Foxton-Leaflet-V7.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Designed and illustrated by Imagemakers. by illustrated and Designed “ “ “ “ dge. the rom way tay – water E F A “ “S “ near near stay to remember Always “ SAFE visit kids for www.wow4water.net For education resources and fun activities activities fun and resources education For Canal & River Explorers River & Canal upper arm. upper experience that offers a bird’s eye view of the inclined plane. plane. inclined the of view eye bird’s a offers that experience The grand opening of the boat lift 10th July 1900. 1900. July 10th lift boat the of opening grand The 1 This photograph show the stop gates being installed in the the in installed being gates stop the show photograph This The viewing platform is a dramatic addition to the visitor visitor the to addition dramatic a is platform viewing The www.canalrivertrust.org.uk a contrast to its original construction with picks and shovels. shovels. and picks with construction original its to contrast a Enquiries.southeast@canalrivertrust.org.uk Restoring the canal upper arm with heavy machinery, quite quite machinery, heavy with arm upper canal the Restoring Tel: 0303 040 40 40 40 040 0303 Tel: MK9 1BB MK9 Central Milton Keynes Milton Central one of the cafes or bars. or cafes the of one 500 Elder Gate Elder 500 Station House Station the landscape. the and enjoy a drink and bite to eat in in eat to bite and drink a enjoy and 1st Floor North Floor 1st discovered. You may wish to relax relax to wish may You discovered. transformed have hands working hard and Trust River & Canal and gentle strolls all waiting to be be to waiting all strolls gentle and minds engineering great where place a For more information more For struggling to compete with the railways. railways. the with compete to struggling people like you who visit each year. each visit who you like people wildlife, beautiful countryside views views countryside beautiful wildlife, families; boat working for toil daily of paths and facilities for the thousands of of thousands the for facilities and paths time this by was which canal a of fortunes Leicestershire, LE16 7RA LE16 Leicestershire, at Foxton Locks, there’s flourishing flourishing there’s Locks, Foxton at place a once Foxton, real the about hear historic features and provision of new new of provision and features historic the save to attempt failed ultimately but Foxton Its not all heritage that remains here here remains that heritage all not Its and past Foxton’s from characters Meet Gumley Road Gumley its of restoration the been has history bold a was This lift. boat the came 1900 In Foxton Locks Foxton Foxton’s in chapter recent most The cottage and the remains of a gigantic boat lift. boat gigantic a of remains the and cottage route between the Midlands and the South. South. the and Midlands the between route Foxton Locks Address Locks Foxton 2 the canal for leisure and pleasure. pleasure. and leisure for canal the trade important an was This Canal. Union locks, the old canal company stables, lock keeper’s keeper’s lock stables, company canal old the locks, www.foxtonboats.co.uk people started to discover a new use for for use new a discover to started people Grand original the of part as 1814 and 3 Tel: 0116 279 2285 279 0116 Tel: See elegant brick bridges, a steep staircase of of staircase steep a bridges, brick elegant See As canal trade gave way to road and rail rail and road to way gave trade canal As 1810 between built locks the came First Boat trips, Bridge 61 pub & shop shop & pub 61 Bridge trips, Boat Explore a place brimming with heritage! heritage! with brimming place a Explore Foxton Boat Services Boat Foxton Locks, lifts and leisure time leisure and lifts Locks, Tel: 07764 152988 07764 Tel: 4 Welcome to Foxton Locks Foxton to Welcome school holidays 9am – 4pm. – 9am holidays school 7 boat passing through the locks during a visit to Foxton. to visit a during locks the through passing boat Winter opening - weekends and and weekends - opening Winter Mr. Jacques and family posing next to a working working a to next posing family and Jacques Mr. Open everyday in summer 9am – 5pm – 9am summer in everyday Open Situated inside the top lock cottage lock top the inside Situated 6 Top Lock Coffee Stop Coffee Lock Top Enjoying a family picnic beside the locks. the beside picnic family a Enjoying 5 Tel: 0116 279 1515 279 0116 Tel: Foxton Locks Inn Locks Foxton www.fipt.org.uk wheelchair accessible. wheelchair Tel: 0116 279 2657 279 0116 Tel: of the route is is route the of Please ring for details. for ring Please The majority majority The Wednesday (subject to staff availability). availability). staff to (subject Wednesday 2.4 km 2.4 Winter opening – Saturday to to Saturday – opening Winter approx. 