Updates - January 2015

  
South Yorkshire Waterways
Map 12  -  Towpath Closure  -  From 19 December 2014 until September 2015.  
The towpath will be closed between Jordan's Lock and Halfpenny Bridge (near the foot of the Tinsley lock flight).  A signed diversion will be in place.  The reason is improvements work being undertaken by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
The navigation will remain open.

Chesterfield Canal
 Map 6  -  Chequers pub
There is currently uncertainty about the future of the Chequers pub, canalside at Ranby.  If planning a visit please telephone them beforehand, as on page 40.
 

History

  
Chesterfield Canal at Retford     Map 5 of Richlow's guide, from richlow.co.uk
  
Baptisms in the Canal
   
We've recently learnt, from a family historian, that in the 1840s baptisms used to take place in the waters of the Chesterfield Canal, near Town Lock in Retford.  The lock-keeper's family well remembered the large crowds the ceremonies attracted, with the waterside singing heard at a considerable distance on still Sunday evenings.  The Rev William Fogg, who carried out the baptisms, was the local Baptist minister until 1853. 
  

Different canal users getting wet below Town Lock

Images of - the Chesterfield Canal

  
Map 7  -  Chesterfield Canal, a Richlow Guide  from richlow.co.uk
 
A convenient mooring by the Priory Centre in Worksop - ideal for shopping.  Between Town Lock and Morse Lock.
  

   








Richlow's nb Madeley Wood moored.

Updates - November 2014

 
Chesterfield Canal
   
Page 5.  Boating.  The Chesterfield Canal Trust now has trip-boats operating at Retford, Worksop, Shireoaks, Kiveton Park, Staveley (Hollingwood Hub) and Chesterfield.
Cycling.  Between West Stockwith and Norwood Tunnel the canal is a Canal & River Trust waterway, therefore cycling is allowed throughout.
 
Page 33.  Map 12. Chesterfield.  The turning point, near Tapton Mill Bridge (1) is only suitable for boats 50ft or less.
 
Page 40.  Pubs & Cafes.  Delete Brickmakers Arms, and White Swan.
 
Page 41.  Contacts.
CCT Trip Boats.  Add Madeline at Hollingwood Hub, contact details the same as for the John Varley.
Tapton Lock Visitor Centre.  Summer (Easter to end of October)  Open every day 10.00 to 16.30.  Winter, open Saturday to Tuesday 10.00 to 16.00.  All year, closed on weekdays 13.00 to 13.45.
  

South Yorkshire Waterways
  
Page 32, map 12.  Navigation Notes.  Rotherham
Shopping.  The canalside Tesco, just below Rotherham Lock, has now closed.  However, what was its car-park remains in use, as does the footbridge across the River Don to the town centre.  At the end of the footbridge Norris's very good greengrocers is still there, as are a butchers, fish and chips, and a cafe.
  

Updates - July 2014 (2)

 
Chesterfield Canal
 
Page 24. Navigation box. Shireoaks Marina. From 28 July work will be underway to move the CRT Visitor Moorings from inside the Marina, to outside on the towpath where there are bollards. The water-point will be moved to the sanitary station - for access to all its facilities there will be a new gate from the towpath moorings, via a standard CRT key.  A second gate will give access to the marina for disposal of rubbish. 

The current Visitor Moorings will be fenced off from pedestrian access and will become part of the berth-holder-only moorings.
 
Visiting boats will no longer need to enter Shireoaks Marina.  The new CRT Visitor Moorings will be alongside the towpath, immediately upstream of the marina entrance bridge.
 
The work to carry out the above changes is due for completion by 12 August.
 

Updates - May 2014

 
Chesterfield Canal
 
Page 16, Map 4.  Clarborough, new shop
 
The Kings Arms, on the village's Main Street, now has a new, well-stocked, Spar shop in its car-park.  Currently open every day, 6am to 10pm.  It's a pleasant walk up from Clarborough Top Bridge (62).  (Our thanks to Tony and Helen of nb Holderness for letting us know the shop had actually opened.)

