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WARWICKSHIRE IndustrialW ArchaeologyI SociASety NUMBER 21 December 2005 PUBLISHED QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER THIS ISSUE also became noticeable. Reminders for outstanding Strictly these remains represent payments will be sent out after ¢ Meeting Reports landscape archaeology, but the Christmas. inference for field industrial archaeology is clear. Snowfall, Newsletter mailing ¢ Cob low sunlight and an area of Those members who are unable known past industrial activity may to attend meetings regularly may ¢ Website Update reveal more to careful inspection have noticed the absence of the than might be apparent under usual Newsletter mailings during ¢ 2006 Programme more usual weather. the latter part of this year. This is Mark W. Abbott due to a computer upgrade, which has made the address EDITORIAL SOCIETY NEWS databases used for this mailing he value of snow for Programme. inaccessible, along with the industrial archaeology in The programme through to database that holds subscription the field was not March 2006, is as follows: records. This should be a T January 12th temporary problem, albeit one of something I had considered until the snowfall around Southam at Mr. Roger Cragg: Thomas rather longer duration than was the end of November. Brassey. originally envisaged! In the Out and about in the course of February 9th meantime, a stock of past my job, I had to travel to Burton Mr. Tim Booth: Emscote Mill. Newsletters is always available at Dasset and then Avon Dasset. March 9th meetings, so please ask if you This was an interesting exercise in Mr. Jeromy Hassell: White and think you have missed a copy. All itself as the minor roads had not Poppe. being well the usual pattern of been cleared and the temperature mailings should resume in the was below freezing, but the Subscriptions New Year and apologies for any necessary slow pace of travel gave Members are reminded that inconvenience caused in the more time to notice the subscriptions for the 2005/2006 meantime. countryside. What was season are due. The amount immediately apparent was that payable remains as for the last Tom Charman memorial the covering of snow, and the low season: £10.00 per person or As reported previously in the winter sun, accentuated patterns couple with an additional meeting Newsletter, the Society has in the landscape. Ridge and payment of £1.00 per person to partially funded the restoration of furrow that was normally only help cover refreshment expenses. a narrow gauge slate wagon from vaguely defined was thrown into Payment should preferably be the Tal y Llyn Railway in memory sharp relief as a striking pattern of made at a meeting, but payments of late member Tom Charman; a white and blue-grey stripes across by post are acceptable Please note long term supporter of the Tal y hillsides. Previously unnoticed that receipts for postal payments Llyn Railway Preservation track ways through the field will not be sent out, but instead Society. It can now be confirmed patterns were similarly visible and will be available for collection at a that the wagon to be restored will it was possible to make out whole subsequent meeting. Cheques be one of the original TR wagons, field systems where usually only should be made payable to fleet number 101. Restoration is indistinct bumps were visible. Warwickshire Industrial about to begin in the Gunpowder Similarly very distinct were old Archaeology Society please. If Store at Wharf Station. The web quarry pits, while vague you are unsure of your address www.ngrm.org.uk/news suggestions of platforms where subscription status for this season should yield a photograph. buildings may once have stood please ask the Treasurer. * * * * WIAS Meeting Reports by Arthur Astrop September 2005 Mr. Hugh Compton The Oxford Canal he Oxford Canal, one of the most beautiful proved too heavy for the wooden swing bridge over of our inland waterways, was a vital link in the canal. A cast iron bridge was eventually built to Tthe great system which, in the late 18th and take its place. early 19th centuries, was constructed to join the Other aspects of the Oxford canal mentioned by north-west of England to the south-east, and Hugh Compton, included the building by the canal specifically to London. Our members were owners of pubs alongside the waterway, where canal fortunate to have Hugh Compton, current President business could also be conducted; the growth of of the Rail & Canal Historical Society and author of coal yards adjacent to the canal; and the various The History of the Oxford Canal, to relate the triumphs types of dredgers used, from early versions which and the disasters which accompanied its were largely dependent on sheer manual effort to the construction. later more efficient steam-driven types. Like many of the ambitious civil