> Anyone fancy doing the story of Kingswood/Lapworth while we're on the
> subject?
> --
> On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk
>
I think I can claim to be the first steamer through the lock (since it
was closed before the steamer era) - it's a wonderful example of the
internecine squabbling between canal companies leading to totally dotty
arrangements. Briefly, the Stratford, as the late-comer, tried to make a
connection on the level, with the effect that boats coming off the
Warwick & Birmingham on their way to Stratford would take a lockfull of
water down with them (boats coming off the W&B on their way up would of
course draw a lockfull off the Stratford). This equity upset the W&B,
which insisted in a new conventional lock, so after a great deal of
expensive legal action, boats going down to the Stratford now drew off
two lockfulls (one to get up to the junction basin and one to get down
from it) and had to do a hairpin turn in the basin. It took 50 years
from nationalisation (i.e. the mid 1990s) for the original, vaguely
sane, scheme to be reinstated, and it's still a thoroughly inconvenient
junction!
Sean
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