Looking for Spinning Jennies

Trowbridge Museum is researching Hargreave's Spinning Jenny and believes that there are only two original machines still in existence. There were possibly 20,000 in use at one time  but they were soon made obsolete by mechanisation.

If you think you know of one please contact Dave Feathers at West Wilts U3A who is helping with the research - secretary@westwiltsu3a.org.uk
I think there is one  in MOSI in Manchester but it may not be an original.

Audlem Lock wheelers

Had we not been under time pressure we would have stayed longer in Audlem. In the event we spent 25 hours on the 24 hour mooring. Shock! Horror!
As a break from salads we went out for lunch to the Lord Coombermere    where the main course was very good.  Unfortunately the waitress then decided that we really didn't mean it when we requested the dessert menu and ignored us.  So we paid up and bought a take-away pud fromt the Co-op.  Our visit coincided with their beer festival - 32 real ales and 18 craft ciders - and live music in the car park.
Tony & Noeline on Mary Russell arrived about an hour after us and took a spot on the 5 day moorings opposite.  In the evening we all decamped to the Bridge Inn.  On Monday nights a group of folk musicians turn up and just jam.  With such instruments as violin, hurdy-gurdy, Northumbrian pipes, penny whistle and squeeze-box the evening was great fun.
After the generator was serviced this morning we tackled the remaining 12 locks of the  Audlem flight. She who must be obeyed was ably assisted by  two lads from South Wales.

Lock wheelers hard at work

James takes a breather

William helping to balance the lock gate

Which Way?

In case you don't understand pictures...

This sign in Vancouver caters for the literate amongst us who lament the use of symbols when good old-fashioned words will do.

O where are the signs of yesteryea such as:
YIELD
or
CRIPPLES CROSSING
or
QUIET HOSPITAL




Te Anau on the South Island of New Zealand has a lovely Chinese Restaurant.
I guess that for 99.9% of my readers that is somewhat academic.

It also has a road called Wond Way

Ta Ta to Brunner Mond

This  post is for Jane and Dick through whom I was able to view Wotton House

 What links these three buildings?

Buckingham House (top) was built in 1705 for the Duke of Buckingham and only became a palace when it was acquired by King George III. When it was constructed it looked more like Wotton House (above, right) which was also built around the same time for the Duke of Buckingham, in his home county.

This can be appreciated better from this contemporary drawing of Bcukingham House.

Wotton House today still retains this perspective although the house has undergone some remodelling.

In 1820 a fire gutted Wotton House and the then Duke retained John Soane immediately to restore it. Soane was given a free hand in this work and decided to reduce the height  of the house producing proportions more Georgian in style.

 

Originally the lower two  storeys were the same height but by reducing the height of the first floor, Soane achieved the desired change in proportions.

My photograph (left) shows the effect on the height of the first floor windows and the new brickwork is clearly visible.

Soane also created a three-storey entrance hall with a dome.

The gardens were replanned, possibly by Capability Brown who was working at Stowe around that time.

In 1889 the last of the Grenville line - the Dukes of Buckingham - died following which the house had a series of owners culminating in being used as  a school. In 1953 the school suddenly closed and the house fell rapidly into disrepair.  

Following WWII, building materials were in short supply and many stately homes were demolished to feed the programme of house rebuilding. Bucks County Council who owned Wotton House by 1957 decided that it was unsaleable and it was to be demolished.

The old stables which were to the south of the house had been sold along with the walled garden and this had some illustrous owners including Sir John Gielgud and, currently, Tony Blair.

Two weeks before its demolition, Elaine Brunner, a widow, bought Wotton House for £6000 payable in six annual installments and devoted the rest of her life to its restoration.  The Grenville's other great house - Stowe - was acquired by The National Trust and Elaine Brunner was determined not to be restrained by such an arrangement at Wotton.  To improve  her finances, she created several apartments within the house which she let. In 1998 Elaine died and the house passed into the hands of her daughter, April, and her husband, David Gladstone.
The restoration is continueing in their hands.

3 cherubs waiting patiently for their elevation

The one remaining major work is the restoration of John Soane's dome which I  hope one day to see fully finished.

Elaine's husband was Patrick, the grandson of John Brunner who, in 1873, set up a factory in Winnington, near Northwich to produce soda ash.  With his partner, Ludwig Mond they built a successful chemical company based on  the River Weaver close to the Anderton Boatlift which gave them access to the Trent & Mersey Canal. The company expanded into many other fields and also other parts of the UK.
In  1912 the Brunner-Mond caustic soda plant in Silvertown, London was moth-balled but was requitioned by the War Dept for purification of TNT.  this is more hazardous than production of the explosive and the plant was not suited to the activity.  In January 1917 30 tons of TNT exploded in rail trucks used for storage killing 73 people including fireman who were attending a small fire which

preceded the explosion.  Ironically Silvertown fire station was destroyed along with 900 other properties.  A further 70,000 were damaged including, alledgedly, the windows of the Savoy Hotel in The Strand.  On the Greenwich Penninsula, where the Millenium - sorry, O2 - dome stands today burning debris from the explosion landed on  a gasometer causing a fireball as 7.1 million cu ft of gas ignited.
On 7 december 1926 Sir Alfred Mond and Sir Henry McGowan the chief executive of Nobel Industries formulated a deal which created ICI .  The other companies involved were British Dyestuffs and United Alkali Co.