Page 41. Contacts.  Tapton Lock Visitor Centre. 
 
The telephone number is now 01629 533020.  Calls will be answered by the Clay Cross Countryside Centre and forwarded to the appropriate staff at Tapton Lock.
 
Lincolnshire Waterways
 
Page 40, Map 13.  Slea Navigation.  Halfpenny Hatch Bridge.
 
The lowest bridge on this waterway, it now has arrows on both faces indicating the location of the main channel.

 

Updates - March 2014

 
South Pennine Ring - General
 
Over recent years CRT have been reducing the amount of pre-booking required on the South Pennine Ring.  There are now only two places that need booking for the 2014 season  -  Tuel Lane Lock on the Rochdale Canal, and Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

South Pennine Ring  -  Part 1
 
Map 1.  Tuel Lane Lock.  The 2014 hours and booking requirements are as previous years.
 
Pages 30, 32, and maps 7, 8.  The previous requirement to book accompanied passages of the locks in Manchester, and over the Summit, no longer applies.  We are not aware of the locks being padlocked at night, but this may change if circumstances warrant it in the future.
 
Map 4, and p40.  Please note the Bird I'th Hand pub at Warland has closed.
 
South Pennine Ring  -  Part 2
 
Pages 18, 24.  Maps 12, 14.  Bookings for Standedge Tunnel remain as in previous years.  However, there are no longer any restrictions on the Diggle and Marsden flights of locks.
 
Page 21.  CRT Instructions are -
Heading eastwards from Diggle to Marsden.  Boats are asked to be at the Diggle portal for 11.30am on the day of passage.  Once through the tunnel, boats are welcome to moor above Lock 42E for a maximum of 24hrs.  Further mooring space is available below Lock 32E which is between Marsden and Slaithwaite villages.
 
Heading westwards from Marsden to Diggle.  Boats are asked to moor above Lock 42E on the day before passage of the tunnel and not to proceed past the railway bridge until after 4pm.  This is to avoid the trip-boat which will be operating from the Visitor Centre into the tunnel until 4pm.  After 4pm boats can moor at the tunnel entrance ready for their passage the following day.  Passage preparations will start at 8am.
Note that the flight of locks 32E to 42E is no longer manned.
 
Page 32, map 17.  Huddersfield Broad Canal.  Number plates have been affixed to the bridges of this waterway.
 
North Yorkshire Waterways
 
Page 20, map 5.  Boaters' Facilities in York.  There is currently no elsan disposal on the 48hr visitor moorings near Lendal Bridge.  The public toilets in Museum Gardens, which used to house the boaters' facilities, have been demolished.  Planning permission for the new Starr Inn on the site was dependent on these facilities being fully replaced  -  they have not been.  Discussions continue!
 
The good news is that the water-point has been relocated nearer the river.
 
We are grateful to Mike Cadoux, Chair, IWA North Riding for this information.
 
Chesterfield Canal
 
Page 36.  Supplies.  Insert  -  Fennessy Fuels (Retford0 and Grimes Coal Merchants (Newark) will deliver coal and gas to boats.
 
Page 41.  Contacts.  Insert  -  Smokeless fuels, bottled gas.  Free delivery.  Fennessey Fuels, Bolham Lane, Retford DN22 6SU  01777 702428.
G&R Grimes, Willow Farm, Darlton, Newark NG22 0TF  01777 228273.
 

Updates - September 2013

 
Chesterfield Canal - A Richlow Guide
 
Page 12 and Map 2.  Drakeholes  -  White Swan pub
 
With pubs closing and re-opening so often we don't usually include them in the Updates blog.  But the White Swan at Drakeholes has a high profile on the Chesterfield Canal and its recent closure is more significant.  With pleasant moorings across the road, and a popular cruising range from West Stockwith basin, many boaters made it their first/last stop on the canal.

 

Hopefully the White Swan will re-open in the future.
 
