Egypt4u

A weekend in Horus's part of the world.
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I am referring to the west midlands, and Staffordshire in particular. This is 'Shires' country and on our way north on Friday we went into Leicestershire, Derbyshire, possibly clipped Nottinghamshire, and then into Staffordshire, in relatively few miles and just a little further on we would have reached Horus's home county. Our only niece and nephew live in that area and as we see them infrequently, we enlisted our daughter and her husband to do the transport and we would do the hotel bill. In fact we only had one full day, Saturday, and here is a brief account of what we did on that day. I have included quite a lot of pictures, some I cropped to 16 x 9 to better suit the image, and a couple include family members; not something I usually do but I broke a habit here.

In past years we have traveled on our own but as I no longer drive, it is 4 years since our last trip 'up north'. The day was revisiting for us but our daughter and son in law had expressed a wish to visit places we had told them about. So my apologies that many pictures will be similar to ones posted previously.

We stayed at The Boars Head Hotel, a small country Inn with just 23 comfortable rooms and excellent bars and restaurant. This is the road view and the accommodation block to the side.


Just a dozen miles or so from the hotel is the National Memorial Arboretum. This is an area of around 150 acres central to which is the National Military Memorial. I had to borrow this image from online. I had my scooter and went around the circular path to reach the top. The second image is from inside the memorial which has many thousands of names inscribed on the walls.


Poppies are featured just now in the gift shop.


Around the grounds are many hundreds of individual memorials to those who have served their country and made the ultimate sacrifice. This example is to those who died in the 1982 Falklands conflict with Argentina.


In addition there are thousands of trees, most with a small plaque of dedication to one individual, placed there by family. It is a really lovely place and so good to have a central location where those who have served and died for the cause are remembered.

Next stop was a few miles back down the road to Fradley Junction. This is the point on the midlands canal system where the Trent and Mersey Canal is joined by the Coventry Canal. This is where the canals join, and the swans and ducks probably have a regular feeding station.


It is a great location with locks, bridges over the canal with the tightest access for the canal boats under the bridges, and a great pub The Swan.


This man sells bottled gas and coal from his narrow boat to the canal dwellers. The distance marker is for the Trent and Mersey Canal Society.


The Swan has become a favourite pub for me. It is what I call 'a proper pub'. Small, intimate, scrubbed wooden tables, nice log fire, great range of ales and really good unfussy pub grub. I love the place and would travel a long way to go to 'The Swan'.


In the evening I had invited our local relatives to join us for dinner at the Boars Head. The main restaurant was cleared for a wedding evening for 110 guests so our table was set in the bar restaurant. This was fine with a hearty log fire and a stuffed boars head looking down on us.


I have chosen not to bore you with the travel problems. The journey north on Friday took 6 hours to travel little over 200 miles. The return on Sunday mid day was much better at three and a half hours. Travel around the country is diabolical at present, friends of our daughter took eleven and a half hours to get home from the lake district.

Excellent and lovely photos! I super enjoyed your day and time there too! (Hope I didn't eat too much at The Swan - the meal look lovely)

Loved the photo of all the souvenirs/mugs with poppies on them. There is nothing like that here (just the small lapel poppies are sold) that I've seen but those were all quite nice.

The swans on the water can almost knock on the window for treats and look like they could easily beat out the ducks if they put their mind to it.

Your photos of the arched bridge over the canal really shows how narrow the water ways are.

The pub looked lovely and the boars head looked pretty neat too. Interesting way to decorate.

Terrific photos Grandad!

Glad you enjoyed your visit Grandad and I hope you and your lovely wife were shown our usual hospitality, she seemed to be enjoying her visit 'up North' . As usual the photographs were excellent and interesting, especially as you know the Trent & Mersey canal is a favourite of mine for walking Annie, even today I was out with my daughter and we took in a short section of it. A little bit of information to add to your knowledge of the cast iron sign post you included:
The length of the canal is 92 miles long (in old money) and the numbers on both sides should always add up to 92 regardless of where you are
There are a couple of exceptions to this along the way, but they are rare errors.
There are around 2/3rds of the original signs still remaining and the one in your photo is a reproduction identified by the lettersT&MCS and were added in the 1970s.
All the originals were cast at a foundry in the village of Stone not far frome where you were visiting and all those originals bear the legend 'Stone' with the date of 1810 just below the name.

This is an original one although the date is less clear, I must take a more recent one.


I don't want to hijack your thread, but as LLL commented on the narrowness of the locks I thought she should get an idea of how tight it is to get a barge into the Harecastle Tunnel at the Kidsgrove end on the Trent & Mersey Canal.


It is about 1.6 miles long and once inside you are in complete darkness. I have taken a boat through this tunnel in the opposite direction to this time lapse video.


