SLHS Canal & River Restorations

SLHS Picture & Document Archives..

1. Picture Vault:  Stratford Canal

 ● First British Canal Restored*

Kings Norton, Birmingham to Stratford.

● These items have aspects that uniquely contribute to national or world history.

Official Websites

1. Started by my father as Treasurer: Stratford Canal Society
   

2. The current maintainers who have a reasonable search facility: Canal & River Trust: Stratford

Clearing an overflow in Stratford, Matthew & David Goodman and others, ~1971.

The tunnel entrance to the basin in Stratford had to be cleared out by hand.

Poem Of Celebration

The Poet Laureat, John Betjeman, was a huge fan and wrote a poem about it all (28k download):

  InlandWaterwayPoem_JohnBetjeman.pdf

David Hutchings MBE

Where does one go after that ? Well, not satisfied with that accolade he then worked unstintingly to rebuild the weirs and locks on the Upper Avon in order to made it fully navigable again from Stratford to the sea via the River Severn.

He deservedly was presented with an MBE for his contribution to inland waterways navigation.

First British Canal To Be Restored

The National Trust was formed in 1895 and given statutory powers in 1907 but gifting to it had been mainly country houses that required a lot of upkeep. Industrial premises were not on the list. Detractors were skeptical but there were diligent supporters. A new pursuit was about to flower: that of Industrial Archaeology.

Restoration would be expensive and time consuming. Under its constitution only half the cost could be offered. A huge campaign had to be launched. This was to be the first wholesale resoration.

David Hutchings was selected to do it and in March 1961 set about his task. This was to be a momentous undertaking. All timber was decayed, easily accessible metal had been stolen or used for the war effort. Masonry had collapsed, culverts overgrown and companies had tipped truckloads of waste where it was cheap to do so.

To manage costs David had to use prisoners from Winson Green, the British Army Corps and RAF Airfield Construction Department. He pioneered the help of volunteers through the newly formed Stratford Canal Society.

To return to Master page click on ‘Canal’ above.

Decline

A train could carry at least 100 times the weight of goods that a barge could and carry it 15 times faster. The track was cheaper and quicker to lay and was very easily altered and the carrying medium didn’t run dry in the summer !

Thus it’s no surprise that the railways ripped the trade away from the canals wherever they went. By the 1850’s the writing was on the wall but the canals held out until WW1. The time between the wars saw every single canal company close. They provided useful drainage and sadly a place to fly-tip rubbish.

Useful In Parts

In 1845 the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway bought the Stratford canal. In 1863 they in turn were taken over by the fervent Great Western Railway. They left the canal to just decay. However by building the Edstone Aqueduct, in order to avoid building excessive numbers of locks, William James inadvertently brought about the very survival of the whole canal.

Steam locomotives are thirsty things and stagnant rainwater is both soft (without limescale) and in places free from debris so the GWR attached a filler pipe to the underneath of the aqueduct where the railway passed beneath (see bottom right of the aqueduct page above). The engine staff liked this. Another connection was used to feed the engine sheds in Stratford where the canal passed nearby.

“No” To Closure

Britain lay in tatters at the end of WW2. There was no appetite to do anything officially with the anachronistic canals. However just as the war was ending two people, Tom Rolt (who wrote the most inspiring book at that time) and Robert Aickman, got together to form what, in 1946, became the Inland Waterways Association -not so much a leisure group but essentially a campaign organisation to save Britain’s canal heritage before it was too late. Britain was rebuilding and the land in cities was ripe for development.

So where should the IWA start ? In 1947 these independent minded folk turned their interests to what the GWR were about to do to the Stratford Canal: block it by placing a non-lifting bridge at Lifford Lane near Kings Norton. By one tidy act the whole canal would become useless.

Two of their number set off in a craft and required that the GWR unblock the route. David was faced with Goliath. The GWR reluctantly complied by propping up the bridge. The IWA took photos and documents and organised a month long publicity tour. Fortunately highly visible naturalists, parliamentarians and even Lord Methuen took the cause to heart.

Formal Abandonment Thwarted At 11th Hour

In 1958 Warwickshire County Council was due to replace Featherbed Bridge 59 across the canal at Wilmcote. Official Canal Abandonment and filling it in would be cheaper. Fortunately IWA heroes were on the ball and they mounted a legal challenge brandishing the receipts for their previous two canal trips. The court found in their favour and on 22 May 1959 Retention Of The Canal was officially announced.

David Hutchings OBE

By summer 1964 the canal bed was cleared of 17,000 tons of rubbish, locks and bridges had been rebuilt and lake water supplies restored. The canal was navigable again. This was just in time for Stratford’s 400th Shakespeare Anniversary Celebrations. This marvelous opportunity included HRH The Queen Mother and he received an OBE for his strident work.

Project Manager David shown right with the Queen Mother at the royal opening ceremony in 1974.

River Restoration

Any Relation ?

It’s likely* that he is related to James Hutchings whose yard is seen in the rear of the photograph with the Queen Mother.

(*Proof is being sought)

From left to right these photographs are:

1. •Locks restored
   

2. •David Hutchins At Work
   

3. •Commemorative plaque at Luddington.
   

(Click on any for higher resolution. To come back you will need to Cmd-ᐊ)

In 1948, after parliamentary petition, the Attlee government nationalised the canals. That could be a good start but scarce money was needed.

A second trip was organised by the IWA and in 1950 a boat rally was held in Market Harborough. However some internal politics hampered the IWA and the personal pressures led to health warnings. In 1958 a banker suggested that the National Trust should take over their responsibilities and that same year a rather talented young architect  David Hutchings proved the cost of restoration was cheaper than filling it in.

Memorial plaque at Crofton Pumping House,

Kennett & Avon Canal