The Canal Drained - Here is what we found! 

I'm an old Worker, retired from small factories and shops, most of them are gone now too. There's something sad about seeing the ruins of an old place where men once worked, where they sweated and blead and made things the world needed. Nobody ever recorded the stories of these places, the jokes and laughter, the challenges and problems, usually solved by common sense and hard labor. There should be ghosts, to tell the stories of these places, ghosts that were there when the mixer broke or the new horses came, the new machines and new men. There never were any historians interested in the lives of the workers, except for occasional tragedies and even then, nobody remembers their names. There should be ghosts.

Rebecca looks the business this week ❤

The cut in the masonry at the bridge is not for a stop lock. Stop locks are used to stop one canal company "stealing" water from another, which isn't the case on the Basingstoke canal. The cuts are for stop planks to create a dam when a section of the canal needs to be drained to carry out works. You commonly find them at bridges (which are a convenient narrowing of the canal width for them) and on the entrance and exit of locks.

I love the wife's facial expressions as the chap is narrating, most enjoyable.

A Bit Of History: Did You Know There Was A Brickworks At Up Nately? In 1895, after eight years in the hands of the official receiver, the canal was bought by Sir Frederick Seager Hunt, who formed the Woking, Aldershot & Basingstoke Canal & Navigation Company Ltd. Sir Fred was a Tory MP but made his living by distilling gin. It is not entirely clear why Sir Fred became interested in the canal. However, he must have seen commercial possibilities and invested a significant amount of money in reviving the then derelict canal. In fact, the Army camps around Aldershot, Deepcut and Pirbright were being upgraded and large quantities of bricks were needed. Sir Fred bought a small brickworks at Up Nately and again spent a significant sum to enlarge it, creating the Hampshire Brick & Tile Company. A 100-yard long arm was dug near Slade’s Bridge (see map) to allow boats to load the bricks and to unload coal to fire the kilns. About 50 tons of coal were carried from Basingstoke per week, where ironically it had been delivered by rail. Shareholders in the Brick Company included a Clerkenwell gas-meter maker, three City solicitors, a coal merchant, a theatrical manager and the Reading brewer Louis Simonds. By the end of the century, both the canal and the brickworks were doing quite well and several million bricks had been transported, but in 1899, there was a catastrophic bank breach near the Step Bridge in Woking (still an area prone to problems) and the canal was closed for 14 weeks. The Canal Company blamed Woking Council for putting a sewer under the canal but the Council resisted the claim and by the time the case came to the High Court, the Canal Company had gone into liquidation. The Brick Company also went into liquidation the following year. It has been said that the clay was unsatisfactory and that the bricks were not very good, but there are houses still standing that were built using Up Nately bricks. It is also possible that the Army contracts had been completed and demand had dropped. Sir Fred disposed of most of his shares before the company was wound up, but bricks continued to be produced there until about 1908. The Brick Company owned a number of boats, most of which were sold when the company folded. Two of them, Maudie and Ada, were bought by a man from Richmond who, with his wife and children, started hauling the boats down the canal. They got as far as Lock 15 at Pirbright but found it closed for repair, so moored in the flash above the lock to wait for it to re-open. However, the children contracted diphtheria and were taken away to the isolation hospital in Guildford. Their parents went with them and none of them ever returned. The boats eventually sank and were finally removed in the 1980s when the canal was restored. A third Brick Company boat, called Seagull (left) still remains in the Brickworks Arm. In 1985, using a grant from the Science Museum in London, the Canal Society salvaged its single cylinder inverted steam engine, which is now in the Waterways Museum in Gloucester. The remains of Seagull, including the iron ‘knees’, propeller shaft and propeller, can still be seen when water levels drop. The entrance to the Brickworks Arm is now crossed by a fixed foot bridge (right), constructed from the old Zebon Common swing bridge. When the Zebon Common bridge (near Fleet) was upgraded in 1993, the old structure was in turn used to replace a very rickety wooden bridge at Up Nately. In the process, a post with a pulley on top was discovered lying beside the canal and it is believed that this formed part of a lifting bridge that allowed boats to access the arm when it was in use. Going from the towpath, there is public access to the left-hand bank of the arm, but the other side is privately owned. Remnants of the brickworks also remain, including the bases for the clay milling machines and a mysterious brick arch which may have supported some sort of overhead railway. Source; basingstoke-canal.org.uk/bulletin/Basingstoke%20Canal%20Bulletin%20No.%2034.pdf (includes photographs)

