Canals around Coventry

Your travels proved entertaining yesterday then Morgana, lovely to see the narrowboats. Thank you for sharing your day with us too. Hope you can enjoy a few more days like that before the winter months.

Thank you Dreamtime, glad you enjoyed the narrowboats, so colourful and the artwork on some are lovely. The boaters are so friendly too, they always wave or ready to pose for a photo like the 2nd photo, even if you don't chat.

Philip, I've always thought it a nice place, even to just sit outside, it's so calming, even years ago when I lived right by there in Grange Rd. I noticed there is a boys' club on the bit of field where the fair used to be when they had the boat fair there years ago, prior to being held at Coventry basin.

The only boats I remember were the canal boats not far away from the slough. Pictured my great granddad on his. What about it Kaga Simpson.

Hi mate

yes mark your great great grandad

So thats my great granddad, kaga

My estimate date would be late,1880's I can see no sign of the boatyard yet it was there before the turn of the century, The Simpson Boatyard, our forbears had a thriving business but the old folks decided to settle down at Tusses Bridge and let the kids run the business. Your granddad, my father, was born on the boats, eventually one of the Sefton girls married a Simpson son and eventually became the Sefton boatyard. So I was born at the foot of Tusses Bridge next to the disused railway, the railway ran from there past Main Pit Farm to Deedmore road. The opposite side of the road the railway was still in operation in 1945 when I left the area. My bedroom had a concave wall, from way back in the 1800's when a train had crashed and leaned against the wall. For seventeen years, no one in the area had a indoor bathroom or toilet, only a business had a phone, if we wanted to listen to the wireless we had to take an accumulator to the garage and had it topped up.

Ha, welcome to posting dad not bad at 86, right I remember you talking about the slough fondly, which is the original subject, so maybe you can share your memories on it, cant be many people that can go back as far as you lol.

Mark, had a closer look at the picture, this is the far end of the boat yard, the small shed was the rope and tackle shed.

Boats at Longford Hawkesbury Junction. None wanting to go to Coventry. I am surprised no tourist information has been set up for Coventry & its history at this junction, no leaflets, nothing. Two of my grandchildren opening the lock sluice for the boats. Oops this one hit the wall

Trundling down the Coventry canal today a narrowboat named Greenfinch being towed to the Coventry basin by Speedy the boat in front, in order for Greenfinch new engine to be connected.

Hey all, I'm new to all this, and now I'm finding it all a bit confusing, The slough, Longford etc all on different posts, but I go back a long long way, my family had at least ten boats on the canals in 1876, all horse drawn, so that would mean at least 15-20 horses, also had the Jolly Colliers at Woodway Lane, some operated from the basin Bishop Street, Sutton Stop, Tusses Bridge, my father also worked as a lengthman for inland waterways for nearly twenty years, which meant repairing the canal, operating the icebreaker etc, lived in a tied cottage, these cottages were about ten miles apart, the canal was separated in so called lengths, so they were responsible for the length where they lived. Now I wonder how they operate? Now, way back a lot of them didn't have birth certificates or hit the census, too busy travelling, they also lost a lot of children, tumbling off the boat, when my father told me kids of around ten onwards walked the plank through the tunnels I was horrified. Also the amount of walking they did behind the horse was unbelievable. The double bridge entrance to the basin had huge ruts that the ropes did. I mention that one because surely that is still there, I really don't know?

I think I remember the double bridge you mention, long time ago. I've just been looking at it on showmystreet.com and that junction seems to have changed. Although I was well used to horses because of Tailors Farm those barge horses used to frighten me. I often fished the canal but when one of those horses approached I was quick to gather my tackle together and get out of the way. There was talk of a horse slipping into the canal somewhere near the power station. Doubt if it is true, those horses were too sure-footed for that. Norman

Kerbstone, Hi, now the little bridge at the basin, certainly the farm was over the canal to Lentons Lane, but tell me did you ever see any cattle in the fields? If you had pointed towards A.G Rd you would have seen a very dangerous pond, esp, for cattle. Now the first thing I saw was the rushes, the basin was not used for 30-40 years. Now when the basin was used it would have been for horse boats, now supposing they had to have shortened ropes or a horse was about ready to come the other way, ropes would have clashed or they were approaching the main canal laden with coal, probably left into the basin, horse right hand side for leaving or perhaps they had a method for draining the basin, barge tipped over, or accidents with a boat, then they would have put planks in at that little bridge, I feel strongly in my mind that's what I was told 80 odd years ago. Now if the little bridge is still there, then the grooved stakes that held the planks would still be there, unless the pleasure boats got rid of them. I am pretty sure it had some function with the basin. We will probably never know.