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End of the Godalming Navigation by John G Carlaw
Disclaimer: The IWA may not agree with opinions expressed in this Newsletter but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed herein may be construed as policy or official announcement unless stated otherwise. The IWA accepts no liability for any matter in the Newsletter
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Content From the Editor From the Chairman From the Regional Chairman Lost Route The Susan Trust The Wendover Arm Canal Cavalcade Essex Waterway Update
Page 2 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 6 Page 8 Page 10 Page 11
Social Information Sailing Barge Gladys Gladys Leaving Mid Week Parties Essex WRG Parties Just for Fun Branch Committee
Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 14 Page 16 Page 15 Page 15
From The Editor As we find ourselves six months into the year, the weather has not settled and the weekends have been a mixture of sun shine and showers. More showers than sunshine. My wife and I have tried to maximise the opportunities of the good weather, with short weekend breaks, for visits to some National Trust properties and other waterways. I hope that you have had a chance to take that day out and walk along the Navigation. We would still like to increase our contributors to this Newsletter. Please make time to look out your photos, articles and ideas and send them in for our next Newsletter: Last inputs for Autumn Newsletter 21/10/2016. Tell us about your own waterway experiences, your holiday or send in Readers Photos. For those on e-mail please send your input to chelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk Those without just give me a call to arrange for collection. 07837 576464.
From The Chairman At the end of our meetings season, I have to apologise to those of you who were at the May meeting as I was unable to be there; and thank John for taking over the tiller for the evening. I've been looking through our boating log books, which date from when we had our first own boat, "Pegasus", in August 1984, then from October 1996, when we collected "Essex Girl" from Grindley Brook, for her maiden voyage, to the end of 2011. Ten years ago, as Essex Waterways Ltd. was being set up, we managed a three-week June cruise, from our mooring on the Welford Arm to Stratford-on-Avon and Tewkesbury, then up the Severn to Worcester, on to Gas Street Basin and the Black Country Museum, down the Wolverhampton 21, onto the Staffs and Worcester, then the Trent & Mersey to Fradley and back to Welford via the Coventry and North Oxford. This involved a total of 244 locks, both broad and narrow. A couple of months later we had fifteen days down the River Soar, up the Trent & Mersey to Birmingham then back to Welford via the Grand Union - 187 locks: a pretty busy time for us when Doug was very much occupied with EWL. We didn't get away again on the boat until May the following year. It's still not too late for me to wish EWL a very happy birthday.
Thank you to all who have contributed to the foil collection. I've just delivered a large quantity to Roy Cox, who is able to dispose of it on our behalf and sends the extremely useful proceeds to John Gale. Now I'm looking forward to seeing how we get on at the new venue and hope that a lot of you will be there in September for the first meeting of the new season. In the meantime, have a lovely summer, wherever you will be. Molly Beard 2
From The Regional Chairman Summer is coming and the waterways are once again alive with the sounds of birds and boats moving along them. I hope you are able to get out and join us at some of the waterway events around London this year. In July we have the Ware Festival and a trip round the Bow Back Rivers, sorry the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and of course the Chelmsford River Festival in June.
I thought this month I would write about some of the work of the National Navigation Committee, sometimes referred to as Nav-com, and the campaigning they do. Perhaps the most important campaign we have run since that which resulted in the formation of Canal and River Trust (C&RT) is to have the Environment Agency (EA) Navigations transferred to C&RT. When I have been out and about some people have questioned the need for this campaign as, at present, there is little sign of a problem except for a back log of dredging. They also point out that the EA staff are doing a very good job keeping their navigations working. These are very good points with which I agree totally. But under the surface all is not well. There are disturbing reports that on the Thames it is impossible to get a boat over 60 foot beyond Oxford due to siltation on bends. In East Anglia all work has stopped on the Fenland link. In my opinion we have been lucky so far, when there is a major failure such as a lock, EA will struggle to find the money to repair it and this will result in a protracted closure or even an attempt to abandon the navigation. Our campaign is proactive trying to prevent the worst happening and it will be a good foundation when we have to react to a major crises in the future.
Another campaign we have been running is to look at the condition of winding points across the canal network. We have produced a “standard� design for a winding hole to be used by restoration groups or where new ones are needed. We have also carried out a survey of the condition of winding points across the country. With Ray Gill, the Middlesex branch planning officer, I recently meet London C&RT to discuss the situation in our area. We quickly established that there was not a definitive list of official winding points in the London Region. IWA and C&RT sat down together to produce a list, omitting the Bow Back waters as these are still under the control of the Olympic Legacy Organisation. We used a number of sources and where three or four of them agreed the winding point it was added to the list. Secondly where two sources agreed and IWA and C&RT felt a turning point would be useful at that point it was added and finally where there were several turning points in a short pound or close together on a longer pound we chose the best/safest one to be the official Winding Point. We hope to be able to publish this list in the near future so that both organisations can monitor the condition and ensure that these winding points remain available in the future.
