Heartland

It is interesting to see the response so far But to answer this It was true and Jos Hateley was prosecuted at Worcestershire Sessions in December 1847 His employer was W H Dawes and a watchman observed him drop of 30 pounds weight of coal He was found guilty but clemency was requested and he was only fined a shilling

Some very detailed explanations and so quickly The caption was given as "State Barge" but these explanations seen more valid

A boatman was charged with stealing coal in 1847 when he followed the custom of leaving a quantity for the boatman's hovel at Dudley Canal Tunnel If true Was he found guilty? Who complained? And what happened to him?

And now it is an 1860 engraving at Oxford, but what are these craft?

The Alan Faulkner extensive collection

The Wikipedia entry for Earlswood Lakes, the reservoirs for the Stratford upon Avon Canal states that Prisoner of War from the Napoleonic Wars with the French were used to construct Earlswood Reservoirs as this first happened between 1821 and 1823 it is less likely to have been the case and the reference is given as from the Earlswood Craft Centre. By 1821 it would be reasonable to assume that the prisoners had been repatriated. Authority to make the reservoirs was made first by the 1815 act, but the act of 1821 also dealt with water supply and it seems that was the act that led to the principal work commencing and the reason for that was the anticipation of additional traffic travelling to Stratford and onto the Stratford & Moreton Railway/Tramway. There also another bill in 1836 which mentioned improvement of the reservoir. The engine house was completed in 1823 and the bulk of water from the reservoirs were pumped using the beam engine there.

Apparently Phil Wild has been scanning some of the collection.

The Canal History Workshop is now scheduled to take place at the BCN Titford Pumphouse on Saturday 8th November details from Martin O Keeffe or Ray Shill 10 30 1630 The £10 fee is retained and those who paid in 2020 will have their tickets honoured Details will be supplied to those interested

The aerofilm image is useful as it shows the branch and line along the quays Yesterday was out planning the RCHS West Midlands Group walk on 13th September from Foregate Street to Diglis along the canal and River which comes back to the Butts I posted a marker one the Britain from Above website recently to show the Butts Branch.

Yes D J Norton died young and he was principally a railway photographer. Peter Norton was from Warrington and it is said his negatives are with the Warrington Library

This image from 1860 shows the extent of the North Quay then and is seen from the original railway crossing.

I believe that bridge was part of the Butts Branch which was a line that connected with the Worcester & Hereford line and descended down to the Severn where there was a reverse point and the track followed the Severn to the South Quay. Well done Francis this is Worcester and the image was taken from a train on the Bridge. D J Norton took images from unusual vantage points on occasion which included the climbing of signal posts or talking his way into signal boxes.

Putting aside China, the rest of Europe and the canals on Mars The Birmingham Canal as completed from Goldshill to Birmingham climbed up through 6 locks up and 6 locks down in November 1769 For the Trent and Mersey the progress to the tunnel mouth at Harecastle was still in progress and then they would have to descend from Kidsgrove to fit the condition of crossing the watershed.

Another view of the Chimney Bridge And other image to ponder on this time an image from the camera of the late railway photographer D J Norton

There are times when listing amendments are as futile as expecting HS 2 to be open next week, so if the wording is inaccurate the only solution is to publish comments on sites such as this and with waterways send copies to the owning authority.