Terrific work as usual Rebecca and Paul. That abandoned Narrowboat that you saw with Matt (AKA Canal Boy) with longitudinal is incredible and amazing to see it exposed with the drought conditions that we have had. Good to learn about another canal, which is outside of my area I cover on my own channel. I've learnt much about the Basingstoke Canal from this, and your other videos. Thank you both,Cheers,👍🙂Paul

The small bridges were almost certainly part of a "ropeway" of tracks with small trucks on rails running on them. I live in Bedford and the nearby London Brick works (later Hanson Bricks) used this system up to around the late 1970's. On the (old) road from Bedford to Junc. 13 of the M1 you could spot these trucks being pulled along by ropes going under the roadway from the pits to the kiln area. Fascinating to watch as, obviously, no locomotives were involved. In the 1980's onwards they modernised and the endless rubber conveyor belts took over. Thansk for the video!

What a fascinating video. I love industrial archaeology and this is right up there. How good was it find that barge and the old railway structures. Top marks to you both for this one.

I must say rebecca looked scrumptious 😋 .yummy

Just found this channel. Lovely looking woman with you. You must wear your feet out with all the walking you do.

Hi 👋 Another lovely video. I love Canal and Railway history and really enjoy your content. Next time you're up north i couldn't recommend a trip along the couse of the Sankey Canal. Its bristling with Canal and Railway history and I'm very lucky to have it on my doorstep.

The narrowboat remains are of the steamboat Seagull. I think your suggested date is rather early more likely 1880's it was sold to the Nateley brick and tile company in 1896/7 it had a compound engine with 5" and 7" bores . It was noted passing through Frimley lock on the 29th of September 1900 carrying 20 tons of ballast . All narrowboats were built with longitudinal sides it is the longitudinal bottom practice that changed for athwart bottoms .

Fascinating what can be found in a drained canal - not just shopping trollies! 😀

Hello, just started to watch your channel, it came up on my feed, I'm happy it did.

'Saved?' I love an over-active imagination. When I was five years old I believed those films where a person built a pristine car using only a rotten car wheel with only three spokes present, prayer, and imagination.

Awesome stuff both... So glad you are documenting all of this history. Future generations will benefit from the records you have kept, I just hope they appreciate your efforts.

Thank you, Paul and Rebecca, for making these delightful country videos, just love them as i cannot travel very far these days on the old legs due to poor health. Just love our rich history of our beautiful country.

Eh... which way should the plancks of that boat be if not longtitudonal? 😮

Watching this from Cape Town , South Africa and revelling in the English country side and interesting history, thank you, so, so much for sharing this.

I'm an old relic lover, old places where people worked or lived. Old tools once used by different hands old furniture, guns, cars. Thing is, in Britain there is so much history and time to contemplate. Thanks for the video. Complements from Oklahoma, U.S A.

Gotta say your channel has been a life saver.Confined to the sofa with manflu for 2 days I stumbled head first into your delightful videos courtesy of a recommended video.Love the hidden history (much of which I look for when I go metal detecting )and the work you two put into videos is on point.Thanks again

Tell Tony Robinson it was an ex Roman boat-he'll have it out of there in no time 😉

What do you mean it is unique for having longitudinal planking? Allbarges were built that way. I'm from Mirfield, West Yorks, which still has a barge repair workshop complete with all the old tools and even had a steaming box in which long planks were steamed to soften so they could be bent. When I was young there was a line of sunken possibly burned out barges along the canal but they were removed years ago.

Wow - for “faulty bricks”, there are a good number of brick-made structures that are still around and in good shape after a couple of hundred years! Another great video! Thanks for taking us along!

"I wonder what is round the next corner / just over the top of that hill / past those trees" has forever doubled how far I intended to actually walk on any adventure out. I believe it is a genetic trait.

Hi guys. Love your videos, drawn to your channel by the Isle of Wight tunnel one. Being a Hampshire Hog exiled in Kent I loved watching the Hampshire ones but have really enjoyed all of them. Paul's enthusiasm for history brings it alive. Keep up the good work.♥️

we lived next to a canal in staffordshire in the 1950s and there were still horsedrawn barges used then motor driven barges gradually replaced horses between 1950-60 then many recreational boats became popular we moved t0 australia at this time i am sure there would be people you could check your facts with i am now over 80

Interesting to see how the drought has exposed so much. That boat is probably beyond saving but its prop may be a target for a museum. Good luck on finding more about the incline at the brickworks, that is a fascinating find. Thanks both.

