was and is a brick building used for a weigh bridge. At night we used to stable the horse or mule at the Bridge Inn. Also, we would get our bread and

Transcription

1 Tom Howard Recalls Tom, [...], was born aboard the horse-drawn narrow boat Boscobel whilst moored at Tyrley top lock, not far from Market Drayton on the Shropshire Union Canal. Son of a local canal family whose father had a boat based at the Norbury Junction repair yard he spent much of his childhood on the boat as his father worked on repairing the bridges or transporting clay for puddling the banks. He then went on to spend much of his ninety years on or near the Shropshire canals including some very special times associated with the Shrewsbury and Newport canals in their closing years. My family spent many years based at the Norbury Junction Repair Yard and worked with inspectors based there over that time. They included Mr Williams, Mr Chadbourne, Mr Price, Mr Bowen, Tom Lloyd, George Lloyd (Father & Son), E Bowden, W Dean. In the late twenties and early thirties my parents had a boat carrying business at Shebdon, Bridge Number Forty Four, just three miles from Norbury Junction. Now all our family, including three brothers, were helpers during the ice-breaking at Norbury with horse or mules and the ice breaker. This is the start of my recollections of the Shrewsbury canal, beginning at Norbury and heading towards Shrewsbury. First of all after going under the turnover bridge on your left are some canal cottages, also a bungalow. In my time this was lived in by Mr James Norris who was employed by the canal company and worked in the clay-hole at Grub Street, one and a half miles from Norbury. After passing the bungalow comes the first lock of the seventeen, which is now a drydock. Then more locks and Blake-more bridge. Then soon we get to Coulton Bridge. Then what we called the Hut Lock where there was a brick hut at the side of the lock. Then soon the Middle Lock where there was and still is a lock-keepers bungalow which was occupied in the early thirties by Mr Jack Dean who was the lockkeeper. He was also the father of the last inspector. Getting down to number seventeen the last of the flight was another bungalow on the tow-path side mostly occupied by a canal workman. Now in that day this flight of locks was locked up at Eight O clock Saturday night, till eight O clock Monday morning to preserve Sunday as a day of rest and worship. Then the bridge below the lock was a lengthman s hut. In fact it was an old boat cabin and at the side of the cabin was a spring of drinking water for boat people and whoever lived at the bungalow. Then we get to Forton Bridge or Skew Bridge leaving Forton Church on your right. Then Mosspool where a type of Lily grew on the top of the water. I must stress that the water in the canal was very clear and you could see the fish passing by. After Mosspool the next of importance was Mere-Town bridge with the lock on the offside. Below the lock was a mill powered by the wind. I well remember using this lock and others around Newport for training in war time. It was odd to think that some few years before I had been helping to bring boats of coal through them. Anyhow the next bridge the Summer House, our parents told us the house had been a pub. Then the next lock which boat people called Parkers lock but now it is called Fishers lock. It was called Parkers lock because a Mr Parker had to sign our tickets to show we had paid our tolls. Then, after about five hundred yards, comes the canal basin where tar was loaded into boats and close by the basin was Perry s timber yard. On the other side of the fence was Mr Arthur Owens coal yard where we unloaded coal brought by boat from Littleton colliery which is by Penkridge, roughly twenty eight miles away. By the coal yard was and still is a warehouse we called Stubbs warehouse where people used to fetch their corn. Close by I should not have to tell people is Newport Lock. Also, tucked in the corner of Water Lane,

