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Chesterfield Canal Basin


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The basin has been there for a while but I could infuriatingly only ever peer through a fence around the building site it was in the middle of. This week Chesterfield Canal Trust Supporters Group were invited to take a walk from Tapton Lock Visitor Centre, along the canal, past the flood lock and along the River Rother and into the site. 

This meant I finally managed to get the photo I have been waiting to take - a reflection of the crooked spire in the canal basin! Now I need to wait until I can the same photo with Python moored in the basin :) 

 

I have to say the plans are very impressive. They have now watered down the design and instead of a canal link running into the basin they will dredge the river and put a lock up into the basin for daytime moorings with some visitor moorings  moorings on the river section but the first houses have been built and lived in for a while and now all the enablement works are complete they expect to start building in January

 

18010199_10154732318483845_5019814914556

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Good news then. I'm still intending to take Halcyon along the Chesterfield later in the year, I cycled along a good part of it a few weeks back (look in the fishing, cycling and walking section) and spent a bit of time chatting with some of the volunteers who were pulling a boat along.

 

Kevin

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On 5/13/2017 at 17:00, Kev's Halcyon said:

Good news then. I'm still intending to take Halcyon along the Chesterfield later in the year, I cycled along a good part of it a few weeks back (look in the fishing, cycling and walking section) and spent a bit of time chatting with some of the volunteers who were pulling a boat along.

 

Kevin

Sorry to have taken a while to see your post. I am still struggling to navigate the forum since it all changed. I will try and find your thread 

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On 5/13/2017 at 17:35, Pluto said:

Another church with a twisted spire reflected in a canal, or rather the canal feeder to the Canal de Briare in France.

2000 Canal de Briare water supply.jpg

That looks lovely 

The spire in Chesterfield is not just twisted though, it leans as well! 

 

According to Wikki: 

"

The spire was added to the 14th-century tower in about 1362.[8] It is both twisted and leaning, twisting 45 degrees and leaning 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) from its true centre. The leaning characteristic was initially suspected to be the result of the absence of skilled craftsmen (the Black Death had been gone only twelve years before the spire's completion), insufficient cross bracing, and the use of unseasoned timber.[citation needed]

It is now believed that the twisting of the spire was caused by the lead that covers the spire. The lead causes this twisting phenomenon, because when the sun shines during the day the south side of the tower heats up, causing the lead there to expand at a greater rate than that of the north side of the tower, resulting in unequal expansion and contraction. This was compounded by the weight of the lead (approximately 33 tonnes) which the spire's bracing was not originally designed to bear. Also it was common practice to use unseasoned timber at the time the spire was built as when the wood was seasoned it was too hard to work with, so as unseasoned wood was used they would have made adjustments as it was seasoning in place."

 

I went up there a couple of years ago, it was an amazing experience

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