We visited the Basingstoke canal, in our Canal playlist. We was impressed how the (in water, restored) section, how crystal clear the water was! Didn't get to see this section! Wow, lovely old boat find! Well done 👍

Your presentations are fantastic. Love to you both xxx

When we were kids me and my mate dragged out a UXB from the canal when helping to clear a section. Caused a bit of a stir

Thank you both so much, I've lived in Basingstoke (off and on) since 1959, and I've learnt more about this end of the Canal from your videos than anywhere else!

That propellor looks like it should be saved. The drivetrain should be restored and measured in situ if possible. If this is truly the last of it's type, the entire remains needs to be at least photographed and recorded.

Rebecca's facial expressions are awesome, love your passion

0:01 altberg defenders 👌🏻

Sunday 1700 hrs , best upload of the day time 👍

Came across you after watching sy finds in a drained canal cleaning up. We magnet fish in Arizona, USA. They are draining our canals to clean them now, so no fishing there. We aren't allowed to go in the empty canal to mudlark either. Cool find.

Very interesting film .... thanks! Nice feel to it. Comparable to Martin Zero's work. That boat should be saved, but nice for just the sculpture of the eroded timber. It could look really beautiful in an exhibition, perhaps with other similar items.

Once again a pleasure to watch your video - something to look forward to each Sunday :-)

Paul and Rebecca thank you for all your hard work I felt I had to reply to Paul's statement I wonder what's round the next bend I used to stand as a kid on a bridge over the A2 at Bexley in Kent looking towards Dover wondering what adventures people were going on I was in Austria in "66" watching THE match on TV wow strange days

Always a treat watching your vids. I've got to comment on how green the adjacent area to the canal is still, in contrast to how parched so much of the UK countryside is. Ostensibly the canal, even though dry in parts, has a good amount of moisture beneath and around it.

Thank you ! Peter from Fallbrook, California

Hi. This is the first video of yours I've seen.

Rebecca looks positively radiant with the blonde hair and tan in that animal-print top! Grrrr! (I'm making a sound like a tiger)

I realise this is pedantic but the Seagull is a narrow boat not a barge. The narrow boat is a very specific type of boat being 6ft 10in wide and 70 to 72ft long. Their design evolved to maximise the size of vessel that would fit the early narrow canal locks. Barges are much broader in the beam and the width and length are extremely variable. The Basingstoke Canal was built to accommodate wide beam vessels and did indeed have barges in use upon it. But narrow boats were also in use commercially and in common with many wide canals in this country the locks were large enough to accommodate two narrow boats locking through together. In the later days of commercial carrying on the canals, by which time the horse had been replaced by an engine, it was standard practice to tie a pair of narrow boats together side by side rather than tow the unpowered boat of a pair when navigating a broad canal. This practice was known as 'breasting up'. (The boats were known individually as the 'motor' and the 'butty'. Hence NB Seagull was a steam powered motor rather than diesel engine powered developed for later motors.)

How fascinating! I hope your video helps to secure the future of what looks like a unique relic of the canal age. It would be nice to see it reunited with the rest of its remains in the National Waterways Museum. Well done for publicising this neglected arm of the Basingstoke canal. It certainly looks worthy of further exploration. Great video!

Love your stuff Paul thanks for another fascinating video 👍

Another perfect end to a Sunday, had the roast dinner, handed back the grandchildren, watched another P & R video. Sorted. Thank you both for all the work put into these videos.

I have come back writing under my husbands name,my name is caroline

I came across your channel via the mysteries of the You Tube algorithm. Informative and relaxing it is just the ticket. Thank you.

To be honest I was not looking at the canal

Thank you both so very much for taking me along with you today and explaining what I was seeing, Cheers from California !

Very interesting... you two sure get around hey ... the things you stumble upon !! And Bec ... you look GRRRREAT today 😃😃

Nicely done P&R; fascinating as usual. Thank you.

Subbed really enjoying your content its rather brill

Can i ask , did you find my bike , was nicked two years ago, 😂😂😂😂😂😂

I want to come there and tag along with you guys.

Ythe guys another fascinating v Log

Very interesting vid! 👍

The English countryside still looks surprisingly green for a drought. I live in Australia and a drought makes the green turn to brown dirt. LOL That Canal boat is a wonderful find, also really enjoyed another video from you guys! Thank you.

This is the first time I watched you guys. I LOVE history stuff! Very interesting video.

Love Rebecca's faces.

I live in Oregon USA. I wish I was more current British instead of 1600 British, to keep up with your "King's English" Thank God for "Closed Captioning." I wish, also I could have visited England some time in my lifetime, but your videos give me quite a tour of your country through the back door. I enjoy seeing something more than London. Just for reference, I'm 78.

