Canals around Coventry

Norman Conquest, sorry but the picture on post 207 of the junk was where NormK said it was on 209. The picture on 208 was by Nettle Hill. It was fortunate that the racehorses were on the hill or they could have been drowned as the water drove down to the brook and a fence so there was no escape for the sheep.

Hi Kaga and all. I didn't quote picture numbers, all I said was about clearing rubbish from near Nettle Hill or whatever they may have been doing. Kaga, you mention the racehorses, there were two, Satrap and Orphan Lad. Both belonged two the two ladies who lived at Nettle Hill but were trained by Jim and Tom Taylor. There were other horses on Nettle Hill but they were no longer racers. Jim was the jockey but he was putting on a bit of weight so I was asked if I would like to train as a jockey. The answer was a big NO. I had ridden one of those horses and didn't really like the experience. Too high off the ground and no brakes. The racing saddles were on the hard side and I soon found out why jockeys stand in the stirrup when racing.

It's either somewhere in the Swan River Norman or left at a bus stop. I have often seen a shopping trolley left near a bus stop, obviously left by an adult who ought to know better considering what the trolleys cost.

johnwright, before 1955 time when the canals belonged to Inland Waterways, the dredging of the canals was governed by the lengthman, he had a measuring stick, and if too silted or obstructed he would report to head office and the dredger would be used. But Coventry Canal between Sutton Stop and the Bishop Street basin was badly neglected, hence the picture on post 207 around 1957. The hot water pipe at the gasworks was very small, nothing like the power station hot water.

A question. I know the answer but does anyone else know. What is different about the Oxford Canal lock at Sutton Stop that makes it unique. No other lock is quite like it.

At the back of my mind I have a thought that the Coventry canal once lost its water and bottom end of Eagle St was flooded. Is this correct?? Hawkesbury Junction

Norman - the canal bank was breached opposite to the junction of Foleshill Road and Eagle Street when the footings for a new factory unit (now storage unit) were being dug about 1979/80. It happened in the late evening. I was told that the water cascaded down Eagle Street and Springfield Rd to the Five Ways junction at the bottom. The properties at the bottom of the hill were flooded and the regulars at the Three Shuttles were marooned on top of the bar and were only evacuated when they were seen to be in danger of drowning through falling off the bar from intoxication. Apparently the licensee had invited them to help themselves to the stock before it was all ruined by the flood water. The canal drained all the way to Sutton Stop where the stop boards were put into place. Lots of the canal water ended up in the Swanswell Pool. Foleshill Road and all of the roads around Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital were closed and I remember having to divert up through Hillfields to get home to Bedworth.

Hi Not Local. You say that the flooding of Eagle Street was caused whilst digging was taking place alongside the canal on the Foleshill Road. You say that the canal drained all the way to Sutton Stop, Presumably this would be from the canal basin top of Bishop Street to Sutton Stop. Did this incident drain the canal completely, because surely that amount of water would have flooded much more than Eagle Street and the Swanswell? And what happened to all the wild life in the canal, fish etc.?

Hello The flooding around Eagle St was very extensive & almost resembled the pictures that we have seen of folk coming to terms with the weather flooding up north recently. If I remember correctly, some sort of temporary barraging was eventually installed around Red Lane, but that was after the flood water had entered homes & a factory in Matlock Rd, such was the extent of the flooding.

Thanks for replies. As mentioned above there is a lot of water between top of Bishop St and Sutton Stop. When I was a member of CDAA they had fishing rights for the Coventry Canal and I think that the book said it's eleven miles long.

Hi all. You won't find the volume of water, until you know where, when and if they put the planks in, if there was no planks then you have to look at the nearest lock on the Coventry Canal, the lock on the Oxford Canal would stop water loss from the Oxford Canal. When I visited Coventry just before Xmas, I could find no planks or uprights at Tusses Bridge. I have no idea of the system these days. Canal House has vanished from New Inn Bridge, so who is looking after the canal for these emergences? There were no plank sites between Bishop St and New Inn during the war. Your best bet is Coventry Canal Society, they should know the answers. I would be interested to know if they put pylons in when they repaired it. It was the lengthman's job to watch all work carried out near the canal and make reports to head office.

John Wright - the canal certainly lost a lot of water between the basin and Sutton Stop. I can't recall whether it was completely empty or just very low. The new factory was being built directly against the tow path and it is my understanding that they supported the canal bank whilst the footings for the new building were being excavated. The bank collapsed in the evening when there was no-one on the building site to see what was happening, and the water and the fish set off down the hill towards the hospital and the Swanswell Pool. A friend of mine saw the water rise up inside the Three Shuttles from knee deep, to waist deep, and then to the top of the bar. At this point the regulars had to be told to leave! The planks were put in at Sutton Stop, but I am not sure whether there was anywhere nearer in to the city centre where the planks could have been put in to prevent such a large water loss. I vaguely recall some criticism at the time about how much water had been lost, and consequently how much damage had been caused to houses and businesses which were down hill from the breach.

Thanks Not Local, for your answer but still not absolutely sure just how much water left the canal, I suppose it would depend on the depth of the breach. As Norman Conquest I also was a member of the CDAA, and I know that they used to stock the canal with fish. If the canal had drained dry, many, many thousands of fish would have perished. Also as Kaga pointed out, I don't think that there was anywhere between Bishop Street basin and Sutton Stop where they could isolate the damage. Is there anywhere we could read up on the occurrence of this disaster?

This photo of the Foleshill Road Bridge on Wiki shows slots built into the side of the bridge and towpath where boards can be dropped in to isolate sections of the canal. They are quite common on canal bridges. I think these are normally used for engineering work as there are no boards kept nearby and it could be difficult to get the boards in once a leak has occurred and the canal has a good flow on it. Peter.

Having been born and brought up in Foleshill, nearer to the New Inn bridge I spent quite a lot of time walking up and down the canal (fell in a few times as well) so I am always interested in what happens to the canal from Coventry basin to Hawkesbury locks.