 
Lincolnshire Waterways
 
Page 14.  Brayford Pool Visitor Moorings
 
The Brayford Trust has now provided visitor moorings in Brayford Pool.  They are on the south side, immediately after the road bridge across the entrance to the Pool, where Lincoln Marina used to be.  It's necessary to contact the Harbourmaster in advance.  The fee for overnight mooring includes electricity.  01522 521452
 
These facilities are in addition to the CRT visitor moorings, the site of which is unchanged.
 
Page 40.  Slea Navigation - April 2014 Update  -  Open for Navigation
 
The silt barriers, which formed below Taylors (formerly Bottom) Lock preventing boat access, have been cleared by dredging.  So the Slea is open for navigation.  But, April 2014, there is still a silt problem below Cobblers Lock, the current head of navigation, where full length narrowboats have previously been able to turn.
 
Until this problem is resolved all boaters wishing to navigate the Slea should contact the Sleaford Navigation Trust  -  page 57 under the heading "Inland Waterways Groups"  -  to ascertain the latest situation.
 
Page 57. Contacts
 
The telephone number for the Brayford Pool Harbourmaster remains the same.
Lincoln Marina should be deleted.


South Pennine Ring - Part 2
 
Page 9.  Pub List
 
The Tunnel End pub is currently closed for business.  Advisable to telephone to check.
 
Page 24. Moorings
 
Delete the reference to moorings near a pub.  See above.
 
Page 26.  Moonraker
 
Unfortunately the popular Moonraker tearoom-boat has left Slaithwaite, near lock 23E.  We hear it has moved to Lincoln  -  we will check this out in the spring.
 

History Query

 
Chesterfield Canal
 
Summit Level  -  near Albert's Dock
 
A recent question on Twitter was about the purpose of the inlet on the non-towpath side, near Albert's Dock on the summit level, on the stretch between bridges 31 and 32.  Which is cordoned off by CRT.

 
There is no evidence that this piece of water was ever a legal part of the canal.  When the canal was built in the 1770s there would have been a stream running down the hill at that point, from Peck Mill, and thereafter flowing into the canal.
 
Over time the stream's outfall seems to have been widened, (by the landowner?) and it may have been used as an unofficial wharf on its western side.
   
The earliest trust-worthy maps we have are the 1890 Ordnance Survey, and the 1892 survey of the entire canal by Fowler  -  an extract of which is shown above.
 
From the Fowler map we can measure that the inlet was then 82ft long, an almost perfect length to allow the turning of a horse-drawn 70ft narrowboat.  If that's what it was, why was an unofficial winding-hole developed there?  My theory dates back to the 1840s when, for a number of years, there was a regular boat-traffic being loaded with the stone to build the current Houses of Parliament  -  at a wharf near the "malt kiln" shown on the map above.  It seems very likely that the inlet was used to turn the boats, prior to loading, for their trip back to West Stockwith, and/or an off-line boat-storage mooring with a stable for the boat-horses?
 
Yorkshire Stone to London  -  To Create the Houses of Parliament
 
Presumably it's cordoned-off by CRT because they have no legal responsibilty to maintain or use it.
 

A Boat Like No Other (Part 3)

 
Sounds and Smells
 
Yesterday, standing by the Chesterfield Canal on the towpath bridge at Shireoaks, it could have been 1913.  Overhead an old bi-plane had just taken off from a grass runway, it's engine small and light.  Across the canal cows grazed in a field, and behind us the sounds and smells of boatyards through the centuries  -  a wooden boat being built with hammering, and a strong aroma of sun-warmed tar and caulking carried on the wind.
 
Turning round it was obvious the New Dawn Project is making very good progress.  Volunteers were busy fitting the wooden fenders to the stern, and tarring in the vicinity of the bows cabin.
 

 
In the foreground the wooden fenders are already fitted, and the top of the bows cabin can clearly be seen.  In the background the main cabin at the stern is taking shape.
 
Once again one of it's unique working boats is taking shape by the Chesterfield Canal.
 

Updates - May 2013

 
Chesterfield Canal  -  A Richlow Guide
 
Pages 16 and 18.  Seth Ellis Trip-boat (Retford).
 
The trip-boat Seth Ellis (of the Chesterfield Canal Trust) now operates from the Hop Pole pub, near bridge 59.
   
