An afternoon at Foxton locks (with added alpacas)

I went to Foxton Locks this afternoon. I met these charming alpacas, and there were boats, locks, the remains of an Edwardian inclined plane and stuff too.

Growing up at Foxton Locks around 1910

Another video from Bob Trubshaw. He writes on YouTube:

My maternal grandmother – known as a child as Dorothy Durran and in later life as Sarah Dallaston – spent her junior school years living at Bottom Lock Cottage at Foxton Locks. Her family were the lockkeepers at Foxton in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  

I interviewed Sarah in 1988 and this video mostly uses these recordings.  In 1991 I published edited transcripts of the interviews, along with family photographs, as a booklet called Around Foxton.  In 2016 that booklet was revised and made available as a free PDF.

For an excellent video about the history of Foxton Locks see @OurHistoryUnderfoot and their video Foxton Locks and the inclined plane by foot, narrow boat and drone.

An old canal warehouse at Ellesmere in Shropshire

This former canal warehouse, with its thumping great ghost sign, is to be found by the canal basin at Ellesmere in Shropshire.

The basin is at the end of a short arm off what is now called the Llangollen Canal. I took plenty more photos of the town and its canal, which I'll post another day.

Horse Nell 'stable' after canal rescue

Photo: Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service   

I may be in Shropshire, but our Headline of the Day comes from the BBC News Leicestershire pages:

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said they were called to Aylestone Meadows after Nell "must have decided to cool-off in the canal near the Packhorse Bridge" but suddenly became stuck in the waterway.

A technical rescue team from Southern Station and a crew from Wigston Fire Station were dispatched to the scene on Saturday evening, and working alongside local farmers they lifted the animal out and had her checked over by a vet.

A statement from the service said Nell now "appears to be in a stable condition" at home, adding: "You can lead a horse to water, but it can be a struggle getting it back out again."

The judges did find a Shropshire Star story to commend highly:

"The impact would be huge": Residents rally against plans for three new homes in Shropshire village

The hidden history of Euston, a lost canal and Cumberland Market

John Rogers takes us on a walk through a quarter of Camden that surprises even him.

His blurb on YouTube says:

From the Euston Station redevelopment, the site of the Euston Arch and the Bree Louise pub we go looking for a reservoir of the New River. In this area, North Gower Street, we have Speedy's Cafe and the filing location used in the TV show Sherlock for 221b Baker Street. 

From here we go to Cumberland Market, once London's last hay and straw market and look for the location of the Canal basin that served the market right until the 1930s. 

This fascinating Hidden London History walk then follows the route of the Cumberland Arm of the Regent's Canal to the point where it joined the main course of the canal.

John Rogers has a Patreon account to support his videos and blogs at The Lost Byway.

Cromford Moor Mine and the legend of the Black Rocks

Assailed by hay fever, flying insects and stinging nettles, Gareth Icke is our guide for a walk in the hills above the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire/

With that setting, disused lead mines, white spoil heaps and unlikely-sounding local folklore, this video ticks a lot of Liberal England boxes.

For more like it, subscribe to The Walk on YouTube.

Navigating for Change calls for more investment in Fenland rivers

A flotilla of boats will make its way up the Great Ouse from St Ives to Bedford this month to highlight a critical lack of investment in the river and in Britain’s inland waterways generally.

Organised by the Great Ouse Boating Association and Fund Britain’s Waterways, the Navigating for Change campaign cruise will take place from July 13-18, travelling some 25 miles along the Great Ouse.

The flotilla will stop at riverside towns including Huntingdon and St Neots before arriving at the Bedford River Festival on July 17

The cruise is intended to draw attention to the growing funding crisis affecting waterways managed by the Environment Agency, which is responsible for maintaining the River Great Ouse in a safe and navigable condition.

According to the organisers, the Environment Agency has identified an annual funding shortfall of between £6m and £11m across the Anglia region. They say that around 40 of the region’s 60 locks and weirs are approaching the end of their operational lives, with no capital renewal programme in place.

Campaigners argue the consequences are already being felt across the network. Navigation on the River Cam was suspended for more than 18 months during 2024/5 following the structural failure of two lock islands, with repairs estimated to cost £10m. Meanwhile Brandon Lock on the Little Ouse remains closed because of a lack of funding for repairs and channel clearance.

