Canals around Coventry

From the C.E.T. 27th October 1958.

That bridge is halfway along the arm, we have discussed it several times on here. A number of boatmen lost their lives in that arm, with congested boats loading coal with little room to manoeuvre and drunkenness. That bridge was used by Lentons Lane Farm and the crossing of the horses entering or leaving and the tow ropes on the side they needed. The basin had nothing to do with AG Rd, only to house pit workers. I would imagine the house would be the one on the side of the railway line, that once held the overseer of the railway line and loading of the boats with coal and all the equipment. It all ended in 1927 when the Craven closed, put my family out of business, our boat repair yard, and a great number of boats. Derelict from '27 till your picture's time. On the left of the picture was a pond, once a brick kiln, on the right, two fields away, the clod banks. The arm was specially built for the coal business, and the double bridge not in the picture still held the grooves of the tow ropes from itsuse. On the subject, Craven pit was named after Lord Craven who lived in Wyken, and was called Wyken Craven pit and so was all its workings, all were in Hawkesbury land. Hawkesbury pit funnily enough was in Bedworth district, sent a huge pumping engine in 1779, drained the pit of 60 feet of water in less than an hour. But two wayward Bedworth engineers had got the sack - idle, stupid, careless and conceited and frequently drunk, they had caused trouble to the builders of the pumping engine. When they were taken to court, Hawkesbury Colliery were fined and paid up.

Manor House, This basin had a two pair boat entry, once a pair left loaded then another pair could enter, it was that small, and so did Coventry basin. These canals made Coventry what it was, a city of industry. A horse wagon, six horses, two men, could only pull half a ton a mile in many hours. A man and wife and two horses, fifty tons, in a much shorter time. This was the way it was for over fifty years, the boats brought in the raw materials for looms, watches, cycles and everything Coventry needed, they really were Coventry's lifeblood. Now, there were five houses at the basin, four left to go to rot, the other preserved a little by the Home Guard during the war. Is this the one the reporter meant as a club house?

Kaga. The house mentioned is the one that was directly opposite the wharf/arm, with the former railway trackbed in between. I am sure it was 3 storeys high, with all the windows boarded over and whenever I saw the door open it had lots of canoes inside. I don't know why it was demolished, but it went sometime in the 1970s.

All the years since it went, I've had it in my mind it was 3 storeys high, but it was only 2. Gutted by fire on the 28th September 1970. From the C.E.T.

Manor House, The right-hand side never had windows, they must have come later, it had big doors, but tell me how did they get near to it, is there some sort of road these days?

Kaga. The canal society have had vehicle access to the arm via the lane which went to the farm, (off Alderman's Green Rd), then along the former railway trackbed. It would still have been a slow and bumpy ride for the firemen. Then on return to Foleshill station a clean up of the yellow paintwork on the engine, not once but twice that day as it seems they attended for a second time just hours later. An appropriate call-out for the Series IIA Land Rover appliance that was based at the Central station Hales St, but of course I don't know if it did attend. A bit of trivia: When the City of Coventry Fire Brigade aquired that Land Rover appliance (1963) it was filmed by the Land Rover factory on a training exercise by the canal off Shilton Lane in 1964.

Manor House I served at that station about 1950, it was the old canal bridge in Old Church Lane - every time we went over the bridge it unhooked the suction pipes from off the back. One midnight we went out to a chimney fire over the railway bridge and just on the right, almost in Shilton, they sent me up top, a very steep roof, the water ran down my arm and down my leg, into my boots, freezing cold flurry of snow - not an happy 'chappie'.

PS, it was three storeys, it stood on the edge of the railway bank, the basement was part cellar, that was on flat garden at rear, and four other houses behind it in a three sided square.

That hump-backed bridge on Old Church, the Council wanted to remove it and level the road. That would have meant the canal ended there, but after protests it was replaced by the one which is there now in 1973. The film of the Series IIA Land Rover appliance has been released on a Land Rover DVD and it's not Old Church Road, it's filmed on a farm and near the canal Potters Green area. I have a copy of it.

Yes, of course, on the occasions we went up to the canal arm it was more often than not from the slough, over the bridge then walk up the field, which is a public footpath, and then approach that building from the rear, which is why I have thoughts of it being 3 storeys. From the back it was!

Manor House, And that was the finish of my paper round, the last five papers, at the milk bottle plant, climb the stile over the wooden bridge of the Slough and up the pathway, and it was their garden that the yew tree cuttings came from, and killed the horses. And I found a floater in the Slough by the side of the wooden bridge, one early morning. The size of the papers were reduced during the war.

Kaga. You asked if there is "some sort of road". I had a stroll around the area on Friday. This view, with the Wyken arm to my right, is looking along the former railway trackbed towards where the farm was. It is now a tarmac roadway. And, as for the house, it was here!

Thank you Manor House. The place is really historic, the mines, the railway, the miners, half of Bell Green and Courthouse Green and Foleshill once worked and depended on the area for its livelihood, right back to the 16th century. Yet it had beauty, the fields full of wild flowers, herbs and birds. Weavers and spinners worked in their homes, where porridge cooled on the window sills, smoke filled the air, and the click of a shuttle could be heard in most houses. The weavers and spinners, and so did the canal, coal and cloth, relied on Coventry, the heart of the system. (I get carried away!)

It is a good description that Kaga, an historic area. Half a century ago, and more, when it was our playground we were aware of the significance of what had gone on to some extent. And I am doing now, what some of the old characters tried to do did back then. Talk about the area, but we didn't listen, or didn't want to listen then! But now your recollections via this forum and your posts are priceless and I've learned so much and I can't thank you enough.