This shows what happens when a barge breaks down in the tunnel, now you know what the small blue barge is for in the first video

Interesting about the dates on the sign posts and definitely the tunnel is pretty dark and long. Would definitely be hard if you were claustrophobic.

The rescue is interesting too. That would be so hard as there is literally no wiggle room and I guess part of the battle would be whether to go backwards or forwards. Also would NOT want to ever have to wait in the total dark to be rescued! Might think about taking my chance swimming out vs waiting in total darkness.

What is always amazing though is all the hard physical manual labour that went into so much building in the past. It was definitely hard working but the work and the finished product sure lasted.

Thanks for sharing your lovely/interesting day out, your pictures are great

The hotel looks so quaint although I don't fancy that bore looking down on me

You & your family look so happy with your meeting up, it's always nice to keep in touch

Thank you for your nice comments folks and your interest in our short weekend trip. Having now had both cataracts dealt with, it is good to be able to use a camera again.

You are certainly not hijacking my thread H. As a local to the area your knowledge is always welcome. My daughter and SiL were SO impressed watching the boats passing through the locks that they have decided to return next spring and explore other parts of the canal system.

I took this picture of a distance marker on an earlier visit. This was at Stone so would this be an original or is it marked Stone because that is where it is located?


Yes Horus we did find a friendly welcome from 'You folks up north' Something that was very noticeable was the absence of any eastern Europeans in the hotel or the pub. Here in the south, the hospitality business is heavily staffed with people from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland etc.

With the years passing I particularly wanted to visit to see my niece and nephew. They are local and were born in Draycott in the Clay so are heavily local accented. My brother lives in Tutbury and he has 'acquired' the vernacular but as he lives for 6 months each year in Australia I am not sure how you would describe his accent.

Lovely photos Grandad and pleased to hear that you all had a wonderful time despite your prolonged journey up there.

We do have some beautiful places in this country but i'm ashamed to say that there are many i have never visited,travelled all over the world but not my own country sadly,possibly if we could guarantee better weather it would be more of an incentive to get out and about more.

My late husband and I ran a pub on the A68 almost on the borders and we used to get quite a few Americans staying who had been to see the Roman Wall and they actually knew more about it than I did,so i had to go and buy a book and read up it's history.Typical though when it's right on your doorstep it often isn't of much interest to you.

I think your comment is typical of many people Hurghadapat. We have
so much to be proud of but, as you say, foreigners often know more than we do.
My mother lived in Canterbury all her life and never once set foot in our majestic cathedral. Happy to say, although not religious in any way, I am a frequent visitor just to explore and marvel at the place.

Really pleased that you and your relatives enjoyed our area on your (all too short) visit. I am not surprised that your daughter and SIL were impressed by our canal system, we have some great features of Victorian engineering along the canals and surrounds. Tell them to hire a boat and to do 'The Cheshire Ring' they will pass through some lovely countryside and more locks than you can shake a stick at. If they get up into the next county of Cheshire tell them not to miss visiting the 'Aderton Boat Lift' near Northwich.

As to your question about the sign post (note how the numbers add up to 92 ) that is an original sign, it just so happens to be located in Stone, the place where it was made, all the original ones will have the word Stone plus the date of 1810 on them. plus the mileage to and from Shardlow & Preston Brook, so each one is unique.

Just off now for a short walk with Annie along the Macclesfield canal, the sign posts there are all of cut stone.

@ HurgardaPat
I used to stay at a pub called the 'Twice Brewed Inn' on the old military road whenever I walked along Hadrians Wall.

Would I be right in thinking that the horses in the old days would have gone over the hill and the men would have laid in their backs on top of the cabin and walked on the top of the tunnel to get the boat through? I'm sure I've seen something about that somewhere, but maybe not this particular tunnel?

@Mad Dilys I am sure you are correct MD and even at those narrow bridges the horse would be walked around the outside. No doubt Horus will have something to add on that.
Something that I did notice was that most of the narrow boats now have an array of solar cells on the roof. I have no idea how much power they would generate but I expect they would charge their batteries at least for lighting.

@Horus Thanks for the tip mate, I will tell them because they were seriously talking about doing a holiday on a narrow boat.

Mad Dilys wrote:Would I be right in thinking that the horses in the old days would have gone over the hill and the men would have laid in their backs on top of the cabin and walked on the top of the tunnel to get the boat through? I'm sure I've seen something about that somewhere, but maybe not this particular tunnel?

MD, you are correct with regards to the ‘old’ tunnel that was built by the engineer James Brindley between 1770 and 1777 and this was/is known as a ‘Legging’ tunnel because the Bargees would unhitch the horse then have to lie on their backs on the roof of the barge and ‘leg it’ through the tunnel. You can see it to the right of the ‘new’ Harecastle Tunnel that was later built by Thomas Telford and completed in 1827. The unhitched horses would then be walked over the Harecastle Hill to meet the barge at the other end, that road still bears the name of ‘Boat Horse Lane’ and you can see it passing over the tunnel. The Telford Tunnel in the videos did use to have a tow path for horses so it was not a ‘legging’ tunnel, but due to subsidence it was removed in the 1970s, but you can see a remnant at each end still visible in the videos.