For more information on the flotilla and Navigation for Change, go to Towpath Talk.

Grace Dieu: A railway, a canal and a priory in ruins

This video takes us to Thringstone in west Leicestershire to walk the disused Charnwood Forest Railway, which once terminated at Loughborough Derby Road station. It's a walk I've thought of doing myself.

There are glimpses of the short-lived Charnwood Forest Canal, which also ran towards Loughborough,  though not quite far enough to reach the River Soar, so it was connected the wider canal system by a wagonway.

And then we reach the ruins of Grace Dieu Priory. The Friends of Grace Dieu will tell you all about them.

The poet Wordsworth writes:

Beneath yon eastern ridge, the craggy bound,

Rugged and high, of Charnwood’s forest ground,

Stand yet, but, Stranger, hidden from thy view

The ivied ruins of forlorn Grace Dieu,

Erst a religious House, which day and night

With hymns resounded and the chanted rite.

The Joy of Six 1507

"These settings are not registered – as they should be by law – with Ofsted. They are meant to be temporary, but a recent report by the children’s commissioner found the average placement lasted six months – one child had been in a 'holiday camp/activity centre' for almost nine months." Alexandra Topping explains why social workers are forced to place children in unregistered homes.

Heather Stewart analyses Labour's crabwise approach to closer economic ties with the EU.

Richard Kemp condemns the snobbery behind the use of classical music to disperse groups of young people: "I have instead asked the Council and Police to support the 'In Harmony' programme of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic which is taking music playing into some of the most deprived areas of Liverpool both during the day and evening. During the day they ensure that every child in three schools gets to play a musical instrument for an hour a week for three years."

"I hope what comes across at the end is an invitation for people to consider the aspects of British culture that they want to celebrate. Albion can't be determined by me; this is a personal quest and a personal vision of the aspects of Britishness that I feel need to be celebrated. It's an invitation for people to say: "I have a stake here, and what do I want to champion?" Zakia Sewell talks to Michaela Makusha about her first book, Finding Albion.

Rob Hakimian reports on a scheme to use the Grand Union Canal to transfer water from the Midlands to London and the South East.

"I have a soft spot for Waddon (1937). Beneath garish commercial signage is a striking Modernist building which can hold its own against any inter-war Tube station." Daniel Wright takes us on a tour of the South London railway stations built between the wars to rival the striking architecture of those on the Underground.

Exploring the disused railway tunnels at Standedge

Britain's longest canal tunnel is Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. It runs for three and a quarter miles, taking boats from Marsden in West Yorkshire and Diggle in Greater Manchester.  Before local government reorganisation in 1974, both ends of the tunnel were in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The canal tunnel opened in 1811, and by the end of the 19th century three railway tunnels had been built more or less in parallel to it. Two of them have long been disused, and it is these that the video explores.

As you will see, the four tunnels are still linked underground and contain many surprises. Don't have nightmares.

The LNWR branch line from Weedon to Leamington Spa

It's time we had another good disused railway video. This one follows the route of the old LNWR branch line between Weedon and Leamington Spa.

Wolfhampcote is mentioned. As I discovered at the age of 10 on a family canal holiday, here you will find a deserted medieval village whose church still survives, two abandoned railway lines (the one the video is about and the Great Central main line) and an abandoned meander of the Oxford Canal, complete with a tunnel.

Is it any wonder I turned out how I did?

GUEST POST The Red Lion, Evesham, and the Warwickshire Avon

River Avon and Workman Gardens, Evesham

Peter Chambers voyages along the Severn and Shakespeare's Avon, visits an Evesham pub and consults the accounts of the Avon Navigation Trust.

For the English boater who has completed the delights of the Trent and its disappearing power stations and riverside pubs other venues await. One such is a trip down the Severn and up the Warwickshire Avon, with a stay at the tourist trap of Stratford when leaving the river.

It is worth a stay at Evesham on the way. We had embarked a local guide with knowledge of both volunteer water pollution activism and the best drinking places. Before we were done I could identify a CSO (combined sewer overflow) and an Environment Agency solar panel, which indicates a remote monitoring system nearby. If I had watched the documentary Dirty Business before the trip, I might have understood better why they are located where they are.

