... and Millie makes three: August 2024 - A windy Summit Pound and then a glorious day!

Fenny Compton (Oxford Canal) – Thursday 15th August

The day started very grey and windy, though the forecast appears to be better for the weekend.

We set off for, who knows where!

We passed the HS2 works. It’s certainly moved on since we were last down here in 2020!

This bridge is a temporary one for the lorries to cross the canal.

This is going to be the permanent one.

I found this on the internet. “HS2 have confirmed that traditional Warwickshire ‘ironstone’ will be used to clad the piers supporting the high speed railway’s new Oxford Canal Viaduct as a nod to the canal’s architectural heritage after engaging with the local community. Set low in the landscape, three concrete spans will carry the railway 62.5m across the canal, towpath and a country lane near the village of Wormleighton close to the border between Warwickshire and West Northants.” The viaduct will be approximately 60 metres in length, with 3 spans. This is an artist’s impression of what it will look like.

We noticed these little cameras all along the canal where the workings are. I wonder how many people tried to get ashore here before they put them in.

It was very windy which caused all kinds of problems when passing other boats as the wind was sucking the boat across the canal. One poor lady got into a real pickle. Rio stayed up on the roof for almost the whole journey. I brought him down once but he whined to go back up. I was worried that he was going to be cold as he had a hair cut recently and he hasn’t got much of a coat at present.

We pulled over at the Wharf Inn at Fenny Compton supposedly for lunch but the skippers decided that they had had enough of the wind so we never moved on. It was too cold to sit out on the towpath so we just hunkered down for the afternoon.

We had decided earlier to go to the pub for dinner so off we trotted at 6.30pm only to be told by a rather rude young man that they were fully booked. Fortunately I had had dinner planned so we had to revert to plan A.

6 miles
0 locks

Slat Mill Bridge - No 156 (Oxford Canal) – Friday 16th August

What a difference a day makes (who sang that song?) We woke up to sunshine though it was cold at 7.30am.

We got under way at 10am, stopped at the marina to dump the necessaries then continued down where the Fenny Compton Tunnel once was. The tunnel opened in 1776 and was 2.75m wide, 3.66m high and ran for a little over a kilometre. It wasn’t very deep underground and had a number of wider sections to allow canal boats to pass each other. These were 4.87m wide. It also had rings mounted in the walls to help boatmen haul their craft through. The Oxford Company bought the land over the tunnel in 1838 with the idea of opening it up. The first stage of this work started in 1838 and by 1840, they had removed several parts of the tunnel roof — a section at each end and a short section in the centre, creating two separate tunnels, one 307m long and the other 413m long. In 1865, the decision was made to open out the rest of the tunnel. The southern end was open by 1868 and the northern by 1870.

Claydon locks were one in and one out, which made the whole process so much easier and pleasant. Down through Cropredy where the moorings were empty but we were heading out into the country. I could see that there were a couple of moorings just above Slat Mill lock so moored up, got the chairs out on the towpath and settled down for the evening. It wasn’t long before Richard saw the boat Millie M with Maffi and Sue on board. They pulled in behind us and joined us for a drink. It was lovely to see Maffi again and to meet Sue.

Here is a little history about Slat Mill. It does go on a bit but I found all the rents interesting. It was first mentioned as "le sclattemylle" in 1482, it was probably one of the five mills in Cropredy in 1086. In 1482 John Mitchell of Cropredy granted his rights to it, as tenant of the bishop, to John Kelby of Rycote, whose stepson and successor, John Parnell, citizen and draper of London, sold his rights in it to Thomas Beysand of Wardington in 1521. In 1532 the latter leased it to John Halton, a Banbury draper, for £3 10s yearly. In 1549 the Malmesbury clothier, William Stumpe, ceded his rights in it to William Barnesley of Banbury, who was the bishop's tenant there in 1552, at an annual rent of £2 10s 8d for the mill and two small adjacent pastures. The tenure was converted to fee farm, and in 1602 the two daughters of John Barnesley sold Slat Mill to Calcott Chambre of Williamscot. The mill then descended with the Williamscot estate to the Taylor and Loveday families, who paid the fee-farm rent of £2 10s.8d to the Crown. In the 17th and 18th centuries Slat Mill was normally leased with Williamscot windmill; the two together were leased in 1660 to John Warning, who was "not to bring any wife to the mill at any time" without William Taylor's consent. In 1663 Thomas Parsons leased Slat Mill for 7 years; Uriah Falkner of Warmington (Warks) replaced Ralph Savage as tenant of both mills in 1706. Falkner was "killed by his mill" in 1739. From 1775 the Allen family from Cropredy mill leased it until 1851, and the Hadland family of Clattercote from 1860. The mill was demolished shortly before 1966.

By the way, it was Dinah Washington!

7 miles
9 locks

King’s Sutton - Site of Bridge 178 (Oxford Canal) – Saturday 17th August

We set off just after 10am. It was quite chilly but turned out to be a nice warm day. We had three locks to do before we hit Banbury. We passed this way last in 2020 (we were released from the current Covid lockdown and fled to the boat). In 2020 it was a building site with no mooring through the town. We came round the corner to find a HUGE Premier Inn and then saw how they had finally finished off the water front. The left side is mainly a cinema and eating places and the right where the shopping centre was is the hotel and shops. It was busy through there and at the far end it gets quite narrow and with boats moored up on both sides and a trip boat disgorging its passengers we had a squeeze to get through. I’m always nervous about going through Banbury lock as there are always lots of gongoozlers watching and I just hope I don’t mess up! I executed it perfectly! We moored up at Bridge 166 and walked up to Morrisons for provisions.

Our last lock was Grant’s lock which still has the very sad lock cottage there. I wonder if anyone will ever do anything with it or whether it will just gradually fall down.