Restoration Work on the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union CanalRelining the

Relining the disused canal near Tring

Laying the concrete blocks

The process involves the following stages
(1) The side is excavated smoothly down, using the JCB
(2) Large sheets of a waterproofing fabric containing a bentonite filling are added.
(3) A wall of concrete blocks is laid against the sheeting to protect it from damage from the barges once the canal is in use.
(4) The top of the wall is covered with a roll of coconut matting 
(5) The upper part of the sheeting will later be covered with soil.
(6) When the sides have been completed along a reasonable length the bottom will be covered with a large sheet of matting.
(7) The matting on the floor will then be covered with a thick layer of soil.
(8) When a suitable length has been prepared a temporary earth dam will be added and the area flooded.
(9) When eventually the restoration work connects with the canal at Tringford the earth dams will be removed and canal badges will again be able to go along the canal.
At the present rate this is unlikely to be before about 2025.

Stalls at Drayton Beauchamp Church

The photos were taken on the recent open day, held by the Wendover Arm Trust.

There was car parking, refreshments and an information stall at Drayton Beauchamp church, with escorted trips along the canal to the working site.

[As part of my archiving activities  I plan to update the pages on the Grand Union Canal and its branches - with many pictures of the canal and its buildings as they are now.]

Book Review: Hertfordshire's Historic Inland Waterway

Full Review

I am currently sorting through my library and have come across a pile of recent books which were waiting for review and somehow got overlooked. I feel that it would be useful to review these books and include them in the main book index. in preparation for the site becoming an online archive. 

As they are mainly still in print I feel it will ne more useful to try and get the reviews online in the next two or three months - as some of them could make useful Christmas presents.

I have decided to start with John Cooper's book:

Hertfordshire's Historic Indland Waterway

It is a picture book with modern and early 20th century pictures, and a brief historic introduction to each.

In addition my web site contains many other reviews relating to the Grand Union Canal in Hertfordshire. You will find them on the

Grand Junction Canal home page..

Dixon's Gap Bridge, Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal

Bridge No. 2 on the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal

The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal runs between Tring and the villages of Long Marston and Tring and over the years I have taken many photographs of the historic locks, bridges and houses along its route. Information. At least one picture of each historic feature has been recorded on Geograph and a full list can be found HERE. Howver many of the pictures I have taken are still not online.

The above bridge is vulnerable to damage from passing traffic and is currently under repair. As a result I have posted pictures of the damage, such as the one shown below, and all pictures of the bridge on Geograph (some taken by other people) can be seen HERE.

Repairs in progress - click for other 2015 pictures

Halton update - with Army Camp Photographs.

While Halton is in Buckinghamshire there was a major army camp there during the First World War and there were strong connections with Tring. I recently acquired this card and in adding it to the web site I discovered other cards of the camp and the war which had not yet been posted online. I have therefore used the opportunity to restructure the Halton page - so there are now three linked pages - one deals with Halton House and the Church, the second with the canal, and the third had pictures of the army camp.

Low Water at Startops Reservoir - Picture of the Day on Geograph

Low Water at Startops Reservoir, near Tring, in 2012

It seems somewhat ironic that on January 23rd Geograph selected one of my pictures of the effects of drought on the Tring Reservoirs to be  "Picture of the Day" when a visit I made a few days earlier had shown that all the reservoirs in the area were filled to capacity, much as I reported in a Rural Relaxation note in April last year. This picture shows (not very clearly) part of the medieval ridge and furrow area I reported here on December 3rd 2011 and March 11th 2012.

One of the frustrating things about Geograph's "Picture of the Day" is that the photographer is not told when one of his pictures has been selected and it sometimes appears years after the picture had been added to the web site. (I posted the above picture on January 24th 2012)  I know two other pictures of mine have been selected in the past - but there may have been others.

The first was this picture of tulips round a war grave in the churchyard at Halton, Bucks, near Tring, which I took in 2009, together with other pictures of the church and village.

The other was this view of  barges moored on the Grand Union Canal at Marsworth on a frosty winter morning in December 2012.

River Stort Navigation - Picture Update

On the Stort south of South Mill Lock

Bishops Stortford

Derek, who has been canoeing along the Stort for year has correctly located this picture as showing the Stort Navigation south of South Mill Lock, with the lock keepers cottage on the right. I have reprocessed the picture to give a better image. I have also provided higher resolution images to this and half a dozen other pictures of the Stort Navigation.

NOTE - The aim is to provide larger images for most post cards on the main web site. If there is not larger image on a card that interests you just ask. Even larger scans (at 600 dpi) can be produced in many cases if required.

Reuben Randall Links between Watford and British Collombia, Canada

Watford

In 2005 Marina wrote from British Colombia to ask about the Potten family of Watford. She has now discover that a postcard of Abbots Langley was sent to Canada and relates to her Randall ancestors. We have exchanged emails and she records that when Reuben joined the army in 1916, and went to France, his wife and young son came to Watford and stayed with relatives. Full details and family portraits online.

Marina's collection of family memorabilia included four view snapshots. One is Lock No 78 on the Grand Junction Canal, in Cassiobury Park, Watford. Another is a well-known view of the Thames with Windsor Castle in the distance. But can you identify the other two, shown here? One is clearly the canal, but where? The other is an interesting looking old public house.

Can You Help?

In addition the post card refers to someone with the unlikely name of Offa. So far we haven't found the link between the Potten or Ransall families and Offa Hawes - Perhaps they were just good friends.

A Major New Publication about the Grand Junction Canal

Books

The Grand Junction Canal

The book "The Grand Junction Canal" by Ian Pettigrew and Wendy Austin has just appeared - and is a very significant document recording the history of the canal (now normally referred to as the Grand Union Canal). In addition to a detailed history of the canal it contains many old photographs, maps, and extracts from original documents and newspaper articles - together with references and footnotes. I have created my normal reference page, to help people to discover the book - but will not be writing a detailed review at the present time - because the book (340 packed pages of A4 text) is available online - and you can see what a valuable reference work it is by looking at it yourself.

Canals

When I find time to complete the canal pages on this web site, and to post even more modern photographs of the Canal and its branches in within 10 miles or so of Tring, I am sure I will be including many references to this work.