If you would like to know more about national campaigns and think would like to get more involved please get in touch. Paul Strudwick
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Lost Route In a recent article in Waterways, Spring 2016, The Transfer Case. I noticed the comment of the River Thames, River Wey, Unnavigable / proposed waterway, River Arun. Upon further investigation I came across a book, London’s Lost Route to the Sea by P.A.L Vine. This book details that less than a century ago barges could sail from the Thames to the English Channel through the heart of the Surrey and Sussex by means of the Wey and Arun Junction Canal. Of particular interest is the story of the grandiose plan to build a huge ship canal from London to Portsmouth and of the attempts made to overcome water shortages by using windmills So with some details to hand my wife and I booked a short weekend break and went down to Godalming to investigate. We booked into a hotel, alongside the Wey Navigation (managed by the National Trust). The Wey Navigation forms a green corridor through some of Surrey’s most built-up areas. Much has changed since 1653 when the Wey Navigation was new. It was built 100 years before the Canal Age. It runs 15.5 miles from Guildford to the Thames at Weybridge. The Godalming Navigation, opened in 1764, extended the waterway a further 4 miles to Godalming. On the Saturday morning we went for a walk along the tow path, heading north towards Guildford.
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Lost Route (cont)
One of the many towpath notice boards details that barges transported large quantities of government stores and ammunitions to Godalming, from where it was taken on to the naval arsenal at Portsmouth. Not only did the demand for munitions and supplies to the southern ports increase, but also coastal traders, cautious of moving their wares by sea, began to take greater advantage of the inland waterway network. The 1830’s were the heyday of the waterway when the tonnage carried and the income from tolls were at their highest. Competition from the railways began to take away trade from the waterways from the 1840’s onwards. On the Sunday we made our way up to Dapdune Wharf, which has been on the Navigation since 1650’s. After the Great Fire of London in 1666 there was a huge demand for timber to rebuild the capital. Timber merchants brought large amounts of wood to Dapdune for the barges to carry down river to London.
Most of the business on the Wey was controlled by the Stevens family. They ran a barge haulage business and in 1890’s barge building and repairs at Dapdune Wharf by employing barge builder Edwin Edwards in 1894. Edwin died in 1904 and his eldest son George took over the business until 1955 when his son, Raymond took over till his retirement in 1964. A lot of history and good area to visit. John G Carlaw
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The Susan Trust The Susan Trust is a registered charity which was established in 2005 to preserve, restore and operate the lighter, Susan, on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation in Essex. Susan was built in 1953 to carry timber from Heybridge Basin near Maldon to Springfield Basin in Chelmsford. She worked until 1972 when all commercial traffic on the Navigation ceased. After being rescued by IWA Chelmsford Branch and a succession of different owners, Susan ended up in the care of Chelmsford Borough Council Museums Service. She was brought back to Chelmsford and moored on the River Chelmer at Sandford Mill, Chelmsford’s Industrial Museum. Susan became an impressive exhibit in the Museum and gave demonstration trips on open days. She also attended boat rallies and other festivals along the Navigation.
In 2002, it was discovered that Susan’s main keel was rotting and that other timbers also needed to be replaced. The cost of these repairs was considerable and Chelmsford Borough Council could not fund these from council tax revenue. The Council then decided to have Susan lifted out of the river and placed on a concrete base in the grounds of Sandford Mill. There was considerable opposition to this plan because many people wanted Susan to remain as an operational boat. As a result, The Susan Trust was formed with the aim of restoring Susan to working order and operating her on the Navigation. The Trust is a partnership of experienced organisations which have either owned Susan in the past or have an interest in her. The organisations represented are Chelmsford City Council, Inland Waterways Association, Essex Waterways Limited, Chelmer Canal Trust and Chelmer Lighter Preservation Society.
