> On 6/8/06 19:54, "Mike Stevens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > --- In [email protected], Nick Atty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >> I thought Braunston Stop was originally a stop lock - and
> I've seen
> >> a photo of it being dug out in the 1930s (in Nicholson's IIRC).
> >
> > If that's the same photo I'm thinking of, ir purports to show the
> > widening of the section of the Oxford Canal between Braunston Turn
> > and Brunston Stop to Grand Junction standards.
> >
> > There are two questions in my mind :-
> >
> > 1. Was there a gauging stop at Braunston before the GJC came on the
> > scene? (Quite likely, IMO)
Good question! There may have been but I've never seen anything to say
there was. If there was it would be interesting to speculate why 'cos
prior to the arrival of the Grand Junction I'm not sure what purpose it
would have served - there wasn't a lot there!
It's usually said that the stop was where the Oxford Canal Co. collected
tolls from boats entering the Oxford from the Grand Junction however
this is dubious because the Act enabling the GJC included running rights
over the Oxford in return for the GJCCo. guaranteeing the Oxford Canal
Co.'s profits. Boats travelling from the GJC at Braunston to the GJC at
Calcut didn't pay a toll to the Oxford.
More likely that it was the GJCCo. collecting tolls at that point from
boats heading to and from the North or South Oxford canals. The Oxford
Canal Co. would probably have collected tolls at Suttons and Napton.
Certainly the guaging stop was used by the GJCCo for some time (not sure
exactly how long) but was superceded by the guaging lock on the Buckby
flight (the only one with a footbridge over the tail of the lock). I
*think* the footbridge, and a long demolished hut, were built in the
1920's so that boats could be guaged for both the main line and the
Leicester line at the same place - previously there was a guaging stop
at Norton Junction for boats onto the Leicester line but although it was
right at the junction it seems that boats on the main line weren't
guaged there but at Braunston
That of course meant that traffic which terminated at the FMC depot etc.
hadn't been guaged for a considerable distance which was probably
another incentive to move the guaging to the Buckby flight
> > 2. When did the aforementioned wideneing take place? If
> at the time
> > of the building of the GJC, the photography wasn't invented. In
> > which case the most likely date is the 1930s, when the
> former Warwick
> > Canals were widened by the new Grand Union Canal Company.
>
> I've seen the photo, and my memory is that it was done as
> part of the 1930s work.
Yep, during the refurbishment of the Grand Union in the 20's and 30's,
the stop narrows at Braunston were completely removed and the stop house
gradually fell into decay until BW restored it to use it as offices
> Alan Faulkner's book 'The Grand Junction Canal' includes a
> pic of the stop lock in existence. The author dates the photo
> at 1923. It clearly shows a single gate shut across the canal
> at the near end of the lock (looking from the Grand Junction
> direction). I can't see another gate at the far end, but
> couldn't say for certain that there isn't one - it's just
> possible that you can't see it because it's open.
It does seem to be a bit unclear whether there was a guaging stop or an
actual stop lock with a drop at the location. Why have a gate (or gates)
at all? Seems a pointless exercise unless it was to protect the basin
and canal as far as the bottom lock in the event of a breach on
Braunston Puddle Banks. That seems to me a more logical possibility
Bru
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