Page 24.  Navigation Notes.  Shireoaks Marina.
 
Longer vessels travelling up the canal may find it easier to reverse into the basin.  The water-points are in some of the lighting columns on the visitor moorings.
 
Page 24.  Shireoaks.
 
Laura's Coffee Shop is now open near bridge 38.  (Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, other than Bank Holidays).  Some may remember it as Nona's cafe, closed when Dawn Siddons moved to run the coffee shop at Hollingwood Hub (map 12).
New owner Laura Elliott was Dawn's assistant at Hollingwood Hub and has now moved to Shireoaks to run her own business.  See page 40 edit below.

Page 36.  Supplies, Retford.
 
Calor Gas is also available from the canalside Jewsons builders merchants, near bridge 56 in Retford.
 
Page 40.  Pub and Cafe List.
 
Changed Telephone Numbers.  The Boat Inn (bridge 66) is now 01777 703273, and they now offer accommodation.  The Hop Pole pub (bridge 59) is now 01777 704438.
The new Laura's Coffee Shop (bridge 38) at Shireoaks is 07946 042362. 
 

A Boat Like No Other (Part 2)

 
The Covers Removed
 
On 22 November 2012 an item was posted on this blog about the creation of a working boat of the type unique to the Chesterfield Canal  -  the New Dawn project.
 
This is a tremendous undertaking totally manned, and funded, by members of the Chesterfield Canal Trust.
   
In November the boat was still draped in tarpaulins, but since then the covers have been removed and the scale of what has been achieved is plain to see.
 

They worked throughout the wet summer of 2012, and now the late bitter coldness of winter/spring 2013, but by early February the volunteers could take delight in seeing what they had achieved.



By late March the major task was caulking.  This means forcing the caulking (created from woven strands of old and new ropes and soaked in Stockholm tar) into the joints and seams, and the gaps between the planks, to make the timbers watertight.
 

At the bows  -  both sides of the stem post are being sealed.
 
Harry, on the left, is cutting out a slot using a brace, and on the right, Richlow's John is caulking the joint with a wooden caulking mallet. 

Chesterfield Canal - Worksop Towpath

 
Chesterfield Canal Guide
   
Maps 8 and 7  Towpath Improvements in Worksop, between Sandy Lane Bridge (41a) and Bridge Street Bridge (42)
 
Contractors on behalf of CRT are removing the existing towpath surface and installing a full replacement.
 
The work has been delayed, twice, by snow but is now underway, with a work-camp by Stret Lock.  Towpath closures are in place.  This photograph was taken on 27 February 2013, of a workparty between the Lady Lee Arm and Morse Lock (49) Map 8.

Updates - January 2013 (2)

 
Chesterfield Canal
 
Map 1.  West Stockwith Lock (65).  The final approaches to the lock, on the Trent, will be dredged by March 2013.
 
Map 4.  Whitsunday Pie Lock (60).  The bottom cills and gates will be repaired during March 2013.
 
Map 7.  Between Manton Viaduct (45a) and Kilton Lock (52), Worksop.  The canal will be dredged during the early winter months of 2013.
 
Maps 7 and 8.  Between bridges 42 and 41a, at Worksop.  The towpath will be upgraded with a full replacement of its surface in Jan-Feb 2013.
 
Map 8.  Stret Lock (48) at Worksop.  The work to widen this lock was completed in late 2012.  The chamber has been rebuilt by CRT with a clear width of 7ft 0.5ins over a draught of 2ft 9ins.  CRT are working to the dimensions of the 1968 Transport Act which states that this canal should allow for craft 72ft long, 6ft 11ins beam, and a draught of 2ft 6ins.
 
Maps 8 and 9.  Between Worksop and the feeder at Kiveton Park on the summit pound. The canal will be spot-dredged during the early winter months of 2013. Also overhanging vegetation will be trimmed back.

Dredging-pans and push-tugs in Shireoaks Basin (map 8).
1 February 2013.

A Boat Like No Other

 
What's Under the Covers?
 