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The Susan Trust (cont)
In 2006, Chelmsford Borough Council transferred the ownership of Susan to The Susan Trust. Fundraising commenced and in 2010, sufficient money had been raised to commence restoration. Susan was towed from Sandford Mill to the St Osyth Boatyard near Clacton. She went into a dry dock where the main keel was replaced as a matter of urgency. Susan was then moved to shallow water until the Trust had raised sufficient money to complete the next stage of the restoration. Susan is now in dry dock again . The framework of the hull has been rebuilt and the hull is currently being re-planked. This will make the hull watertight. There is still work to be done inside the hull, the engine needs to be re-installed and new rudders constructed. The total cost of all the restoration work is estimated to be £150,000 and The Susan Trust have so far raised in excess of £115,000. Any donations would be gratefully received. Saving the only surviving timber built and first motorised lighter from the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation as a working vessel is of great historical value to both Chelmsford and the County of Essex. When Susan has been restored, she will return to her base at Sandford Mill and will give trips along the Navigation. A trip in a historic lighter along a 200 year old Navigation in a conservation area must be a tourist attraction. Website – www.susantrust.btck.co.uk. E-Mail – susantrust@btinternet.com Donations - localgiving.org.uk/susantrust David Goodridge
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The Wendover Arm Christine and I regularly attend the Southern Canals Association meetings and occasionally those of the Northern Canals Association. These provide an opportunity for Canal Societies and Trusts to get together to learn about each others’ restoration schemes and topics and to be updated on their progress as well as the national situation from IWA and the Canal and Rivers Trust. Southern Canal meetings are often held at Devizes on the Kennet & Avon Canal providing the opportunity to also visit the impressive Caen Hill flight of locks nearby. Once a year there is usually a visit to a restoration scheme and this April the meeting was held at Aston Clinton on the Wendover Arm at the invitation of the Wendover Trust. The days programme included a site visit to Phase 1 of their restoration at the Whitehouse and Drayton Beauchamp sites. The Wendover Arm is a branch from the Grand Union Canal (originally the Grand Junction Canal), the major inland waterway linking London and the Midlands. As the route reached its summit at Tring in the Chiltern Hills, a continuous supply of water was required to replace that lost by the use of the locks at both ends. To overcome this problem an Act of Parliament was initiated and the construction of the Wendover Arm was authorised to carry spring water from a plentiful supply at Wendover to the Tring Summit and its reservoirs. Construction began in 1793. It was made navigable for a small additional cost and the Arm opened in 1797 (the same year as the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation). The Arm starts in Wendover and winds its way through several villages for nearly 7 miles following the 390ft contour line around the Chiltern Hills before joining the main Grand Union Canal at Bulbourne Junction near Tring in Hertfordshire. The only lock is a stop lock near Tringford Pumping Station. Initially the canal was a success but large volumes of water were being lost due to leakage. Despite many attempts to re-line the canal bed, the leakage increased and the canal closed to Navigation in 1904. Sections remained in water in order to fulfil its original objective of feeding water into the Grand Union summit. Part of the length was reduced in depth and part (a middle section of almost 2 miles) was allowed to become dry and water was fed to the summit level by a pipe under the canal bed.
Laying the Concrete Slab
Lining the Bed
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The Wendover Arm (cont) The initial objective of the Wendover Arm Trust is to restore the dry section to navigation and its ultimate objective is to restore navigation back to Wendover. The Arm is currently navigable from Bulbourne Junction up to the Tringford Pumping Station. This was where our visit commenced. The pumping station is a Grade II listed building built in 1817 that houses pumps that take water from the Tring Reservoirs up to the Wendover Arm, where it flows to the main Grand Union at Bulbourne Junction. The original Boulton and Watt steam engine was in service until 1927. Electric pumps were installed in 1928 and are still operational.
Whitehouses
Close to the pumping station is Little Tring Bridge. Whilst this appears to be a traditional canal bridge, it was actually built in 2001 as a concrete structure faced with hand-made bricks in the style of the original bridge. Funds were provided by the Trust. A new winding hole (for turning boats) has been constructed just beyond the bridge at the current head of navigation. We then walked over the hills to the Whitehouse and Drayton Beauchamp sites. At Whitehouses there are the remains of a second pumping station built in 1802 to pump water from Wilstone Reservoir into the Arm. At Drayton Beauchamp work is under way to locate the line of the pipe under the canal bed and place a reinforced concrete slab over this to protect the canal bed from possible collapse of the pipeline. The bed is then being re-profiled and lined ready for re-watering. The canal is owned by the Canal and River Trust but as they are only permitted by legal constraints to carry out essential maintenance to keep the tow path clear and to ensure the supply of water from Wendover reaches the Tring summit, all restoration work is being carried out by volunteers. All monies are raised by the Trust through grants, donations and fund raising activities. The visit was yet another impressive example of what is being achieved by Canal Societies, Trusts and volunteers in re-opening waterways throughout the country. Such projects make our local proposal to construct a new 170 metre long cut in Chelmsford to connect the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation with the city’s rivers look easy. It would be if only there was more local political support! Roy Chandler
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Canal Cavalcade On a beautiful sunny morning on the last day of April Roy and I set off for the Regents Canal in London. Although we have been members of IWA since 1974 and attended many IWA Festivals we have never been to the Canal Cavalcade so we were delighted to be invited as special guests.