I love your videos always I do graveyard s in fun and love I'm sorry I was sick for two months I'm back watching you be safe

hello again paul and rebecca , i love canal walks , like you said you never know what you might find , really well done and thank you guys 😊

Hypeŕ interesting video. Well done both of you.

Real history before your eyes

Yet another fascinating video. The aerial tramway/ropeway suggests to me that it probably existed to bring clay into the brickwork. This then begs the question, are there any signs or traces of an abandoned claypit nearby?

I live near that part of the canal in Nateley Scures so this was fascinating. Thank you SO much. The best part of Sunday!

Wow, I didn't expect that, rather special :)

Very interesting. I enjoy your history aspect of the canals and railroads. I am from NH USA we have nothing like that here .take care you two.

I lived near the River Wey Navigation, which connected the Basingstoke Canal to the Thames Watched the restoration. A great project.

Is Rebecca releasing her inner Toyah on this video, great video, keep them coming....

Another excellent video. Sad to see that now unique barge rotting away. Let's hope the video provokes interest in a rescue. Unfortunately everything does eventually fade away. What never seems to fade is Paul's chameleon like assistant/manager/minder. A constantly renewing canvas of style and colour. Go Rebecca!

That map app,is brilliant. If you select Scottish maps strangely enough for England the railway maps are better

The rope damaged brick was probably from the faulty batch from the brickworks...lol

Hi, In the early 1960s I used to play on the Basingstoke Canal where it joins the Wey Navigation - on the ice in winter and on the craft that were moored and abandoned there. There was an old barge which we (me plus a friend) go in trouble for by untying it and dragging it along the bank into.....???? The whole canal was abandoned and ruinous at the time,

Thanks for showing us, it was very interesting Ant from Aberystwyth, Wales .

Fascinating, even to someone thousands of miles away. Well done!

It is a shame when canals become dis-used, Like Surrey canal, is corperate an government vandalism.!!!!

Aerial drone is your next toy to up the videos further🤷👍

Interesting to watch as always. Amazing what's out there to be discovered. Thanks you 2 for makeing the effort to show us..Regards Dave.

Don’t forget the years digging out the old canal with the steam dredger which I think is now at Ellsmere Port museum. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y-antIzCkPo.html and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-i4GYAxaeT4k.html

Hi Paul and Rebecca. I have enjoyed the videos I have seen so I subscribed. I think I mentioned previously a hope that you could do a video of the old railway from taybridge stn.to strathmartin through the law hill.great videos keep up the great work.

Nicely presented and interesting discovery-walk. I hope you can keep at it. You're a great team, appreciated by many. 👍

Hello! (Haha, I love the videos, thanks, all the way from South Africa)

Another excellent video! My partner and I walked the Tetbury trail along the old Tetbury to Kemble railway line to the Trouble House pub halt. It's a fascinating and lovely walk. Amazing to see some old WW2 anti-tank bollards down there.

Aw man..... Knowing about that overlay map site would have saved me so much time. I spent the better part of two days trying to figure out what happened to Dover St in Bingley for my ancestry research. (The area was torn down and replaced by retail shops and a library.)

Thanks!

I had a family trip on the Basingstoke Canal from Odiham in Hampshire. We hired a Dawncraft 32 from Galleon Marine. As you know, the Basingstoke canal runs from its junction with the river Wey Navigation to Greywell tunnel.

Prefer the blonde hair😊

Perhaps the arches are remains of an “incline” kiln. This is where the the heat from the firing wasn’t lost by exhaust up a chimney, but was used to heat a second or even third kiln. Usually such I line kilns follow the gradient of the hill they are built upon.

Could it be that the many more locks of the canal until bag up been other mouths MOSFET on long hair king be kind?

Very interesting, always look forward, to your videos every Sunday. Thanks Paul and Rebecca. By the way still waiting for the second part of the Portsmouth canal which had its 200th anniversary of its opening this year for which I set up a brand new 'virtual' geocache for.

All wooden ships are longitudinally planked, but perhaps this one used single pieces of timber lengths rather than butt jointed? Later narrow boats used riveted iron and modern ones are welded steel of course. I'm surprised they didnt rescue the drive shaft.

Dude, you sound so much like the comedian Andy Parsons LOL. Nice vid.

Where have u been? You've not been on my YT page for ages, blame it on the algorithm. Nice canal stroll guys🤗

The old steam powered canal boat was awesome! Thanks for showing us! 😁👍🏼😁👍🏼

Hello!

Perhaps the Steam powered boat was only for pulling unpowered boats through the tunnel. Everywhere else they could have been pulled by horses.