engineering schemes of that time, those who put up money to Cob build the canal had some years to wait before they were to see a proper return on their investments, but ecently noted by Peter Chater in Claverdon is when the profits, and then the dividends, began to R an example of cob construction, in this arrive they did so in abundance. The delays on the instance a boundary wall approximately 72 feet long, road to profitability, however, must have sorely 6 feet high and 2 feet wide. It has a shaped tested both the nerve and the patience of the corrugated iron coping with a good overhang to shareholders. keep the cob dry. The wall is next to Wheelbarrow There were the usual Parliamentary delays, while Lane (OS Sheet 151 GR 291648). Bills were haggled over and passed, together with the Cob is an old Devon word for a mud wall, and inevitable wrangles with land owners and local Devon probably has more cob than anywhere else in authorities who were affected by, or who saw Britain, with cob being Devon’s traditional financial opportunities in, the new ‘cut’. The areas of construction material since the fourteenth century. Hawkesbury Junction and Coventry were great However, cob is not restricted to Devon and centres of dissension and opposition and Coventry, examples may be found elsewhere in the UK. In not least, wanted its share of the spoils, and tried Warwickshire cob is now quite rare, although there hard to resist any attempt to by-pass the city by is a fine example of a row of cob built cottages in building ‘shortcuts’. In the end, of course, Dunchurch. compromises were reached and Coventry got some, One reason for the popularity of cob in Devon but not all, of its wishes. may be the quality of the Devon clay sub-soils, many The Oxford Canal has approximately 100 locks, of which have a consistency and low shrinkage and various tunnels, including the Napton, which is factor that makes them ideal for cob construction. wide enough for two boats to pass, and has a Traditionally, straw and sometimes dung, were towpath at each side. Napton brickworks was added to the clay subsoil to reduce cracking ideally placed to supply the millions of bricks problems during drying. Often cattle would be used required for canal bridges, tunnels, locks, etc. to tread the mixture, so the addition of dung was Braunston gradually became a very important inevitable! trans-shipment area for goods being carried on the Once the mixture was ready to use, the walls were Grand Junction and Oxford canals, and Banbury usually built up in layers, typically by forking lumps soon had an important boat yard, which is still in of wet cob onto stone plinth foundations operation. 450–900mm wide. This was heeled together by a Hugh Compton spoke about the arrival, in 1860, team of people to form a horizontal layer up to 1000 of the Henshaw steam tug which could pull as many mm thick. Each layer was given time to dry, to as 12 boats. The railway companies protested and enable placing of the next one without the walls managed to get the speed of the tug limited to 3 ½ compressing and bulging. Sometimes shuttering mph. South of Banbury on the Oxford canal, in a would be used; the exact technique varied according bid to keep costs down, many swing bridges were to the quality of the cob mixture, the weather and built instead of using traditional brick and/or stone local tradition. construction. The mill at Heyford, however, Lintels and beams were seated and openings eventually invested in a steam traction engine, which Continued on page 4 2 Warwickshire Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter: Number 21 WIAS AIA Conference Highlights October 2005 Dr. Michael Harrison Highlights of Recent Annual Conferences of the Association for Industrial Archaeology ur Society has long been affiliated to the enterprise, but by 1787 the entire site was Crown Association for Industrial Archaeology Property. Photos of early gunpowder production Obut relatively few of our members manage buildings, with a variety of different designs of to attend the AIA’s annual conferences. WIAS is ‘blow-off’ roofs and walls were shown. The New therefore deeply indebted to those who do attend, River, started in the 1600s to supply water to the and especially for their subsequent reports on the rapidly expanding population of London, also proceedings. Such firsthand reports from members originates in Hertfordshire, and examples of some however must, of necessity, be rather short but at splendid early water-pumping stations were our October meeting, Dr Michael Harrison, illustrated. past-President of the AIA, was able to take a wider In conclusion, Dr Harrison spoke about the view and to cover in considerable detail the typical structure of an AIA annual conference. proceedings at two of AIA’s most recent annual Basically, each consists of three parts, namely the events.