The Paddington Basin was already attracting crowds of people when we arrived. As we walked along the tow path we passed an astonishing number of narrow boats and wide beam boats. Many were being decorated for the pageant that was to be held in the afternoon. We wandered back to the electric powered boats that was to be the meeting place for the invited guests. After a buffet lunch, speeches and the handing over of a cheque by Paul Strudwick, IWA London Region Chairman to Richard Parry, Chief Executive of the Canal and Rivers Trust. The £4,750.00 was IWA’s contribution towards the refurbishment of Carpenters Road Lock in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We then joined guests on the Lady Mildmay trip boat to watch the opening ceremony by the Mayor of Paddington. There then followed the pageant of boats to be judged by the Mayor, Les Etheridge and others. There were many boats decorated to send a message and Roy and I agreed that the boat sending out the message that you should not feed ducks with bread but with green vegetables was the best.
Later in the afternoon we continued our tow path walk passing a variety of food stalls, beer tents, trade stalls, children's activities and gift stalls. We met many WRG friends and it was lovely to see crowds of people and families having a great time. The Canal Cavalcade is well worth a visit, I am sure we will go again. Chris Chandler 10
Essex Waterways Update With work on Paper Mill Lock complete and the lock re-opened for Easter, it was time for the next lock repair. Problems with the paddles on the top gates at Cuton Lock had been reported but the actual problem could not be investigated without partial damming of the lock. The EWL team was therefore dispatched to the lock on board DREDGER which was used to install the upper dam to allow de-watering of the upper section. It was found that one paddle had become so badly eroded that almost half of the timber paddle was missing. Both top paddles were therefore replaced and the lock re-opened before the week was over. The new Navigation Manager, David Smart, is now in post and based at Paper Mill Lock where he is also dealing with enquiries regarding moorings on the Navigation. This is a busy time of year for mooring enquiries and also a busy time for visiting boats at Heybridge Basin.
Boat club bookings at Heybridge Basin usually start in March leading through to a very busy June when clubs visit most weekends, dependant upon suitable tides. The end of April saw Brightlingsea Power Boat Club, regular visitors, arrive at the Basin. Their visit adds variety to the Heybridge Basin scene which is usually dominated by visiting sailing craft.
Immediately after their visit a Belgium sailing club arrived at short notice for a several day visit. Their boats were moored up with their flags flying creating a very colourful scene from which the local pubs were seen to benefit! The visitors had an enjoyable few days claiming that it was a wonderful place to visit.
The Heybridge Basin lock top gates are to be replaced during next winter, but two of the four paddles had been out of operation due to wear. The lower sliding gate has been removed also ready for replacement next winter, thus only the shortened lock is available for use. With top gate paddles out of action, the locking of boat clubs at busy times had become slow. It was therefore concluded that paddle repairs would need to be undertaken. This work involved the hiring of a team of five professional divers, the shaping of two new timber paddles and their installation during a days’ lock stoppage. Roy Chandler 11
Social Information From September 2016 for our new season we will meet at the Galleywood Heritage Centre in Chelmsford 1 mile from the A12 junction 16. Web site for further information on directions / local map. www.galleywoodheritagecentre.org.uk The full address is The Galleywood Heritage Centre, The Common, Galleywood Chelmsford Essex CM2 8TR Thursday 8th September We are delighted to be able to welcome Richard Parry the Chief Executive Officer of Canal and River Trust to tell us about the current work, achievements, challenges and future plans of CRT. Please try and come to this meeting at our new venue and take the opportunity to ask Richard some questions. Thursday 13th October David Newman : Salt Extraction from the Blackwater Estuary Thursday 10th November Ivan Cane : North Walsham & Dilham Canal 1826-2026 - An Update Ivan last came to talk to us in 2011. This time he will update, firstly reminding us of the story of Norfolk's only locked canal, looking at its history, construction, working life and demise. Then he will look at the current restoration achievements, challenges and proposals for the coming decade. This unique Norfolk industrial artifact represents one of the later canals built in the country, and the only one engineered by John Millington. Ivan Cane is the East Anglian Waterways Association's Archivist for the North Walsham & Dilham Canal Records. Thursday 8th December Branch social bring and share Christmas buffet and quiz Rebecca Loader
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Sailing Barge Gladys Thames Sailing Barge Gladys spends the winter in Heybridge Basin where maintenance is carried out before she returns to St Catherines Basin in London for the summer season. Gladys along with recently restored Sailing Barge Thalata add interest and colour to the Basin during the winter.
