Oxford Canal around Brinklow, pre-1830s route map

[zenataomm]

I know this doesn't add anything but still worth a butcher's .......

Side by side modern and ancient maps LINK

[stort_mark]

I am hoping to have a look through the 157 volumes of OCC records at the National Archives. Don't know if they are indexed.

On the limeworks.

There seem to have been six canalside lime and cement works in the Newbold area. Fennis Fields, Cathiron, then on the old Newbold loop - Umbers' limeworks, Norman's limeworks and Walker's limeworks. Then at the Quarry Park was Walker's 2nd lime and cement works (the first being at the New Bilton site). There were a further six limeworks west of Newbold, around the Lawfords, but none near the canal.

The Umbers' limeworks was the subject of a contested will in 1836 when the beneficiaries of the will of Ann Umbers were claiming that they owned the limeworks. These were in the first small loop about 200 metres in from the western entrance to the loop. There seems to be absolutely no trace of this.

The Norman's limeworks were where the old loop ran against the railway, with the pits being to the southwest of the railway line. Perhaps the wharf opposite Newbold Lodge was the loading point? In 1850, the occupier of Newbold House was a Mrs Mary Norman, and she owned the limeworks.

The Walker's limeworks were at what became the end of the watered section. Production started in 1776, but I don't know when production ended. Thomas Walker seems an interesting character: they had been landowners in Newbold "since the 17th century, but it was probably not until the 1820s or 1830s that they began quarrying limestone for lime production" (http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~simba/stockton/downloads/griffinsblueliasworkshistory.pdf).  It closed in 1927 (by then owned by the Rugby Portland Cement Company) and the workers transferred to the New Bilton factory.

All three of these limeworks, above, and one isolated kiln are shown as existing in 1834 and on a "canal map of 1857".

The Walkers 1st lime and cement works was at New Bilton (what is now the huge Cemex plant, south of the Avon). He sold it to others and also sold land to the northeast of Newbold (where the Quarry Park is) to build his second plant. The four sources of material for the big New Bilton cementworks are listed as the four big pits immediately around the factory, and all to the south of the Avon, so it would seem that the Umber, Norman and Walker plants supplied other factories, and by water, whereas the New Bilton facility always used the railway.  Thomas Walker lived at Newbold Grange and, in 1850, was described as a farmer, brick and tile maker and limew works.

The Walkers 2nd lime and cement works was where Quarry Park now is, and was opened in the 1870s. There's a good history of that second plant at http://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cement_kiln_newbold.html with a really interesting account of a visit in 1892. Later on the two companies (New Bilton and [east of] Newbold) were definitely competitors as the company at New Bilton tried to stop Walker's company from using the Rugby name. Later on, RPC bought Walker's Newbold Cement Company after Thomas Walker had died (in 1871). This second, large quarry and cement works closed in 1923 when an underground stream was breached and the pit flooded. The workforce transferred to the limeworks, west of Newbold but that closed just four years later in 1927.

Cemex produce a good little brochure as part of their community affairs material.It's here: http://www.cemexcommunities.co.uk/Userfiles/Documents/CemexRugbyHistoryBroch.pdf. There is also a fascinating overview of the industry and the archaeology of the area in the Cultural Heritage chapter of a planning application for a new Cemex factory in the area, here: http://www.planningportal.rugby.gov.uk/fastweb_upload/Planning Scanned Applications/R08-1499/R08-1499-Chapter 9 Cultural Heritage A.0.pdf

Back to Hungerfield

In 1850, the Boat Inn was run by a Sarah Thrasher, and the New Inn, next door, was run by a John Liggins, who was also a coal merchant and a carpenter. So, of the three dwelling-houses in Hungerfield, two were pubs. I knew I liked this particular spot for a reason. Sarah Thrasher was also a shopkeeper, so the Boat Inn probably doubled up as a store as well. The only brickmaker listed in the township is a William Johnson. At that time, the township had no school.

Cathiron

I have found some of the images on the CRT Archive website, but they are poorly scanned so very difficult to use online. (What's the point in having them at such low resolution you can't read much of the detail?) There is one that shows the Fennis Fields Farm loop. http://collections.canalrivertrust.org.uk/bw197.2.34.37. Cathiron Farm was originally called Waltons Farm (makes sense because Br 42 is Waltons Bridge) and a William Walton farmed there in 1850. Just west of the bridge is a small wharf; it is shown as a bit of swamp by the 1886 25 inch map. It also lightly marks Cathiron Lane. In 1850, there is a Martha Tuckey listed as a farmer at Cathiron. 

I can't find much about the Cathiron limeworks though. It is described as being to the west of the Cathiron Bridge, but that is Bridge 41 and not where the Cemex map puts it. It locates it to the east of Tuckey's Bridge, where the sewage works were. The 1923 OS map shows a distinct wharf to the east of Tuckey's Bridge on the north side. It also shows a saw-mill on the lane, to the north. But no sign of a limeworks, sadly. Possibly under the old sewage farm....

The 1850 Survey of Warwickshire has been helpful.

[Heartland]

Ray T  has posted an important historical map- that is the 1768 Cole/Whitworth Survey which shows an original version of the plan for the Oxford to have two junctions with the Coventry Canal. One near Hawkesbury, but to the north of the present junction and a short branch at Gosford Green, and one further to the south. The line to Rugby is also more straighter and perhaps had this been the line built there may not have been a need for the 1829-1834 diversion. What Simcox did was to create a route that avoided the engineering required on the Cole/Whitworth plan. It was very circuitous route that was the final result.

The two lines to Coventry were replaced by a single canal that paralleled the Coventry from Hawkesbury to Longford creating not the best junction for carrying boats travelling to and from Fradley that was only solved when the new Junction at Hawkesbury was made: 

Edited August 23, 2017 by Heartland