It’s mid November 2012, and what’s under the covers?  It’s a narrowboat being built, and it's no exaggeration to write that it’s of a kind the like of which you have probably never seen.  Not because she’s a new design  -  the exact opposite in fact.
 
But she’s not a replica, instead she’s the next in line of her unique class, it’s just that it’s been over eighty years since the last one was built.  A cargo-carrying wooden narrowboat with hybrid power systems  -  horse and sail.
 

________________________________________

  
Boats such as these operated on a standard narrow canal, a waterway built to the same dimensions as many at the centre of the national network.  But because the Chesterfield Canal is on the fringes of that network its narrowboats did not develop in the same way as elsewhere.  Instead they remained unchanged over centuries and were never adapted to engine power.

They had two cabins, one in the bows and the main one at the stern, but they were below, with access through hatches in the decks.
 
There was a crew of two, who did not live on the boat. They always had homes ashore.


The fundamental influences on their design, other than the narrow canal dimensions, were the vessels that plied the Trent and the other rivers of the region, especially the inland keels.  This was bound to happen because the same men built both types.  Therefore, the narrowboats of the Chesterfield Canal could be described as narrowkeels, a development not seen anywhere else  -  in the world!
 
Unfortunately none of these craft survived the end of cargo-carrying on the Chesterfield Canal, in the 1950s.  However, one, named Ida, survived long enough for astute people to measure, photograph, and note her dimensions  -  people who then waited many decades for the opportunity to create a new Chesterfield Canal narrowboat  -  and that’s what’s under the covers.

________________________________________

 
Her name has not yet been announced, but she is being built by the New Dawn Project, and it's being done by using traditional tools, materials and methods, no power options here.  The workforce consists of members of the Chesterfield Canal Trust led by the man whose knowledge makes it all possible, David Bownes, a boat-builder who worked on repairing these boats many years ago.  The funding was raised amongst the membership of the CCT, plus donated materials, such as flannelette, hand-tools, clamps and wooden ladders.
 
So in November 2010 they set to, the team of volunteers learning from scratch some of David's wood-working skills.  It was a steep learning curve but they were fulfilling a dream.
 



November 2010. The boat will be built on the stocks, the trellis-like forms, which have already been made by hand.  The two planks being worked on are the first of the many "bottoms" which will, you've guessed it, form the bottom of the boat. Being planed and drilled by hand - as has everything else.

 

The kind of tools used. 

 

The modern blue twine and the synthetic sheets are only there to cover the boat when work is not being done. No modern materials have been used in building the boat.

 

Two years on, November 2012, and considerable progress has been made. The bottom and flooring have been done, and four runs of planking now form the 70ft sides.

The gaps between the edges of the side planks (strakes) will be sealed.
 
In the second strake up can be see the type of joint used to fit them together along the sides.

A major operation has been steaming some of the strakes to bend them around to form the shape of the bows and the stern.
 
The upright timbers are the headstock, a temporary fixture keeping the bow timbers in place until they are locked in by other permanent planking.

It's labourious work, but fulfilling.  Probably a once in a life time opportunity.

The countersunk bolt holes will be plugged with tar and resin.

Steamed strakes near the stern.  Again a temporary headstock can be seen, holding the planks in place, the same as at the bows.

 This scene is so evocative of the entire project.

It's of another age, and smells of tar and timber.

 

 

When the boat is finished there will be no sign of what is called "traditional" roses-and-castles canalware decoration  -  that didn't spread to this part of the network.

 

What she will have, at some time in the future, is a mast and sail for when she ventures out onto the tidal Trent.  The boatmen of the Chesterfield Canal had no fear of the river, but plenty of respect, because it allowed them to reach other markets for their cargoes.

 

 

A model giving an impression of what the bows and stern of this unique narrowboat will look like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geography ordained that the narrowboats of the Chesterfield Canal would be of a unique type.  Soon, there will be a new one.

 

Chesterfield Canal - Stret Lock

Chesterfield Canal - A Richlow Guide
 
Page 24.  Stret Lock, Worksop
 
This sometimes too narrow narrow lock is being widened by CRT (see Updates - October 2012).  A task welcomed after decades of difficulties for a minority of boats that could not pass through its chamber.
 
