The Disastrous Canal Tunnels Of Leominster 

To be honest I only clicked to see if you pronounced Leominster properly. It's "Lemster" forget what it looks like. Not only is the "o" silent but so is the "in".

@@KenFullman maybe find something more productive to do with your time? Idk.

Do you know squirrels eat bat's

@@gazwit1603😳

He did mention bat hibernation and not hanging around, when talking about one of the tunnels - but yes, everyone needs to be aware and considerate when exploring places such as this. 🦇

I'm not sure how deep some of these are. But yep... hugely dangerous

Glad you enjoyed. We do seem to be gifted with many.

Thank you. That's definitely a partial goal

@@pwhitewick I’m intrigued to know who the farmer with a shotgun is?

@@sebastianbywater2445 me too....

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-T0udXjJsXHs.htmlsi=Uj9v7CAdcjKsHIgF

Thanks Davie

Wellys and rubber boots are different things. Rubber boots are more solid and have a more substantial tread.

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide the background history ; that Paul asked for and most of us needed too:). Very well explained and set out.

Thank you for your kind reply Julia. As a complete aside many years ago I wrote an article for 'OLD GLORY' magazine on the similarities between the attempts made by Salisbury and Leominster to build inland waterways to serve the respective settlements. In the 17th and early 18th centuries unsuccessful river navigations were built. In Salisbury's case the River Avon which despite successfully reaching Salisbury by 1685 had been abandoned by 1730. Whilst in the case of Leominster it was the River Lugg that was made navigable from Mordiford on the River Wye up to Leominster. Just like the River Avon the Lugg failed as a navigation by the 1740's . The builder of the Dick Brook navigation between Stourport and Worcester Andrew Yarranton who it could be argued was the first British "Canal Engineer" was involved in both the Avon and Lugg schemes. Then at the end of the 18th century again in both cases there was renewed interest in waterways. However now it was canals rather than river navigations that were proposed. In Salisbury's case it was the Southampton & Salisbury Canal. In Leominster's case it was the Kington, Leominster & Stourport Canal. Both were projects of "The Canal Mania"! Neither were finished. The S&SC being abandoned within sight of Salisbury Cathedral in Alderbury. It had a short trading life opening in 1802 being abandoned by 1808! The K,L&SC lasted rather longer. Inspite of never actually linking any of the towns that it was supposed to serve! To the east the navigable section never ventured beyond the splendid Wharf House near Mamble. Whilst there was a considerable amount of construction work carried out towards Stourport. Including a significant amount of work on the 29 locks down the Severn opposite the river port of Stourport. No commercial traffic ever ventured east of the said Wharf House. To the west the canal never actually reached Leominster let alone Kington! As the closest point to the former town being a wharf on the north side of what later became the A49 to the east of the town! In fact the K,L&SC operated in its truncated isolated form for some 65 years between 1794 and 1860. The reason was simply a four letter word Coal! At the eastern end of the canal around Bayton and Mamble lay the Forest of Wyre Coalfield. The exposed coal measures stretched from around Bridgnorth in Shropshire to Abberley in Worcestershire. Whilst not a particularly large Coalfield, it had a long productive life. With mining being carried out from the 13th century up to 1973. (In fact the last colliery on the Coalfield was just up the road from the eastern portal of Sousant/Southnet tunnel across Frith Common at Hunthouse Colliery (Bayton) The pit was the last colliery in Worcestershire. There are a number of relics on display in Bewdley Museum from Hunthouse Colliery. In the summer of 1969 Dad and I were searching (like Paul) for the eastern portal of the tunnel in our search. we came upon Hunthouse Colliery quite unexpectedly. Dad who had just been made redundant by the NCB upon the closure of Chislet Colliery in Kent was very interested in this rather incongruous little pit! Not only did Mr Mole (I jest not! As the colliery was owned by the Mole brothers who hailed from the strangely isolated hilltop village of Clows Top) direct us to the location of the tunnel portal. He then invited us underground for a tour of the colliery! Most interesting it was too! Hunthouse Colliery was privately owned being licensed by the NCB. The last NCB Colliery was in the Severn Valley at Highley and Alverley in Shropshire. It was closed due increasingly serious safety issues regarding roof failures early in 1969. The only other colliery operated by the NCB following the Nationalisation of the coal industry on 1st January 1947 was Bayton No 10 Colliery which was closed by the NCB in 1954. The redundant miners moving to Hunthouse Colliery which had opened around the time the NCB closed Bayton No 10). It was the coal that kept the canal open for so long! That said due to water issues (The canal had three summit levels!) the canal struggled to operate. In its last years it appears that it was only usable for around five months a year. It didn't make much in the way of tolls either. As the total raised in 1858 amounted to £28! The Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway Company had rashly offered the directors of the moribund canal the sum of £12,000! They then tried to back track on the deal! This led to a court case which the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway Company lost! This £12,000 resulted in the only dividend paid on the shares in the Kington, Leominster & Stourport Canal! As a result of this the western section of the canal (Leominster Wharf to Wooferton) was closed and drained in 1859. For a short time the section from Wooferton to Wharf House near Mamble remained open. But it had closed by 1860 and later sections were sold to the Forest of Wyre Railway (Wooferton to Bewdley). Various isolated sections of canal were built including a section at Kingsland west of Leominster were the canal was going to cross the River Lugg on an aqueduct that had it been completed been similar to the Teme Aqueduct to the east of Wooferton. Only the foundations were begun after which it was abandoned. The remains of the partly built aqueduct was visible as late as the early 1970's when the river level was low. The canal got nowhere near Kington. Eventually a 3' 6" gauge plateway was laid from Brecon on the Brecon & Abergavenny Canal to Burlinjob Lime Works via Hay -on- Wye and Kington. At 36 miles in length the Hay Railway (Brecon to Eardisley) and the Kington Railway (Eardisley to Burlinjob).combined were the longest horse worked plateway in Great Britain. It was suggested that the K,L&SC should be closed drained and filled in so that it could be converted into a plateway. Even though a Act of Parliament was passed that authorised this. It is apparent that no work was ever carried out to convert the canal. The only tramroads/plateways being associated with the canal were those that ran from Wharf House to the various collieries around Bayton and Mamble. One thing that should be noted at this point is the fact that only one person made a significant amount of money from the canal and that was Sir Walter Blount Bt. As he owned the collieries! As noted in my earlier post. The Kington, Leominster & Stourport Canal and the Southampton & Salisbury Canal were also linked by the contractor Thomas Jenkins/Jinkins who was recommended to the Southampton & Salisbury Canal Committee for his skill as a tunnel builder! Mr Jenkins/Jinkins (he used both spellings) holds a unique distinction in the annals of British Civil Engineering. As he was the only person to have built two major Canal Tunnels. 1) Sousant/Southnet at 1,254 yards in length. and 2) Southampton at 584 yards in length. For rwo completely unrelated canal companies that were never opened or used!

