Nottingham Canal Links

14/05/26-Nottingham Canal Links – Graham Woodward

Graham began by explaining that he was the Chair of the Nottingham Civic Society, having an interest in history, heritage, the history of canals, having published 5 books. He informed us that the UK was the first to setu up a waterwork network system, over 4000 miles. It is believed that the Chinese invented canals with the Grand Canal of China in 486 BC and it is 1154 miles long.  The first ‘western’ canal came in 740 AD (Fosse Shipping canal), then the Briare Canal (France 1604), Bridgewater canal, 1761 to transport coal from Worsley to Manchester, built by James Brindley.  Various other canals were mentioned: Trent/Mersey; The Grand Union, Grantham. Black gold (coal) transported along the canal networks revolutionized the use of coal as a fuel. Graham compared canal haulage to an Australian example of a modern train with 3 locomotives, 3.2miles long pulling 42000 tons.

Pack horses could carry 2.5cwt, so 8 horses required to deliver 1 ton, whereas a horse could tow 20 tons loaded in a narrow boat and 40 tons in a Trent Barge! Also carried was: limestone, bricks and slate, clay and pottery, ‘night soil’(which the Eastcroft depot stored for 2 years), gunpowder and, of course, passengers. He related a story of gunpowder being transported from Grimsby to Nottingham Wharf where it exploded and was heard in Newark! The canals were built by ‘navvies’ (mostly English and probably only 30% Irish). They dug 20 tons of earth/day for a grand sum of 5 shillings, with 1 man dying for each mile of railway built, and having an average lifespan of 37.1 years.

He explained the difference between ‘contour’ and ‘flat’ canals requiring ‘locks’ for the former to cope with elevation, costing £400 each compared with bridges at £80; they are 14 ft 2 wide, so can take 2 narrow boats at 6ft 9.  Nottingham Canal has 19 locks which consume on average is the equivalent to 1500 bath tubs of water each time they are used (canals are normally about 4ft. deep) Nottingham canal at Wollaton was pictured, with straight sides, whereas French canals tend to be bowed on one side. Tunnels were mentioned as an alternative to locks, but took a long time to build (e.g. Stanage canal took 16 years and it takes about 3 hours to”leg a back” through the tunnel. Falkirk Wheel was next shown, costing £84m in 2002, but what a fete of engineering, built by Butterly Co. in Ripley.

He then moved on to boats, typically 70 ft. long and 6ft.10 wide, average depth of 3ft.3. Most popular now are 54ft. long and cost around £40k and about 34000 currently

Alan W gave the Vote of Thanks suggesting that he really enjoyed the presentation, with lots of detail, but delivered with humour.  It covered the history and geography of the Canal network and apparently is Graham’s 123^rd presentation, adding that he’d found it a fascinating talk, commenting that it was well received by our members when they joined him in applauding with their normal appreciation of a ‘job well done’.            AR