2 was and is a brick building used for a weigh bridge. At night we used to stable the horse or mule at the Bridge Inn. Also, we would get our bread and other items from Millwards next door. We got our candles from Mr Hodgetts where the garage is now. Right by here is the turn-over bridge where the tow-path changed sides of the canal now leaving the stream on your right. This turn-over bridge (Newport Bridge) was very low and meant you could not have tall horses or mules. In sight is the Mill Lock with a brick hut on the off side of the lock, also on the tow-path side just above the lock was and is a canal bungalow. In the early thirties it was lived in by a Mr Pouney who used to dash around on a bicycle to pay the men employed on the canal. As time went by he retired and was replaced by the canal company, to Mr Walter Davies who was head of seven carpenters at Norbury Junction repair yard. Also on this length was a Mr Charles Oakley who was employed by the canal company who lived at the entrance to the canal basin opposite the Old Wharf Pub in Water Lane. Between the bottom of Mill Lock and the farm bridge the stream passes under the canal from one side to the other. It then followed the tow-path side of the canal about sixty yards, as far as Polly s lock where if need be it was diverted to Longford Mill. The Mill lock became a turning point for boats and was also a nesting place for swans. At breeding time they could become very nasty. Then came Poll s lock. After going through the lock we come to what we called Stony bridge, where people crossed on their way from Longford to Edgmond. In sight then comes Edgmond coal wharf with its warehouse and lock. Our family unloaded coal at this wharf. On the off-side of the canal were withy beds which a Mr Dawson of Middle Row in Newport cut and bundled up. So, when we came back empty from wharfs farther down the canal, we picked it up for him and placed it at the off-side at Newport Lock from where he collected it to make baskets. Now my wife for sixty four years lived in Newport and when she was young she recalled she used to see Mr Dawson fetch these bundles of withy on a truck not realising that the person who helped put it on the lock side would one day be her husband. What a small world it was in the nineteen-thirties. Now, leaving Adeney on your right, there were some cottages on the off side at the buttery opposite the bridges. Soon we get to the turn over bridge a bit different to other turn over bridges as it had a dual purpose, also serving the junction of the Newport Branch with the Humber Arm. If you carried straight on your way along the Humber Arm you passed Kinnersley Aqueduct or Dukes Drive to a dead end, roughly a mile away. It must have been a busy place years gone by and I remember there were three sunken boats there. Also at the top end of the arm of the canal, guarded round with white railings was a well for drinking water and by the bridge was stabling for horses or mules. On the off side of the arm was an engine house and the rail track where coal and bricks came down. Close by was a derelict chapel. In it had been left an organ from years gone by which was still playable and we used to have a tune or two on it. My parents said most boat people were fairly religious. Sometimes as I gaze around the buildings near the canal I think to myself that I may have fetched those bricks by canal many years ago. Going back to the Humber Arm, when coal or bricks came down to the canal by rail, mostly coal, it was taken by boat to one of the wharves at Longdon on Tern or Withington or Berwick. But, after the Humber Arm closed around 1923 the coal no longer came this way, instead being brought by boat from Littleton Colliery (Penkridge). After the boat was loaded at the Humbers you made your way back to the Kinnersley aqueduct you had to part the horse from the boat and take the horse up the turnover bridge to get to the towpath and head for Wappenshall. There was a towpath on both sides

3 of the aqueduct and once back over the turnover bridge make your way towards Preston upon the Wealds to be continued.

4 Tom Howard Recalls We continue with Tom s story, begun in the November issue of S&News, as he recalls his times on the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals. Tom, you may recall, was born aboard the horse-drawn narrowboat Boscobel whilst moored at Tyrley top lock, not far from Market Drayton on the Shropshire Union Canal. Son of a local canal family whose father had a boat based at the Norbury Junction repair yard he spent much of his childhood on the boat as his father worked on repairing the bridges or transporting clay for puddling the banks. He then went on to spend much of his ninety years on or near the Shropshire canals including some very special times associated with the Shrewsbury and Newport canals in their closing years. Even now he lives at Brewood, just a stone s throw from his beloved Shropshire Union Canal. Last month we left Tom on his approach to Preston Upon the Wealds. The length-man on the Preston Upon the Wealds stretch was Mr Tom France and I remember that in the early nineteen thirties it was a real credit to him. He had a little hut close by the aqueduct. While passing through Preston we always thought the building on the offside of the canal was a school. After arriving at Wappenshall Junction you can turn left up the Trench Canal and it was here that there was a winding hole [turning point]. As you go along the Trench arm there is first a road bridge (which is still usable) and then further on a pull-bridge and locks, with the Trench Lock now a roundabout. On this canal the bridges and locks were narrower than other canals. To the best of my knowledge, myself and my family owned and took the last working boat up the Trench Canal, taking clay to repair the canal banks in 1933 with a narrowboat called Enterprise. Back at Wappenshall Junction you now head towards the aqueduct at Longdon. About 300 yards after the junction was the first pull-up bridge. It was real hard to dislodge it after the farmers had been over it. To lift the bridge you had to tug on the chains or ropes. Once you got it started you got some help from the large 14 S&News February 2004 container of ballast fixed to it on the same side as you were tugging. After leaving the pull-up bridge, on the off-side of the canal was an avenue of trees. Then you approach the first guillotine lock. This is different from most locks with a large gate at the bottom end of the lock which was wound up with chains and a large windlass and I still have one of these in my possession now. To us, this lock always seemed to be right in the country. The next place of importance was the Buck s Head pub. On a few occasions we used to stable the horse there. Also, this bridge was very low for horses to go under. Then, farther on, you get to the next guillotine lock, with a pull up bridge right below the lock and the Parish Church not far away. Right below the pull-up bridge on the towpath side was, and still is, a little cottage. In our time in the early 1930s it was occupied by a Mr Isaac Clark, a length-man who attended to the canal in this area. Not far on was another turnover bridge but this one was different, being made of cast iron. Then just a couple of hundred yards on was the most talked about aqueduct, the one which is over the river Tern at Longdon. I have many memories of this aqueduct. First of all, you had to blindfold the horse or mule to get them to go over the aqueduct. If you had seen it, it was certainly a bit scary. About fifty years ago I took my wife and children over it but they were too frightened to

