Hawkesbury Junction

Our Moorings last night

 

A lazy start this morning with a leisurely run in to the famous Hawkesbury junction. We were fortunate in getting a very decent position a short distance from the stop lock.The difference in levels is barely a foot between the Oxford and Coventry canals. The junction between the canals was the source of great controversy. The Oxford Canal's Act of Parliament contained clauses which stipulated that both companies had the right to the tolls on the other's canal for certain traffic which passed between them. Thus the tolls for all coal traffic on the first 2 miles (3.2 km) of the Oxford Canal were to go to the Coventry company, while tolls which the Coventry Canal collected for the first 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of travel by all goods except coal which had passed through the junction were to be given to the Oxford company.

 

 

This is also the location of the Greyhound pub and Keith quickly wandered off in order to book a table for this evening's meal. The only time available was 5:30. So be it. The local Coventry bitter was also sampled whilst sitting outside reminiscing visits made on our previous boat Anna of The Five Towns. The pub then had very close links with the game of rugby and had various shirts and dusty old ties hanging up. When asked where the ties were the reply came "Hey mate, they went 11 years ago!" At least the pub has retained its character and can easily be seen why it was a working boatman's establishment in its hey day.

The junction also sports  an elegant bridge over the actual junction of the two canals. This cast iron structure is a fine example of the Victorian engineer's art, and has a span of 15.2 m (50 ft). The bridge was cast at the Britannia Foundry in Derby, and was erected for the Coventry Canal Company in 1837, at a cost of £630

 

 

 

 

The engine or pump house is perhaps the most unusual and interesting of all the buildings at this junction, both historically and architecturally. A Grade II Listed Building, the lean-to at the rear is the oldest part and housed the first engine to be installed in 1821. This was a Newcomen type engine which had already seen around one hundred years' service at one of the local collieries. Named "Lady Godiva", it was used to raise water into the canal from a stream flowing underneath. However, by 1837 this supply proved inadequate and a 35 m (114 ft) shaft was sunk and a new, more powerful engine installed alongside "Lady Godiva" in the handsome three-storey building which now fronts the canal.

In 1913 this water supply failed due to the sinking of the new Coventry Colliery and the engine house fell into disuse. The newer engine was scrapped during the Second World War. "Lady Godiva" remained in place until 1963 when it was moved to Dartmouth, the birthplace of Thomas Newcomen, as the centrepiece of a memorial museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

An excellent meal was had and was served by very attentive waiters.