Rain was forecast for the afternoon so Richard decided to get away
before 10am. However as he went to start
the engine the battery was dead ☹
He said he had been expecting it!
He managed to divert the solar panels to charge the battery up a bit
and, even though it was grey the battery had enough oomph to start the engine
in just over an hour.
We stopped at Rose Narrowboats and Richard managed to get a new battery
and struggled back to the boat with it!
We stopped at Ansty for lunch but, once again, we stayed put as the
rain started.
 |
| I’m bored – will this rain ever go away! |
Richard disappeared down the engine bay to change the battery and
eventually came out – a successful job done!
The Domesday Book of 1086 mentions Ansty as part of the hundred of Brinklow
- the main landowner was Lady Godiva!
Its toponym comes from Old English Ānstīg meaning "one-path",
i.e. "lonely or narrow path" or "path linking other paths". A cottage industry of weaving developed in
the parish from early in the 18th century. This grew into a substantial
ribbon-making trade early in the 19th century but declined in the 1830s. James
Brindley completed the section of the Oxford Canal through Ansty in 1771. In
November 1963 a 30 foot high embankment on the towpath side gave way, spilling
10,000 tons of sand and clay onto adjoining land.
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| I’ve got a new camera with a much better zoom. I took this from up near Brinklow Castle – chuffed! |
The Oxford Canal was originally built as a contour canal, meaning that
it twisted around hills to minimise vertical deviations from a level contour.
However, with one eye on the developing railway network, in the 1820s the
northern section of the canal between Braunston and Hawkesbury Junction was
straightened out to reduce navigation time. This work reduced the distance by
14 miles. The section south of Napton was never straightened. The northern section of the Oxford Canal
between Coventry, Braunston and Napton remained an important trunk route, and
remained extremely busy with freight traffic until the 1960s. The staple
traffic was coal from the Warwickshire and Leicestershire coalfields to London
via the Grand Union Canal. However, the southern section from Napton to Oxford
became something of a backwater and carried mostly local traffic.
4.53 miles
0 locks
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