All Aboard The Shroppie Fly!

Saturn.

We took advantage of a nice sunny day recently to enjoy a visit to our unique local attraction, the Anderton Boat Lift.

Anderton Boat Lift.

 It is always a treat to see this amazing feat of engineering, but this time we had a special surprise - the historic Shropshire Union flyboat, Saturn, was moored on the Weaver at the bottom of the boat lift.

Saturn, which has recently been restored, has had a chequered history.
 



She originally carried cheese from Cheshire to Manchester. Flyboats usually had four-man crews - two on duty, two off.
They were the fastest vessels on the canals, and perfect for carrying perishable goods.
The volunteers who were looking after Saturn very kindly invited us on board to have a peek inside the cabin and cargo hold. As Saturn is used for education, the interior has been decorated to resemble a family narrow-boat cabin. We very much enjoyed looking around inside.

Cabin shelves and crockery.

After cooling off with an icecream from the visitor centre at the Boat Lift, we explored the museum downstairs, and I tried on a traditional boatwoman's bonnet. I don't think it's the most flattering headgear I've ever worn!
All photos © Sue Wilkes.

Cabin stove.

Cargo hold.

A Wonder of the Waterways

Top of Foxton Locks.

Last year I enjoyed a wonderful visit to Foxton Canal Locks and the site of its former boat lift. The staircase of locks at Foxton (on the Grand Union Canal, near Market Harborough) were a bottleneck for commerce as they were only constructed wide enough to permit one narrow boat to enter at a time. 

The bottom of the former inclined plane.

To speed things up, an inclined plane or boat lift was constructed. This major engineering feat, designed by Gordon Cale Thomas, opened on 10 July 1900. Two giant tanks of water, which counterbalanced each other, carried either one wide boat or two narrow boats per tank. A steam engine provided extra 'oomph' to power the lift. 

Sadly the boat lift became uneconomic to use, and it closed just over a decade after its grand opening. (The Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire had a much longer working life, and is now back in working order again).

The Foxton Inclined Plane Trust cares for the site’s preservation, and hopes to create a digital model of the boat lift. 

Top of inclined plane, looking down.

Unfortunately it seems most unlikely that this wonder of the waterways will be restored to its former glory owing to the prohibitive cost. 

Former boiler house, now a museum.

But the site is extremely interesting to explore.The museum (in the old boiler house for the steam engine) gives a wonderful insight into the days of working boats, and if you have canal ancestors you will really enjoy a visit.

 

The hull of this old boat (left) illustrates the level at which boats entered the lift.

Former lock-keeper's cottage, now a cafe.

When a canal was frozen over, an ice boat like the Gordon Thomas (left) was rocked from side to side by boatmen to break the ice so that traffic could resume.

All photos copyright Sue Wilkes.

Lion Saltworks Rises from Ashes

There’s great news for Cheshire history fans – funding to restore Northwich’s famous Lion Saltworks at Marston has been agreed at last. There’s a new blog where you can see updates on the works and photos of the restoration work.

Salt was made by evaporation in huge pans at the works, which were owned by the Thompson family. Salt was transported in narrowboats along the Trent & Mersey Canal down to the Anderton Boat Lift, then continued its journey along the River Weaver.

If your ancestors were Cheshire salt workers, I recently wrote a feature for BBC Who Do You Think You Are? on tracing your family tree.

There are plans to open the restored salt works to visitors again in 2014 as a ‘living museum’. It would be great if the new visitor centre could include salt-making demonstrations, but we’ll have to wait until more details are available to find out.

Update June 2014: the proposed opening date for the newly restored Lion Saltworks is now spring 2015. We drove past the site recently and it's beginning to look very spick and span.

Photo: Lion Saltworks prior to restoration. A salt waggon at the Lion Saltworks, Marston. © Sue Wilkes.

Narrowboat Fun

I very much enjoyed watching BBC1's The Boat That Guy Built last night. Guy's narrowboat sailed along the Bridgewater Canal at Worsley, and travelled through our local engineering wonder, the Anderton Boat Lift. The programme explored the world of the industrial revolution. Guy tried to make some items for his boat completely from scratch - he built a blast furnace so he could cast an iron pot to brew some tea, and visited the Wedgwood factory to create his own china mug. Can't wait for the next episode!

Image: A narrowboat leaving the Anderton Boat Lift. © Sue Wilkes. 



Update June 2014: You can see some British Pathe clips of the Boat Lift in action here, here (it is the Anderton Lift, not locks as in the caption) and here. Many thanks to Jim Shead's website for these links. 

Cheshire's Amazing History

It was a lovely afternoon today so we had a walk up to Eddisbury Iron Age hillfort, where there is an ongoing archaeological excavation as part of the Habitats and Hillforts Project. The archaeologists have done an incredible amount of work, and have uncovered what appears to be the entrance to the hill-fort; we were very surprised to see just how substantial the remains were.

Last night, we watched Secret Britain and I was very pleased to see Northwich and the Cheshire salt industry were featured. Matt Baker travelled on a canal boat along the Trent & Mersey canal past the old Lion Salt Works and had a ride through our local engineering wonder, the Anderton Boat Lift. The presenters also explored the beautiful wildlife and flora now thriving at Ashton's and Neumann's Flashes, the site of former salt mines which suffered catastrophic collapses in the 1870s and 1880s. Do try and catch the programme repeat or watch it on iPlayer if you can.

Photos: Eddisbury hill fort excavations: possible entrance, and section through rampart defences.  Anderton Boat Lift. © Sue Wilkes.

       

Cheshire in the news again!

Northwich’s historic Anderton Boat Lift was featured on BBC1’s Country Tracks yesterday (6 December) – presenter Ben Fogle enjoyed a boat trip through the lift. He also visited the Winsford Rock Salt Mine and witnessed the giant salt mining machine at work, and talked to the salt mine workers. Do catch the repeat or watch it on i-Player if you missed the programme.

The repeal of salt duties in 1825 boosted Winsford’s fortunes as a salt producer, and after 1840, the town began to overtake Northwich in terms of salt production. Another reason why Winsford grew at Northwich’s expense was the ever-growing problem with subsidence in the latter town. You can find out more about the story of Cheshire salt-making and the salt workers in Regency Cheshire.

Images: Anderton Boat Lift photo © Sue Wilkes.
Marston rock salt pit, engraving from Illustrated London News, 24 August 1850.