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Hazelwood is moored in Port Royal at Auxonne on the river Saône in France. It's owned by Roy and Carole Syacamore. They were one of a handful of English couples working 39m péniches on continental waterways until their retirement a couple of years ago, and now act as managers at the port.

 

If you have a look a the "Sheffield sized boats" topic at post #81 you can even see a photo of your friends barge "Hazelwood" that I posted in jan 2015.

 

Peter.

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Lock Keepers house. Long gone. The only visible remains are a few bricks of the garden wall (well, they were last time I visited).

That's what I had always assumed, but the angle from which the picture was taken makes it look more like a tower than a house!

 

Also, the "garden wall" which is still visible doesn't seem to appear in the photo.

 

I will go and look at the remains with a fresh eye as soon as it stops raining!

 

 

Chris G

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Yes, looking at it again the bit of wall I remember is not there in the old image. Must have been related to something else put up at a later date. I wonder if the house suffered from subsidence, rather like the old house at Batchworth. I wonder if Dacorum would have records?

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Yes, looking at it again the bit of wall I remember is not there in the old image. Must have been related to something else put up at a later date. I wonder if the house suffered from subsidence, rather like the old house at Batchworth. I wonder if Dacorum would have records?

The 1897 OS map shows a lock cottage above the top end of the lock, where the section of wall can be seen in the photo - and where there is still a wall. However, the wall does not seem to have a gap for a gate, so perhaps it was built after the lock cottage had been demolished!

 

The OS map does not show anything where the "tower" is.

 

It is a strange place for a building, as the land falls rapidly into the Bulbourne. The area was once used for watercress beds, but why would they require a tall building?

 

Could it be associated with the telephone lines which ran alongside the canal - did they install Intermediate Distribution Frames at intervals along the canal? Any canal/telephone experts out there?

 

Chris G

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Pure conjecture, but I would pitch a suggestion that such a house would be made long and thin as that was the only amount of ground available. The street I grew up in had similar issues. There were five terraced houses in a row, four with front rooms and back rooms, but the last had insufficient space at the back, and so was made skinny, with the extra rooms upstairs and down - beside, instead of behind. Perhaps with the existence of Sam's house at Sweeps, the Broadwater lock house was demolished. I wonder when.

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NB Hardy:

 

 

 

A sadder picture:

 

 

 

When we passed three weeks ago she was sitting on the bottom.

 

Hardy was Mike Humphris first boat as a captain, he was quite saddened to see the second picture.

Edited by Ray T
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Is that the Argo tied up next to her Ray ??

 

Darren

 

Yes.

 

Argo Built by Harland & Wolff - Length : 21.793 metres ( 71 feet 6 inches ) - Beam : 2.134 metres ( 7 feet ) - Draft : 0.914 metres ( 3 feet ) N/A . Registered with Canal & River Trust number 79679 as an Unpowered Unpowered Craft. ( Last updated on Wednesday 22nd May 2013 )

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Argo is now in two pieces in Braunston unfortunately. As was Argon before it. There's also another under conversion into two motors but I don't know which one that is, it's not Hydrus which I speculated was in for the chop last year as that was still floating in one piece.

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Argo is now in two pieces in Braunston unfortunately. As was Argon before it. There's also another under conversion into two motors but I don't know which one that is, it's not Hydrus which I speculated was in for the chop last year as that was still floating in one piece.

 

I'm happy to be corrected, but I thought what was still on the slip only a few weeks back was the former back end of Argo.

 

Hydrus must surely be classed at least at high risk.

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My mistake, the previous one was indeed Achilles. Argon is definitely still in one piece.

 

My brain got the wrong Birmingham & Midland butty in its eagerness to reply :)

Edited by IanM
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  • 2 weeks later...

Apsley 1988 & 2016

 

105%20GU%20Apsley%206th%20Nov%201988-L.j

 

109%20Kings%20Langley%20To%20Cowroast%20

 

Tim

 

That's Nash Mills, of course, and you now have me wondering whether it qualifies as being part of Apsley or not.

 

Are people still striking the large lump of concrete that has been added that projects beyond the natural line into the next lock, (where a footbridge has been built), or has enough of it yet got smashed off to make it less of a hazard?

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Gas Street Basin 1982 & 2013

 

100%20SVR%20Crowd%20Gas%20Street%205th%2

 

 

Tim

I prefer all of the 1980's images you have published here, they remind me of good times as I was working on the boats myself back then and lived just around the corner at Sherborne Street Wharf.

 

edit = The man on the towpath with the dog is John Edwards, long term owner of BEAULIEU and CAM, but at this time would have still owned MARCELLUS captain.gif

Edited by pete harrison
  • Greenie 1
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I prefer all of the 1980's images you have published here, they remind me of good times as I was working on the boats myself back then and lived just around the corner at Sherborne Street Wharf.

 

edit = The man on the towpath with the dog is John Edwards, long term owner of BEAULIEU and CAM, but at this time would have still owned MARCELLUS captain.gif

 

Here's my Sherborne Street Wharf one, 1982 & 2013:

 

132%20SVR%20Crowd%20BCN%20Sherbourne%20W

 

0130%20Central%20Birmingham%20Canals%202

 

Tim

Edited by Tim Lewis
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Here's my Sherborne Street Wharf one, 1982 & 2013:

 

Tim

We used to keep our pair right down at the far end, underneath the canopy of the warehouse and tied end on to the wharf. The warehouse was pretty much complete back then but was used by Rylands (Vauxhall / Bedford) to store and prepare new cars and trucks (and smash a few prior to delivery).

 

Brummagem Boats Ltd. hire cruisers are shabbier than I remember captain.gif

 

edit = the steel bridge would have been pretty new when the 1982 photograph was taken. It was put up in either 1980 or 1981 and prior to this the offside towpath was open as far as Sheepcote Street bridge.

Edited by pete harrison
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