After a thirsty tour of the Lower Avon we moored at Workman Gardens at Evesham. There is plentiful mooring there although it is not technically flood safe (for example, using tall poles to moor on). However, the weather forecast said we would be safe that week.

And so up hill to the Red Lion for drinks before dinner. This is an unusual pub, aiming not so much for real ale as real everything. Real cider, real music, real atmosphere. It has a shop front exterior rather than a faux olde worlde tourist appearance. The guest ales appear on a hand written list and the tables are small and mismatched. You can even have tea. Well behaved dogs welcome. 

This was a great place to spend an hour before going on to dinner at the River Avon Restaurant. Happily, being up the hill from Workman Gardens, it is not going to flood.

Evesham was a nice break between the Lower Avon starting with Tewksbury on the Severn and the Upper Avon ending near Stratford. A chance to pick up on some local knowledge.

It was also interesting to come across the Charity Commission filings from the Avon Navigation Trust (ANT) that document the state of the trust in 2020 and 2024. In 2020, ANT turned in £959,995 (larger than a parish council but smaller than a principal council) and had a single employee earning a reportable remuneration between £80,0001 and £90,000 (about 8.9 per cent).

By 2024, ANT had an income of £1,058,900 and reportable (individuals on £60+k) of one between £60,001 to £70,000 and one between £100,001 and £110,000 (about 16 per cent). The cost of governance seems to have nearly doubled. Happily there is a lot more detail on file to dig into.

Peter Chambers is a Liberal Democrat member from Hampshire.

An elephants' graveyard: Toton sidings and locomotive depot today

Years ago, I was on a rare passenger working through Toton. The ranks of stored wagons and locomotives made it feel like an elephants' graveyard,

As Our History Underfoot – the new name for the old Trekking Exploration account – discovers here, the vast yards and loco depot Toton are largely derelict today. This was to have been the site of the East Midlands Hub for HS2, but that won't happen now.

Besides Toton, we see the River Erewash and some of the tangle of lines that makes Long Eaton a railway labyrinth.

Ponden Hall: Sitting round a hearth with the Brontë sisters

Ponden Hall, which can be found below the village of Stanbury near Haworth, has been suggested as one of the inspirations for Thrushcross Grange in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and also for her sister Anne's Wildfell Hall.

What is certain is that the Brontës knew the Heatons, the family who owned Ponden Hall, and would visit them to make use of their extensive library. And, as everyone is talking about Wuthering Heights, I have been thinking about the place.

Ponden Hall was put up for sale in 2020, so you can see the interior in a Country Life article from that year. When I knew it – I had short breaks there twice in the 1990s – it had a more bohemian vibe, but I still recognise the place. I remember the stone-flagged floors in particular.

The first time I stayed was with a couple of colleagues from work, and I think it was in a pub in Haworth that I learnt to drink gin and tonic. My memories of the event are necessarily a little hazy, but I do recall that we walked to Wycoller and back by the reservoirs the next day, so I can't have been too bad. I also remember visiting Bingley Five Rise and seeing birds nesting in the lock gates.

My second visit to Ponden Hall was with some people from Leicester Friends of the Earth. I was never a member, but I was a sort of Friend of Friends of the Earth. Also staying that time were an American and his wife, and he turned out to be an expert on the Brontës.

As we sat in front of the open fire, he told us about the sisters using the library here, and then added: "They probably sat round this very hearth." We all shivered violently.

Finding the last traces of England's lost river

When I blogged about the Hulmes Ferry a couple of years ago, I discovered that the Manchester Ship Canal is a canalisation of the lower reaches of the River Irwell.

This video sets out to find what remains of those lower reaches between Salford and the Mersey at Eastham.

The unsafe bridge over the Staffs & Worcs Canal at Penkridge

Photo: Canal & Rivers Trust 

Having been guilty of posting a fake AI image of the scene of Bluesky, I thought I'd better see what is really happening at the closed bridge over the Staffs & Worcs Canal at Penkridge.

So here is the notice on the Canal & Rivers Trust site:

On New Year's Eve, debris was reported in the canal below the bottom gates at Lock 38.

An investigation found that the debris came from the bywash culvert next to the lock. The culvert, which also runs under a road bridge and beside a house, appears to have collapsed. This has created a large void that is threatening the road and the nearby property.