Oooooops

Gor, I dunno - you finally come up to my neck o' the woods, and drop a clanger like that! ;)

@@pwhitewick Stourport-on-Severn?

Thank you 😊

Us too!

Such a thing is very useful in general. For purposes of visiting tiny islands on lakes local to me, I built such a ship. As it also needed to travel in waves as high as 7-8" to even reach said islands, it turned out quite large and heavy though, so I need a four wheeled cart to get it there. Kind of diminishes its practical value for someone like Paul.

Indeed. Got a tad muddled there

Very interesting but sadly highly unlikely. Only just over 100 yds of the tunnel were dug and this was in the depth of Pensax Wood with essentially no access. No remnants of this have ever been found. Far merely I suspect to be associated with the extensive surrounding mining. David Slater

Yup.... a little prep here would have saved us... like 2 hours!

Probably too dangerous to shovel fill into them. Which leads to my dumb question: if these tunnels are so dangerous, why aren't the entrances sealed off? At least cover the entrances with cyclone fencing. (Yeah, a determined individual could get past that, but doing that shows they are intentionally risking their life thus releasing everyone else from responsibility for their injuries or death.)

@@llywrch7116A Belt Conveyor Can make fast work of it without having anyone enter inside the tunnel. Seal them up afterward !

Both.

Alas... she does the exact amount that she wants. Life is good.

Possible yep. Thw standard dji's though won't do that.

It would be great until something went wrong and you would have to go in the tunnel to retrieve it, which you would as those drones are not cheap. Maybe get a cheap camera drone for forty quid and use that although cheap means lower resolution video and more chance of the thing malfunctioning so maybe not lol. Radio controlled boat with a gopro on might be fun though.

I like the boat/go pro idea 💡

@@meetoo594 A cheap RC boat fitted with a LED light and a reasonable drone/plane FPV camera would do the trick. Only extra needed would be a fishing rod and some solid line to haul it all back when the inevitable occurred.😜😁

@@theoztreecrasher2647 Yup, exactly the setup i was thinking. Maybe fit rubber tracks to the side to traverse non flooded parts.

@@meetoo594 Actually I think that I have seen somewhere a toy skid steer type wheeled vehicle with large floatation wheels/tyres that provide the motive power both on land and in the water. That would be ideal and no propellers to snag on trash. 😉 😊

Under a house I think

Alas yes. We try and gove a variety of those types of shot to divert attention from my mug constantly talking. 🙃. The drone works to help with this but the batteries for the drone last around 20 mins. Plus maybe 10 mins to set up. Over a days filming at various locations it's just not practical. Worth a punt though

I guess because if those companies are no longer in operation... there is no one to fix it

@@pwhitewick Hmm... maybe an area in law that might need some updating? Companies vanish to avoid all manner of wrongdoings. Might be a better strategy to go after individuals? That CEO probably created other businesses since doing this then closing that company down. I might do some digging on this one.

@GKSC I run a little business elsewhere and I assure you this happens even today! Agreed its very wrong.

Er....how does 'lemon' help ...!? ...it's pronounced lem-ster...!!!