5 come back over it to get back to the car and had to walk all the way back along the road. But look at the times that me and my family had gone over it with the boat, though it seems quite different now with no water in the trough. After passing over the aqueduct about two hundred yards further along on the offside of the canal was a coal wharf, really a basin. This belonged to a Mr Arnold and sons who had a cottage about two hundred yards behind the wharf. We unloaded coal from the boat here for the last time in The boat s name was Percy and the mule was called Hairpin. The amount of coal loaded in the boat was twenty five tons. I can remember how people, including children of all ages, used to come with old prams and wheelbarrows to collect their coal. Occasionally there was an old lady who used to come with a donkey and cart. If you went straight on after coming over the aqueduct you would pass by a warehouse on the off-side of the canal and another wharf that seemed it hadn t been used for years. Also there was a stable for three horses. Then, close by the road bridge on the towpath side, just a few yards down the road was a grocer s shop. After leaving the road bridge head towards Withington coal wharf. We used to take coal there but didn t do as much trade as we did with Mr Arnold. We bypassed Rodington where the canal goes over the river Roden with its old stone arched supporting the aqueduct. The next place of importance was Berwick Wharf. This wasn t really used much for canal transport after the closure of the Humber arm in 1923, along with its supply of coal. Now we come to Berwick Tunnel. I have only been through a few times. As a rule my elder brothers or parents legged the boat through and while doing so I took the horse or mule over the top of the tunnel to meet the boat at the other end. I used to watch the boat go through by leaning over the walls of the air shafts. The walls of the shafts were built up with bricks and mortar about three feet high for safety reasons and were roughly twelve feet in diameter. The boat always seemed such a long way down. After meeting up at the end of the tunnel there was (and still is) a stable for two horses. I remember staying a night or two there in the early 1930s. It always seemed to me that our family only went through the tunnel for the benefit of saying that they had. I am certainly glad to be able to say now that I went through it. Now we make our way back towards Norbury to see how the coal got to these wharves on the Shrewsbury Canal. From Littleton Colliery basin by Penkridge we travelled the Stafford & Worcester Canal, then right at Autherley Junction and along the Shropshire Union to Norbury Junction to turn left onto the Shrewsbury Canal. In our time we had other boats on the Main-Line (Shropshire Union Canal). The boats names were George, Mayflower, and also the Percy, which was the last working boat on the Shrewsbury Canal. As the years went by, canal transport was in slow decline so me and one of my brothers went to work for British Waterways at Norbury Junction on canal maintenance. About forty or so years ago people from the fishery came with two vans fitted with large tanks and eight of us to help, under the supervision of Mr E.Bowden. Nets were provided to catch the fish to put them into other canals. The fish were mostly taken from the Preston upon the Weald area. After a while Mr Bowden died and was sadly missed. He wasn t just a nine-tofive

6 Inspector but, day or night if ever he was needed nothing was too much trouble for him. He was later followed as Inspector at Norbury by Mr Dean who had learnt his trade there as carpenter some years before. The reason why I am mentioning all this is to show that work was still being done on the canal, even when it was closed to boat traffic. Anyhow, soon after Mr Dean returned, he, myself and two labourers erected a fence on the off-side of the canal between Mere Town bridge and the lock. Also work was still being done around the Trench pools as well as below the seventeen locks opposite Forton Church and at the skew bridge. If all the past inspectors could see the canal now they would have a good cry. I have a photograph of me taken some years ago in the empty trough of the Longdon aqueduct where in the 1930s my family and I had taken loaded coal boats through. In contrast, I also have a photograph of my father turning the boat round in Newport basin after unloading coal at Mr Arthur Owen s coal yard the year, nineteen twenty two. Tom is an enthusiastic and very special member of the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust. Do look out for him at future Trust events as he is likely to keep you spellbound with stories of his life and times on the S&N. Brian Nelson