For safety, the canal and road are now closed while engineers assess the damage and carry out repairs. The towpath remains open. Stop planks have been placed across the canal above the top gates to maintain water levels upstream and prevent further damage to the culvert.

We will provide updates as soon as engineers have completed their assessment.

Plan would see canal boats on the Derwent in the centre of Derby

With most of the low-hanging fruit having been picked, canal "restoration" projects now tend to involve the digging miles of new route. The Derby Canal is no exception.

This video illustrates plans the Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust has had for years. They obtained planning permission for the scheme back in 2011, but funding it in the current economic climate will be a much greater challenge.

Still, it would be great to see boats on the Derwent in the centre of Derby.

Major breach on the Shropshire Union Canal near Whitchurch

Photos: Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service

A bank of the Shropshire Union Canal has collapsed near Whitchurch and boats have been left in a sinkhole or teetering on its edge, reports BBC News.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service describes what has happened:

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is currently responding to a major incident in the Whitchurch area following a significant breach of the Shropshire Union Canal near Drawbridge, Chemistry, Whitchurch.

 

At about 4:22am, Fire Control received reports of a canal bank collapse with large volumes of water escaping into surrounding land.  Crews form Whitchurch, Prees, Shrewsbury, Newport, Albrighton and Telford attended.

 

Three boats had been caught in a developing sinkhole approximately 50 metres by 50 metres in size and crews helped more than 10 members of the public to safety.

 

Firefighters have been working in challenging conditions with unstable ground and rapidly moving water, crews immediately established upstream and downstream safety sectors and began mitigating water flow using barge boards and water gate systems.

 

We are working with out partners on scene including West Mercia Police, West Midlands Ambulance Service (including HART), the Canal & River Trust, the Environment Agency, local authority emergency planning officers, and National Resilience.

 

Are Manager Scott Hurford said: "We can confirm no persons are believed to be on board the affected canal boats, and no injuries have been reported. 

 

"Approximately 12 residents from nearby moored boats are being supported and relocated to a welfare centre at the former Whitchurch Police Station.

 

"A major incident was declared at 5.17am however as of 8.30am the situation was stable with water flow reduced and there is no ongoing search and rescue activity.

 

"Multiagency attendance remains in place to manage the environmental impact, protect nearby properties, and ensure public safety. Please avoid the area while we continue to deal with this significant incident."

This incident may give more prominence to the lack of maintenance now being carried out on the canal system since the government has reduced its funding of the Canal & River Trust.

The Joy of Six 1431

"Nine of the groups are being run from Sri Lanka, three have admins in Nigeria, and the admins of six other groups appear to be located in Mexico, the US, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Kosovo. The remaining eleven have hidden their locations, but conform to the same pattern of fake address – AI memes – gaming video creator, suggesting they are similarly moderated." Katherine Denkinson explains how foreign entrepreneurs are monetising the clicks of British racists.

Rebecca Hamer on the common thread that links abusers, from grooming gangs to Jeffrey Epstein and his friends.

"His speech on Monday was a sprawling grievance tour, hitting every GB news talking point: immigrants, net-zero, lefty lawyers; all responsible for our economic woes and declining living standards." Zoe Gruenwald deconstructs Nigel Farage's big speech.

"In July 1616, nine women from the small South Leicestershire village of Husbands Bosworth were hanged after being found guilty at the Leicester Assizes of bewitching the teenage son of the Lord of the Manor." Margaret Brecknell says the case of the so-called Witches of Husband Bosworth shines a spotlight on the atmosphere of fear and superstition sweeping the entire country during the reign of King James I.

Rob Goulding reports on disagreements over the restoration of the Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire. This marvel of Victorian engineering lifts boats from the River Weaver to the Trent and Mersey Canal.

Jefferson Pooley and Michael J. Socolow show that Orson Welles notorious 1938 radio dramatisation of War of the Worlds did not cause hysteria across the US and ask why this legend persists.

The 17th-century Stamford Canal

The Stamford Canal was an artificial cut that paralleled the River Welland between Stamford and Market Deeping. It was nine and a half miles long and had 12 locks.

It was opened in 1670, and so predates the canals of the Industrial Revolution. I believe it was constructed by the Dutch engineers who were responsible for the draining of the Fens.

This video from Jay Naylor Films – like and subscribe – shows the Stamford end of the canal.