Local Places - Part 1
May. 15th, 2021 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitOver this year I hope to do a monthly post on places of interest in my locality. I'm beginning with very local, probably five minutes walk from our house.
The Gloucester to Sharpness Canal
The original plan was authorised in 1793, but for various reasons - lack of money being one of them - it wasn't completed until 1827. The canal is a ship canal, that is it was deep enough and wide enough for sea going vessels to come up it, rather than being designed purely for barges. Originally the ships, with their sales furled, would be towed up the canal by horses and later by barges, to Gloucester Docks. A lot of these ships carried grain and timber, which would be stored in warehouses before being carried further inland by barges and canal boats.
Sharpness was chosen as the starting point of the canal since up to this point passage up the River Severn is straightforward, but from just above Sharpness the river begins to wind considerably which makes navigation much more difficult. Therefore ships would enter the lock at Sharpness and take the canal to Gloucester instead. This is the only lock on the canal.
The canal is 16 miles long, and at one time was the broadest and deepest in the world. Nowadays it is only used for pleasure craft, although occasionally there were tall ships which have come to Gloucester for the Tall Ships Festival.
My photos show pictures of the canal, the first four are from the canal bank, with two taken at Hardwicke Quay, and the last four at Elmore Bridge, finally looking towards Gloucester.
The Gloucester to Sharpness Canal
The original plan was authorised in 1793, but for various reasons - lack of money being one of them - it wasn't completed until 1827. The canal is a ship canal, that is it was deep enough and wide enough for sea going vessels to come up it, rather than being designed purely for barges. Originally the ships, with their sales furled, would be towed up the canal by horses and later by barges, to Gloucester Docks. A lot of these ships carried grain and timber, which would be stored in warehouses before being carried further inland by barges and canal boats.
Sharpness was chosen as the starting point of the canal since up to this point passage up the River Severn is straightforward, but from just above Sharpness the river begins to wind considerably which makes navigation much more difficult. Therefore ships would enter the lock at Sharpness and take the canal to Gloucester instead. This is the only lock on the canal.
The canal is 16 miles long, and at one time was the broadest and deepest in the world. Nowadays it is only used for pleasure craft, although occasionally there were tall ships which have come to Gloucester for the Tall Ships Festival.
My photos show pictures of the canal, the first four are from the canal bank, with two taken at Hardwicke Quay, and the last four at Elmore Bridge, finally looking towards Gloucester.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-17 08:04 am (UTC)I like canals too and am glad they are getting a new lease of life.