Brunner Mond Winnington Plant now part of Tata

Eighty years later, and after spinning off the pharmaceutical business into what is now Astra Zeneca, ICI was no more - gobbled up by the Indian conglomerate  Tata.

Brunner Mond

 

 

now nameless

Little evidence of the Brunner Mond name exists.

Is This Safe?

Believe it or not boaters are in general no different from the rest of society. We have our foibles as any group does.  Some tend to demonise those who do not share their views.  When this happens I think of a song from Oklahoma!- The farmer and the cowman should be friends. I am trying to avoid making stereotypical remarks but there is one class of boat which I feel brings more than its fair share of problems to the canals - the day boat. These attract celebration parties of some kind and this often involves alcohol. The boats are small and light and can perform manoeuvres  beyond the performance of other canal users, the implication of which is not understood by the day cruiser. 

When i see this sort of thing I get very worried

Sea Otter For Sale

 

We have been moored for the last few days in Nantwich and behind us was this charming little boat.

31ft long and built in aluminium 

with the original paintwork from 2004

A good starter boat for cruising the canals.  

Sleeps three and has all the necessary galley equipment

Obviously well looked after by experienced cruisers who down-sized too far and are now up-sizing again

Only weighs 1.5 tons out of the water so could be trailed to the remote canals.

£38,499 ono

For full information contact the owner direct at:

moborobert@btinternet.com

07778 907 599

01745 730 954

 Watch this blog as I may have another wonderul boat to tell you about soon - a really special one!

Straw Dalek

My trip back to Hurleston Jct was not purely altruistic.
Regular readers will be familiar with these posts which are all still available via the index>>>>
Straw Wiggo - 1 Aug 2012
Rings and Things - 11 Oct 2009
Who has seen Big Ben? - 6 June 2007
The other  reason for making the bus journey was to visitSnugbury's Ice Cream Shop  and to see the latest in their amazing straw sculptures.

This year they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dr Who with a straw Dalek



and a special ice cream cornet

See more amazing straw sculptures from previous years  here

SUCS to C&RT !

Just for the benefit of my readers I took the bus back to Hurleston locks and walked down to the junction to photograph the recent repair work carried out there.

August 2013

In fulfilling their statutory duty to maintain the waterways for public use C&RT have improved a section of the path and the bank which will be appreciated by all the pedestrians and cyclists.

They  have not improved this stretch of waterway for the boaters, however, as there is no provision to utilise the 48hr mooring permission.

In Nantwich, where we are tonight, we usually encounter problems finding mooring rings in the right position for us but the Shropshire Union Canal Society  - SUCS - has added more rings. There is now no more than 15ft between any rings which suits boats of every length.
Why is it that a group of enthusiasts can see the needs of boaters but the statutory body cannot?
And which one takes £35m a year from boaters?

Large or Small Fine Sir?

Somerset is another country: they do things differently there
(apologies to L.P.Hartley)

Further to my discovery that a weekly parking ticket is ten times a daily one I feel compelled to share the other half of the car park notice with you.
It seems you can choose the size of your penalty too. Maybe it is the OAP concession.

An Illustration of C&RT's Attitude

Everyone has their own preferred statistics and C&RT seems to use different ones to support different points.  However, whichever figures are used it is accepted by all parties concerned that something around 95% of all visits to canals are carried out by people who make no direct financial contribution to the maintenance of the waterways system eg; walkers, joggers, cyclists etc.
Current spending by C&RT on waterways maintenance is about £80m/year. Current contribution by boaters and anglers (the only people who do contribute) is about £35m.   Any survey of visitors to the canals confirms that they want to see boats - not just water. But somehow C&RT has calculated (they don't say how) that boaters do not pay their way.

This is  Hurleston junction on the Shropshire Union Canal taken last summer.
Notice the collapsed bank with posts to keep pedestrians safe?
We passed this today.  The posts are gone; the reeds are gone; the path is now broad, level and gravelled; the bank is smooth concrete.
That's all good, isn't it?
Not if you are a boater.
We are allowed to moor here for 48 hours but the new concrete bank has no provision for mooring: no rings, no bollards, no piling - just a nice new footpath for us to hammer stakes into. I was too busy to take a photograph of the new bank but where on C&RT's list does this indicate boaters reside? We are not even on the list, are we? 
I believe that the more widely the access to canals the better for all.  Early morning dog  walkers and joggers, commuting cyclists, anglers, weekend mountain bikers, mid-morning pushchairs and Sunday family strollers all bring something to the waterways and they should be encouraged by continuous improvement of facilities.  But let's get things in perspective. The latest licence figures from C&RT show that the number of boats has fallen in the last year from 35,000 to 33,000 and I can hazard a guess why.  My unscientific observation over the past three years is that there are fewer boats travelling, more boats for sale and many more staying put. When we pass a hire base full of boats in the middle of the school holiday it makes you wonder why. It is becoming too expensive, difficult and sometimes downright dangerous.  And what are C&RT doing?  Carving poems on lock beams and paying qualified surveyors to measure lcok ladders.