Flood prevention along the Northampton Arm

The Northampton Chronicle & Echo remembers:

On Good Friday, April 10, 1998, thousands of homes and businesses in Far Cotton and St James were in chaos as water spread across the streets, sweeping mud and sewage into living rooms, ruining furniture, wrecking paintwork and carpets and destroying priceless letters and photographs. 

In just a few hours, the water caused damage which would take months to clear up and cost residents and businesses millions of pounds. Thousands of people had to move out of their homes and businesses shut down for weeks or months. Some never returned.

Both Far Cotton and St James are far from affluent parts of Northampton, and latter at least was not thought to be liable to flooding. The result was that many people afflicted by these floods did not have adequate insurance, which added to the toll of that Good Friday.

St James was flooded by the River Nene, but at Far Cotton the canal was also responsible.

Walk along this canal today and you will see the long brick wall that was constructed after those floods to protect Far Cotton from a repetition. It includes decorative bricks made by local schoolchildren.

Today it is notable for its graffiti - no doubt that is the fault of the Coalition for cutting the funding for youth clubs or something like that.