"Grantham Canal, Past, Present & Future "
June 2003 Meeting Report
Guest Speaker - Christopher Tizzard
The June 2003 meeting of the Keyworth & District Local History Society was held in the Centenary Lounge on 6th June 2003. The guest speaker was Christopher Tizzard who gave the meeting a presentation on the Grantham Canal, Past, Present and Future. He was admirably equipped to do this, as he has been a member of the Grantham Canal Restoration Society since its formation. Indeed, Christopher was one of the founder members. For the talk he wore a Grantham Canal tee shirt, as far as anyone can recollect, the first guest speaker to wear a tee shirt relating to the talk that was being given.
Christopher Tizzard began his presentation by giving a talk on the history of the canal. The audience were told that the canal was built at the time that the Industrial Revolution was getting into its stride. During the second half of the 18th century many new canals were built in England. In fact, so many new canals were constructed between the years 1760 and 1790 that the term “Canal Mania” was applied to the period, (in much the same way that the “Railway Mania” would sweep the country 60 to 70 years later. The Grantham Canal itself was begun in 1793 and took 4 years to construct, opening in 1797. The canal was of the type known as “Contour” canal, in that it followed a particular line of contour, (i.e. height), on a map in order that the minimum amount of banking and excavation were needed in its construction. This resulted in the canal following quite a circuitous route between Nottingham and Grantham during its 33-mile journey. However, one advantage of this method resulted in the canal having the longest level stretch of water on any canal in the country. As a result of this though the lock gates at the end of the stretch needed to be made double as a precaution against one set of gates failing. Twenty-one miles of water weighs an immense amount of tons and the pressure on the set of gates must be exceedingly great. Also, if there was any failure all twenty-one miles of canal would empty and this could cause very serious flooding.
The principal traffic of the canal in its early years and, indeed for many years, was coal and coking fuel from the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire coalfields. So successful was the canal that the cost of transporting a ton of coal between Nottingham and Grantham dropped from 17/6d per mile by road to 3/- per mile by barge. Each barge was capable of transporting up to 88 tons of coal at a time. At its peak over 475,000 tons of coal was being transported along the canal. The initial cost of building the canal exceeded its estimated budget and the result was, that for several years, dividends to shareholders were very modest, around one quarter of one percent. In 1821 the canal was struck by a calamity of quite considerable proportions. In the Cropwell Bishop area of its run between Nottingham and Grantham the canal passes through the village of Cropwell Bishop. Here the underlying earth is comprised mainly of gypsum. Gypsum reacts very badly with clay, which of course is what the canal is lined with to make it watertight. The depth of the clay was a uniform twelve inches along the length of the canal and it was at Cropwell Bishop that this proved to be inadequate. The gypsum ate through the clay and, one morning, the residents of Cropwell Bishop awoke to find that the water had disappeared from their stretch of the canal. Not only from their stretch but also from a considerable distance around them. The canal needed to be relined, or “puddled” in canal language, and this time the job was done properly. The canal around Cropwell Bishop was lined with three feet of clay, which, conveniently, was taken from a hill adjacent to the canal.
After this remedial work the canal enjoyed a period of untroubled business and dividends rose until, at one time, it was paying 14.5% dividend per share and was one of the most profitable canals in the country. Indeed, so economically sound was the canal that the cost per mile of transporting cargo along its length was the lowest in the country.
As an aside, (since it did not concern the Grantham Canal as such), but as it concerned canals in Nottingham generally Christopher Tizzard related a story of considerable interest. The incident in question occurred on 28th September 1818. The location was at a wharf belonging to the Nottingham Boat Company, (adjacent to Carrington Street Bridge). A boat had just arrived from Gainsborough; amongst its general cargo were twenty-one barrels of gunpowder, each containing 100lbs of the highly explosive powder, for use in the Derbyshire coalmines. Three men were the key players in the drama; the captain of the boat which carried it, Hezekiah Riley, and his two crewmen, Joseph Musson and Benjamin Wheatley. Whilst the barrels were being unshipped by two of the boat’s crew the end fell out of one of the barrels and a quantity of the lethal powder was spilled. The captain, Hezekiah Riley tried to replace as much of the gunpowder as he could back into the barrel. However, a small, loose quantity still remained on the wharf-side. What occurred next beggars belief. It appears that the crewman Joseph Musson thought that it would be a great lark to set this loose spillage of powder alight. This he did by going to a neighbouring boat and borrowing a coal from a fire that they had there. Taking the hot coal back to the spillage he proceeded to drop the smouldering ember onto the powder. The stray powder ignited and set off the gunpowder in the barrels. The resulting explosion must have exceeded Mr Musson’s wildest expectations as to the consequences of his actions. Unfortunately he had only an instant to appreciate the results of his foolhardy recklessness. Joseph Musson departed the scene of the incident, and indeed his span on this mortal coil, in great style and at colossal speed. He was killed outright and his body was blown clean across the canal, through part of the Meadows, finally coming to ground on the far side of the Tinker’s Leen. Unfortunately he was not the only casualty. Nine other lives were lost in the calamity and very extensive damage was done to adjacent property in the Meadows. Some idea of the force of the explosion may be gathered from the fact that the noise from it was heard as far afield as Radcliffe, Bingham, Loughborough, Castle Donnington, and even Newark. A gentleman passing near the scene of the disaster related how he actually saw one of the buildings by the wharf rise bodily into the air before disintegrating into a thousand pieces before his very eyes.
The Grantham Canal itself though led an untroubled and prosperous existence until the advent of railways cast a shade over it in the 1840’s. As with other canals throughout the country the railways sounded the death knell of the canal. True, it would continue transporting goods for many more years but the annual tonnage would decline year on year. As part of the agreement to build the various railways in the region the railway company owners agreed to buy the canal from its then current owners since with the arrival of the railway the canal would be economically unviable. Once they had secured the ownership of the canal it was allowed to die a natural death. The new owners naturally had no interest whatsoever in the canal and were only its owners because they had agreed to buy the company out. The canal was left to decay and decline. This it did and by 1917 only 11,000 tons was being carried on it. By 1927 the canal had closed completely except for “Special Reasons”. In 1936 an Act of Abandonment was applied for but this was not granted. However, by 1951 nearly all of the bridges over the canal had been lowered to facilitate the passage of motor transport and this, effectively, made the canal un-navigable. In 1969 the proposed British Waterways Act would have made owners not responsible for the water in a canal. However, fortunately, this never reached the Statute Book and British Waterways remained statutorily responsible for maintaining the water in a canal. In 1973 a proposal was put forward to restore the canal along its whole length and the project was costed at £3 million. However nothing came of it and the latest estimates to restore the canal are now in the region of £36 million.
The audience was then given a slide presentation and were shown scenes of the canal along virtually the whole length of its course. In places it certainly looked a sorry sight but in other locations where considerable restoration work had been done a flavour of the canal’s former glory was certainly captured. The speaker, Christopher Tizzard, was clearly captivated by the canal; his talk was highly entertaining and very interesting and his enthusiasm for his subject captured the mood of the audience. It is in no small part that, but for his efforts, (and other stalwart persons like him), that the canal may have been lost forever. As it is, the prospect of the canal re-opening and being navigable for the whole of its length between Nottingham and Grantham by the year 2010 is now a distinct possibility. If and when that day arrives we will be very fortunate in having such a valuable amenity literally on our doorstep. Well done to Christopher for giving us such a worthwhile and enjoyable presentation.