Historic Canals Of Coventry

[Blitzkid]

There were only two canals in the boundary of Coventry The coventry Canal-- the oxford canal. The Coventry canal at the Sea level of 304 feet, the oxford canal was 4/5 inches higher, so to join them they had to build a loch.
There were only two dockyards inside the boundary of Coventry, one at Sutton Stop, that built the narrow boats, one at Tusses bridge that repaired damaged boats. This one belonged to my family from back in Victorian days.
In Victorian days they were all towed by animals horses mules etc, the water was clear and there many small fish, bream ,roach. etc. the boatman and his family lived in the small cabins of these boats for they always worked in pairs, the lead boat pulling the 'Butty boat' one of the family walking behind the towing animal, the children learnt the canal ways from birth and helped with life as soon as they could walk. It was a hard lonely life, by the time they were about ten years of age they were capable of running and working a boat. and there animals most could not read or write for there were no time for schooling, but they were intelligent in other ways they could lift a sack and tell you it's weight, could tell you distance to within an inch, new every plant and bush by name.
The canals where called 'Navigation' and the people that dug them where called ;Navies' they worked in gangs and travelled in gangs.
It was a thirsty life so every few miles they built a pub at the side of the canal and most had stables to feed and water the animals that towed the boats. they also had to build a house about every five miles for the repair and observation of the canal and Towpath- called a 'lengthman' he lived in a 'Tied house' each boat could carry 25 tons of goods, so coming in to Coventry Basin you had fifty tons of goods instead of horse and cart that only carried five tons at the most- what a difference that made to Coventry was enormous.
The shaping of the wood to make a boat was done by portable steam boxes.

[rebbonk]

Love it Blitzkid. Please keep memories like this coming. I mix with a few old hands that grew up on the canals, I love the tales that they tell. Longford has a lot of old boating families, but there aren't many people left that actually spent time on the water.

[dutchman]

Very interesting Blitzkid, especially the bit about your family connection with the boatyard at Tusses Bridge

[Blitzkid]

love to know where this is, not brinklow as first thought?

[Blitzkid]

This my Great Grandad Alfred Simpson around 1880 time on his boat at his dockyard at Tusses Bridge, and these are the coal bins that fitted snugly in the boat.



The boats would enter the Wyken Basin arm, queue until their turn, be bumped across the basin by the special bumping boat until alongside the edge where a Conveyor belt would then fill the the bins, they then returned to the main canal. The comveyor belt led from the special railway to the 'Pits'.

[dutchman]

That looks like the same location to me?

[rebbonk]

love to know where this is, not brinklow as first thought?

Isn't that opposite The Elephant and Castle?

[Blitzkid]

Yes, i believe it is, but the background is a lot older, before the Power Station, before those slabs of stone and before I knew it, well before the new Tusses bridge of 1936. I really did not expect another Photo of that time.

[dutchman]

The Elephant & Castle and Tusses Bridge circa 1911:



Curiously, no pots on the chimneys!

[Blitzkid]

Thank you all for your response, this pub as you can see has attached cottages, there is one between the pub and the canal, I lived at the bottom of the old Bridge. There were three more cottages alongside the canal, flush up to the canal towpath. Behind the pub was a huge yard with storage for the beer to be delivered a washing shed for all those cottages and the pub, behind them was a large orchard and pigstys etc. the stables at this side of those Cottages, that became the ARP Firemans HQ during the war.

BLITZ NIGHT> It was a cold but clear moonlight night, my father came home from work about 5-15 pm. he passed our house and went down to the cut, and with a few men he put in the Planks, this cut off the water from Rugby, stopped all movement of Boat then he came home to dinner. later he returned to the ARP HQ------at 7.30 pm the shouting started, shelters, shelters everyone dad rushed in, shouted now to the the shelter, we were prepared for such, and off he went back to duty.

As soon as the enemy reached the channel, observers phoned London, if they passed London then the midlands where notified and so on. and the alarm was sounded Mother rushed to the shelter with baby, my elder brother carried the bath the baby slept in there was swoosh My sister pushed me onto the garden and dropped on top of me, the big gun in the field in front of the house fired that shook the ground, the pom-pom guns behind the house fired, the noise was unbearable the drone of the planes added to the noise all hell was let loose, I picked up my bike and went after Dad as a messenger, a lone plane flew low and dropped four bombs close by, the ARP yelled go get your DaD and pointed over the bridge the cuts bust, Dad was at a pile of rubble, my Aunts house, I was shouting at the top of my voice the 'Cut's bust, 'the cut's bust' Poor Dad he didn't know whether to leave my Aunt's house or to go to the cut, we raced back to the 'Cut'; Chaos' the boats were rolling into the middle pulled by the swift water towards the breech of the cut, Women screaming children crying Boatmen cursing trying to rescue their families and all the time the terrifying noise of guns, planes, and screaming families, towing ropes breaking mooring stake's dragged from the ground, dad shouted- Help is coming Hold on and so the people came rescued people from the water from the boats, as soon as Dad saw the help he raced 'off' to the breech, and I followed OH my god, the bomb had made a three foot hole in the towpath near the oxford loch at Sutton Stop, the water was leaving the canal like a giant waterfall, flooding the fields, people were throwing things in, but the water just washed away Dad shouted leave it the planks are in the water will stop shortly, Dad turned to me, go home help the boat people then get some sleep, Mother will be worried to death, but for gods sake don't tell your mother about your aunt's house.

It was about two am, I was thirteen years of age, the sky was on fire over the city, even today odd things will happen and I go back to that night.