There is a unique opportunity to visit these works on a CRT Open Day, Sunday, 25 November.  Visitors will be able to walk inside the lock-chamber, and see and ask how this skilled operation is being undertaken.
 
Booking is NOT required.  Site open from 9.00am, last entry strictly 3.15.  Site closes 3.45. Sturdy footwear or wellies.
 
A57 Worksop Bypass - A60 roundabout (Sainsbury's), the lock is at the side of The Lock Keeper pub, parking available in the pub's car-park.  Post code for sat-navs S80 1TJ.

An access ramp to the lock, and across to the chamber, is being installed.
(Photo 16 November).













Installation is also underway of steps down into the chamber.  (Photo 16 November).









The towpath has remained open during these works.

Updates - October 2012

 
Chesterfield Canal  -  A Richlow Guide
 
Page 24. Shireoaks Marina Pump-out
 
The self-operated pump-out facility has been out of action for some time.  Please check with the regional CRT (p41) if this may be a problem on your cruise.
 
Page 24.  Stret Lock
 
The narrowness of the chamber of this lock has caused problems for decades, some narrowboats finding they could not pass through.  This applied to some converted working-boats, but also to modern craft built with slightly extended base-plates.  But the good news is that CRT has today started a major project to solve the problem, scheduled to be completed by 10 December.

Page 36.  New slipway at Staveley Town Basin
 
Slipways section.  The recently opened Staveley Town Basin (map 11) has a slipway.  Usage can be arranged by contacting Tapton Lock Visitor Centre, Chesterfield.  Contact details p41.

Updates - May 2012 (2nd)

 
Chesterfield Canal  - A Richlow Guide
 
Page 16. Boat Inn at Hayton
 
This pub has closed.  We do not normally advise of individual closures as the situation changes so quickly.  But there are mentions of the pub in both the Navigation Notes, and the "Hayton" paragraph.
 
Page 32. Hollingwood Common Tunnel
 
The entrance to the tunnel has been cleared and made safe.  Added - "The entrance on the far bank, with a grill and a fence, can be seen from the towpath near Works Road Bridge (8c)."
 
Page 41. Contact details
 
Tripboat Seth Ellis (Retford)  -  07925 851569 and sethellis@chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk
 
Chesterfield Canal Partnership  -  Hollingwood Hub, 22 Works Road, Hollingwood,
Chesterfield S43 2PF       01246 477502
geraint.coles@derbyshire.gov.uk
 

Updates - January 2012

 
Chesterfield Canal - A Richlow Guide
 
Page 12. White Swan pub.   Walkers can use the pub's car park.
 
Page 30, and Map 11.  The canal is now in water from Mill Green Bridge to the new Staveley Town Basin.  The towpath along this stretch was resurfaced in January, thereby removing the mud created by the recent canal restoration work.
 
Page 40.  The Angel pub at Killamarsh has closed once again.
 
Page 41.  The police non-emergency number changed to the new national 101.
 
Guides available from our website http://www.richlow.co.uk/   Post free.
 
Inland Waterways Information http://boaters-web.com/
 

Updates - December 2011

 
Chesterfield Canal
 
Map 11.  Staveley.  The canal now has water in it from Chesterfield to the new Staveley Basin. It will take until approximately the middle of January 2012 to fill the basin.  Meanwhile the towpath remains officially closed in the area  -  however, walkers and cyclists have continued to use it.  Those doing so should note that in the vicinity of Hall Lane Bridge (12) the path is very muddy across its entire width, and for a considerable distance.  This is a result of the heavy machinery working in the area.

If you wish to see the new basin, there is a good view from Hall Lane, Staveley (down the hill from the Library). 

The whole project is another success for the Chesterfield Canal Partnership  -  and the gap between the two restored sections is reduced yet again.

The new basin at Staveley beginning to fill.  The water is still shallow, but it shows what the Chesterfield Canal's latest feature will look like.