1.5 mile / / mile 1.5 approx. Open every day in summer 10am – 5pm – 10am summer in day every Open Trail length: length: Trail Inclined Plane Trust (FIPT) Trust Plane Inclined Foxton Locks Discovery Trail Discovery Locks Foxton Foxton Canal Museum & Foxton Foxton & Museum Canal Foxton All cargoes great and small In the canal’s heyday 50 or 60 working A staircase of locks reservoirs, or side ponds, were built A magnificent boat lift At the time, barges could not use the The new super highways boats a day, most of them horse-drawn, alongside the locks. Before the boat lift was Grand Junction Canal because of the Up until the mid 1930s, horses were still Rather than going the long way around the In 1894 the Grand Junction Canal worked their way through Foxton Locks built, these ponds were even bigger than the narrow locks at Foxton and Watford Gap. widely used to pull working boats heavily steep hill at Foxton, canal engineer Company took over the running of the Canals are the 18th and 19th century equivalent of the between the busy industrial Midlands, ones you see today. Although the lift by-passed Foxton locks, laden with cargoes. The canals were used Benjamin Bevin designed two sets of five old Grand Union Canal. In the face of London and the South. the failure to widen the locks at Watford motorway, and canal boats rather like the lorries that to transport everything from coal, iron and narrow staircase locks to raise and lower A real bottleneck increased competition from road and rail Gap meant that there was no increase in agricultural fertiliser to everyday food items From Steam to Diesel boats the 75ft between the lower level Skilled boaters could work their way through transport, the canal company turned to nowadays transport every sort of provision to keep our barge traffic. The Lift closed in 1911. such as beer, flour, milk and cabbages. They In the late 1890s steam boats started to Leicester Line and the summit of the Grand the locks in forty-five minutes, or less, engineer Gordon Cale Thomas to come shops, industries and economy going. even transported London Underground iron appear on the Grand Union Canal. Though Union Canal. assuming no hold ups! But with canal trade up with a brave new solution that would A tank full of water tunnel roof segments. faster than horse-drawn boats, the large booming, Foxton Locks became a real bypass the bottleneck of the locks and Once boats were inside the giant metal The Grand Union Canal, of which Foxton is Early canals usually followed the contours, The flight of locks here is often referred to boilers and coal needed to run them took bottleneck thanks to the one and only allow bigger, wider barges, with their tanks, or caissons, the guillotine gates part, represents one link in a vast network since it was easier and cheaper to go as a ‘staircase’ because the bottom gates of up valuable space meaning they couldn’t passing place midway up the hill. The narrow increased load carrying capacity, to use closed, trapping a tank full of water. A of inland waterways which once stretched round a hill rather than through or over it. one lock are also the top gates of the lock carry as much cargo. They were generally 7ft wide locks also prevented wider boats, the canal. huge winding drum at the top of the slope to some 2000 miles. However, as speed became more below. The Gilbert working boat family, from Welford. used to carry perishables and other items or barges, from using the canal. Meanwhile reeled in the thick steel cable attached to important, canals were cut straighter, Narrow boats and barges Most canals were cut before mechanical that needed quick delivery. Not just pretty ponds railways were offering faster and more the upward moving tank, whilst at the same which often meant constructing long The decision was taken to build an inclined tools were invented. Thousands of navvies To ensure sufficient water to keep boats efficient transport! time letting out the cable attached to the flights of locks, aqueducts and tunnels to plane counter-balanced lift. Its two huge dug channels from one end of the country It was the more efficient diesel engine that moving through the locks great storage descending tank. All of this was powered overcome natural obstacles. tanks could each hold two narrow boats, to the other, using only spades, picks and eventually replaced the horse. by a 25 horsepower steam engine. or one wider barge. The lift opened on the barrows and helped by horses. 10th of July 1900. A Grand Junction Canal Company Mileage Post.