The Brindley 'Legging' tunnel is on the right (now closed off)


The unhitched horses would pass over the tunnel along Boat Horse Lane


Regarding bridges, there are many different types along the canal system and as with the locks themselves they were designed to avoid where possible the need to unhitch the horse as you passed through them. Most canals only have a tow path on one side and on occasion the path will need to switch from one side to the other, to facilitate this they would build this type of bridge where the horse would walk up the slope, then cross over the bridge before coming down again and then passing under the bridge to continue in the same direction if leaving the tunnel. If entering the tunnel they would first pass under the bridge and turn around then again walk over and down the other side they would then be on the correct side for the tunnel where the tow path is located on the left hand side at this end.

@Horus
H, looking through my pics I noticed different lock gate designs. The first picture is the type that I would expect for a high drop. Would I be correct in thinking that the second picture, that looks as if it is just opened with the long arm, is for a shallow drop?


BTW, the second picture is of a lock identified as 'Middle Lock 18' at Fradley.

Grandad, in true LLL fashion you have asked a question that requires a more detailed answer
I am off out shortly for a walk with Annie, so later in the day I will write up a reply for you and then post it on here

I still think it is interesting how these gates were built eons ago and they're still functioning.

OK Grandad with regards to the lock gates question, first of all as you can imagine most if not all have been replaced or at least renovated over their long history and to that end I can tell you that your lock gates are of a more modern design using steel instead of heavy timber for the balance arms and parts of the gate, although the sluice gates (those angled ratchet things in front of the single gate) look to be original fixtures. I refer to the long arm as a balance beam because that is also a part of its function, the gate/gates are in fact pivoted at the base in a fairly loose socket and the arm as well as giving leverage also counterweights the gate to make for easier opening.

Partly restored lock gates still retaining the wooden balance arms and wooden gates


The lower double 'Vee' gates, note the gap near the bottom, the loose lower socket will allow the gates to lift and make a seal


As to the single versus double gate, the answer is quite simple. The majority of ‘narrow’ locks have this design, it is because the single gate is always on the highest side of the lock itself and therefore does not hold back as much water. It is smaller in height than the double set which as you will see always close with a ‘Vee’ against the higher water level thus keeping them fairly watertight as the pressure increases, these double gates are always much taller and so will take more muscle to open them, having it as two smaller gates reduces the effort in opening them. In addition once the barge is in the lock chamber it requires less space to open the shorter gates inward than it would with one single width gate.

Lower double gate and single top gate.
In the days when all locks were functioning a system would exist where boats would enter via the single gate and often these were closed by tieing a rope to the arm and the barge, thus closing it when the barge was inside the lock. Nowadays one or two locks may be in use in any one location dependant upon the condition of the locks themselves, some are permanently closed off necessitating up and down traffic to use the same lock..


If you look into an empty lock you will see that the single gate does not go all the way down and stops on the top of a ‘cill’. The reason being that the water is always high enough at this side for the barge to pass over the ‘cill’ prior to the water level being lowered, whereas the double gates have to extend well below the final water level when the lock is empty so that there is nothing to impede the barge as it exits or enters the lock.

Cill located beneath the single gate.


This lock was fully restored around 2004, a good tip for spotting an unrestored lock is the gap between the two sides of the walkway bridge and also handrails that pass over the lock from side to side. This was to allow the horses tow rope to pass through the gap, modern or restored bridges and rails do not have the gap


Our canal system can be really fascinating from an engineering standpoint and I love walking them and finding things out about them and I hope this has added to your knowledge to some degree, but I don’t want to bore you all to death talking about canals.

@Horus
Thank you for that very detailed explanation H I think that should be archived because the question might well be asked again in the future.
I think the canal system is one of the most important relics of our industrial heritage. I was looking to buy a map of the canals and I think I read that there are around 2000 miles of navigable canal existing today, thanks to large extent to conservation societies.

2000 or thereabouts miles is pretty impressive.

Great info H! I enjoyed it

Twice Brewed Inn...still going strong Horus.

http://www.twicebrewedinn.co.uk/

Thanks for that Pat it is many years since I stayed there and I would not recognise it, they have certainly improved the place. Just out of interest, if you look at their brochure picture where the lone Sycamore tree sits in that dip in the hillside, that is the exact spot where Kevin Costner in the film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves fights off the sherriffs soldiers who are trying to capture a young boy hiding in that tree. I have walked that stretch very often and as we passed this point we would always call out "Hey up! here's Kev's tree"

You can see it at the start of this video