Sailing Barges were the lorry of their day, plying their trade more often than not, within the relative comfort of the Thames Estuary. Some Barges ventured further afield around the country, to Ireland and across to the continent. Barges were usually built to order and had specific trade in mind. Gladys was built for the grain trade, she carried wheat from Tilbury docks to Ipswich where the milling firm Cranfields turned the grain to flour.
She was initially built for a subcontract firm called Whitmores who operated the barge exclusively for Cranfields in carrying the cargo. She was built in 1901 by Canns of Harwich and named Gladys after one of the daughters of Whitmore. Within a few years she was bought by Cranfields and operated by themselves (along with other barges). She ploughed this lonely furrow under sail until 1953 when she had her first engine fitted. Gradually, she became a motor barge. In the early 70’s Cranfields was bought out by Allied mills, part of the Weston group of companies. On inspection of the books by the accountants it was discovered that they had not only bought the Mill but had inadvertently bought two Sailing Barges! Gary Weston, the then CEO decided to have Gladys converted to become his Yacht and used her for holidays. She went to the Channel Islands and Holland, with a motor launch in attendance at a discreet distance in way of a lifeboat should anything go wrong! It didn’t. Underused, she was taken to London and used to wine and dine the great and the good, what we now term corporate entertainment. To this day she still carries a ‘cargo’ of people on private business trips typically four hour evening cruises down through the opening Tower bridge to Woolwich and back up to London Bridge City Pier. She made the Headlines across the world in 1998 when the then President Clintons motorcade was split either side of Tower bridge when Gladys came through leaving Security one side and the Clintons on the other. “Gladys waits for no Man” was the headline in the Times! Gladys can proudly boast as being the last and only Barge to still be involved with the trade for which she was built albeit, with an arguably more demanding cargo! Grant Everiss 13
Gladys Leaving Heybridge Basin
Photos by Roy Chandler Mid Week Working Parties The mowing season is now well and truly with us. At the time of writing we are half way through the third cut; and are managing to cut each lock at about three-weekly intervals. But, at the moment, we are not really keeping up with the grass – which is growing like the clappers! After three weeks each lock looks as if it hasn’t been mowed for months. Hopefully it will soon settle down. What else have we done? Whilst mowing, we always do a litter clearance. At Paper Mill we have dismantled the old lock gates – salvaging the iron-work for future repairs and some of the timber for riverside benches. We have helped cut up and remove a fallen tree near the north moorings at Paper Mill. We have also taken a load of scrap metal to the scrap yard, which earns a few extra pounds for Essex Waterways Ltd. But our main activity is the mowing and this will remain so until around October. John Gale Essex WRG Working Parties On the weekend of 4th and 5th June there was another Essex WRG working party on the Navigation. As holidays and illnesses intertvened, it was a small but select gathering consisting of Wendy, Steve, Bob K, and myself with Chris representing the Branch. As the work was painting both the ‘Blue trailer’ and the pump-out trailer our numbers were about right – any more and we would have been tripping over each other. The work was based at the ‘Canoe Store’ at Heybridge so instead of taking flasks for elevenses we took an electric kettle – which was much better. At the end of the weekend both trailers looked much smarter with two coats of paint, although it has become obvious that the blue trailer will need quite a lot of welding over next winter as rust has made considerable inroads since Dave Dobbin and I last painted it in 2008. John Gale
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Just For Fun SUDOKU Fill in the grid so that each row, column and 3 x 3 block contains the numbers one to nine (1 - 9) 7 9
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Branch Committee If you have any topics or subject that you wish to bring to the committees attention please use the contact details below Molly Beard:
Chairman
molly.beard@waterways.org.uk
John Gale:
Vice Chairman & Treasurer.
24 Longleaf Drive, Braintree CM7 1XS
Paul Strudwick:
London Region Chairman.
Paul.strudwick@waterways.org.uk
Chris Chandler:
Secretary.
Chris.chandler@waterways.org.uk
Roy Chandler:
Planning and Conservation.
Roy.chandler@waterways.org.uk
John Carlaw:
Newsletter and Membership.
Chelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk John.carlaw@waterways.org.uk
Mike Huggett:
Publicity.
Mike.huggett@waterways.org.uk
Stephanie Mason:
Refreshments.
None
Kirsten Smith:
Youth.
None
Rebecca Loader
Social Secretary
rebecca.loader@waterways.org.uk
Adam Wyllie:
Branch Web Editor.
Adam.wyllie@waterways.org.uk
IWA Chelmsford Web Address
http://www.waterways.org.uk/chelmsford
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