop next to the Newbold on Avon Co-op.
We watched Capitani on Netflix and as we got into the first episode we realised that we had seen it before a few years ago, but decided to watch it again. The body of a teenage girl is found in the forest near the rural village of Manscheid, deep in the North of Luxembourg. Luc Capitani, a gruff detective from the South of the country, is put in charge of the case.
Having trouble navigating the closed, communal and protective mentality of the northerners, Capitani finds himself unwillingly dependent on the help of Elsa Ley, a young and intrepid local policewoman. The officers quickly find themselves entangled in a web of secrets and lies. In hunting a murderer, Capitani is forced to confront his own demons as he discovers the shocking truth.
We made an early start on Friday (17/09/2021) morning. There were more Horseley Iron Works bridges.
Steve and Vera jumped off for a towpath walk but very soon Vera was keen to get back on the boat and into her bedroom in the festival tent.
This is Vera’s bedroom where she is happy to stay while we are chugging along.
Ominous clouds drifted overhead but the rain stayed off.
Modern bridges were not so pretty.
Massive electricity distribution stations showed us we were near the big cities of Coventry and Nuneaton.
We reached the stop lock at Hawkesbury Junction. Hawkesbury Junction or Sutton Stop is a canal junction at the northern limit of the Oxford Canal where it meets the Coventry Canal, near Hawkesbury Village, Warwickshire, between Bedworth and Coventry. The alternative name, Sutton Stop, arises from the name of a family which provided several lock keepers there in the nineteenth century.
The junction between the canals was the source of great controversy. The Oxford Canal's Act of Parliament contained clauses which stipulated that both companies had the right to the tolls on the other's canal for certain traffic which passed between them. Thus the tolls for all coal traffic on the first 2 miles (3.2 km) of the Oxford Canal were to go to the Coventry company, while tolls which the Coventry Canal collected for the first 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of travel by all goods except coal which had passed through the junction were to be given to the Oxford company.
We were going onto the Coventry Canal which was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1768, and although the long term aim was to link Coventry to the Grand Trunk Canal, (later called the Trent and Mersey Canal), the first priority was to reach the coalfields at Bedworth, so that coal could be shipped to Coventry.
There was a pretty little junction here where we would do a U-turn going right under the cast iron footbridge and passed the chimney on the left. We made full use of the C&RT Services here, but we had no time to stop at The Greyhound pub.
On the Coventry Canal we passed this impressive looking new house with cycling machine in the garden.
There were more mad gardens with bizarrely dressed mannequin, including the Stig.
We saw wharves and marinas that had seen better days (reminds me of a Sid James line in Hancock’s Half Hour. His date said “I‘ve had better nights”, to which he replied “and you’ve seen better days”!) like this old boats home.
We went under bridge 15 on the Coventry Canal to reach Marston Junction.
Hilary swung a right at Marston Junction under Marston Bridge and onto the Ashby de la Zouche Canal (usually shortened to just Ashby Canal). At this point the Ashby de la Zouch canal joins the Coventry. The junction was made in 1804. On each side of the junction are buildings, one named ‘Lock House’, the other ‘Canal House. There is also an indentation in the bank opposite the junction, presumably to facilitate boat turning into and out of the Ashby Canal. Both buildings are now demolished, although their sites are still visible.
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