The Canal Drained - Here is what we found!

Welcome to this weeks video from the Last Five Miles of the Basingstoke Canal. Normally this section of the canal (The Abandoned part) has a lot more water! A lot more. Owing to the recent long summer the canal has revealed a relic that really needs rescuing and popping in a museum. Easier said than done!
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[@davidschwartz5127]

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

[@fredwood1490]

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.

[@marksmith334]

Rebecca looks the business this week ❤

[@bertelliott1456]

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

[@JL-tl6xz]

Nice work creepy creeper. Radiant! Put it away you filthy scamp

[@philipharris5201]

Brilliant...These vids of yours should be shown in schools...

[@pwhitewick]

Oddly we have found that they have been, at least locally! My kid came home from school last week and said his teacher showed one! Just wish they would tell me!

[@rmk]

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.

[@chrisgibson5267]

I walked a stretch of canal only then other day and there's a section where it narrows and there's stone structures either side. Wonder what that is? Better go and have another look.

[@jonwilmot5331]

Correct. Its called "Stanking Off".

[@rmk]

@@chrisgibson5267 Can you give an exact location please - e.g. google maps link? It could be an old swing bridge - many have been fallen out of use and been removed over the years.

[@peterandruska4753]

Thank you ! Peter from Fallbrook, California

[@lalec1417]

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

[@pwhitewick]

Ah... welcome.

[@CoenradJMorgan]

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.

[@MrGreatplum]

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

[@warwickholden6332]

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!

[@TestEngineer1982]

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.

[@claytonthiedecke469]

Rebecca's facial expressions are awesome, love your passion

[@MarkDibley]

"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.

[@Channel-os4uk]

Have you thought of getting OS maps to assist your peregrinations?

[@MarkDibley]

@@Channel-os4uk yes! LOL! It just shows me there are many more corners to look round.

[@philiptownsend4026]

The urge to explore and discover is strong.

[@donwright3427]

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

[@divarachelenvy]

Hello, thanks for all of your videos.

[@pwhitewick]

A pleasure.

[@ste2442]

Sunday 1700 hrs , best upload of the day time 👍

[@paulc9139]

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

[@RetroRatz]

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 👍

[@pwhitewick]

We visited the other end of Greywell tunnel a while back and noted the same

[@davidhopkins9021]

It's fed buy a natural spring in the Greywell tunnel that why its so clear

[@davidhopkins9021]

Their is an old brick works in mapledurwell that ur not far away from in the video

[@davidhopkins9021]

Lol should watch the video before commenting

[@sanderslongdrive]

'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.

[@robertbowers9856]

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.

[@janinapalmer8368]

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

[@grahamwright8440]

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 .

[@GalsOutwestTreasureHunting]

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.

[@pwhitewick]

Love Sy

[@LJTomlinson1]

Great video on the brick works & tram bridge. Cheers from Vidor, Texas USA (Vidor is just east of Beaumont, Tx). When I was in the US Navy I spent 3 weeks in Portsmouth, England. Our ship was berthed near HMS Victory and the tour of Lord Nelson's ship was very informative and interesting, I took the tour twice.

[@kgs42]

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.

[@tommycoffelt]

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

[@markbulla1851]

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!

[@stevie-ray2020]

Most likely it was a ruse by a debtor to avoid paying for the bricks they had purchased!

[@vsvnrg3263]

sometimes bricks are required to be cooked to a specification. bricks in a bridge have to be of better quality than those for a small house. so there may have been fair justification for dissatisfaction when the manufacturer delivers "callows" for structural work. also, a bad firing may cause bricks to appear of a good quality on the outside while having a low strength inside. this may be caused by a short hot firing in the ovens. i'm not a brickmaker, just someone who has handled thousands of the things.

[@normanfawley7379]

Super little vid,most interesting ! Oh,an Rebecca is gorgeous !

[@stevie-ray2020]

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)

[@pwhitewick]

Cheers Steve

[@duckyou2243]

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.

[@philiptownsend4026]

You made me smile. Enjoy life while it is good, in another context you never know what is around the corner. One certainty though - nothing stays the same.

[@terryansell6641]

Hello from New Zealand I always enjoy your videos thank you

[@RichardFelstead1949]

Thanks for sharing.

[@KymHammond]

Rebecca does long suffering to Paul’s enthusiasm really well. Very enjoyable.

[@westcountrywanderings]

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

[@thomasdieckmann5711]

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

[@philipTOMPSETT]

Very relaxing thanks

[@pwhitewick]

You're welcome 😊

[@charlesachurch7265]

Your presentations are fantastic. Love to you both xxx

[@djhrecordhound4391]

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

[@philiptownsend4026]

I used to be local (ish) to here but am now thousands of miles away too. P & R's invaluable videos keep me in touch with my homeland.

[@jonburne1]

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!

[@Hadesdetecting]

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

[@pwhitewick]

Ah glad we have helped. Cheers.

[@kieranbeecroft8414]

I found them a similar way due to C19, and being isolated away from anyone. I love thier abandoned stations series, especially when they go North to areas I live/lived

[@firesurfer]

Please edit this with a space between video and love. It's looks like an address for a porn site. :)

[@jcee8493]

Manflu? So basically you have a cold, lol.

[@RichardFelstead1949]

@@jcee8493 Worse than that.lol

[@timeflysintheshop]

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

[@morrisonmeister]

The transparency map overlays are really cool.

[@terryengland1880]

It's amazing what is left in the undergrowth, would be nice if the old boat could be be resurrected

[@pthomson9736]

Real history before your eyes

[@simongray7620]

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.

[@andywindy]

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!

[@rogermorris6957]

Ythe guys another fascinating v Log

[@bryansmith1920]

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

[@peterwilliams1632]

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

[@markbishop5044]

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,

[@hazzzee]

thank you for your hard work, great info.

[@pt9101]

Hypeŕ interesting video. Well done both of you.

[@sallyjones2736]

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

[@pwhitewick]

Welcome to the Channel Sally.

[@stephenmccanse3129]

thank you for your efforts, really enjoy your work 🎥

[@made_from_frogskins]

Very interesting vid! 👍

[@indianatone218]

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

[@owlhead7594]

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.

[@andrewmarch7891]

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

[@bobsrailrelics]

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.

[@pierremainstone-mitchell8290]

Fascinating Paul & Rebecca! I do hope that the old barge can be rescued!

[@DB2hull]

Very interesting from one brit to another! I do like the occasional canal walks!

[@robhall5392]

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.

[@blxtothis]

That was a strangely satisfying 10 minutes, kept me in bed longer than I should be on what is a dull and slightly chilly late September morning.

[@peterryan7827]

Well hello abd thanks for this interesting little piece of history.i will look out for more later cheers peter from newark notts

[@GazzaJAnimal]

Another brilliant video, when my wife and I lived in the area (Middle Wallop) I never knew anything about the Basingstoke canal, now I've got another two videos to watch on the subject. Cool!

[@paulinehedges5088]

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

[@waverleyrocker]

Hello! Perfect Sunday evening viewing.

[@steveneastland4128]

Once again wonderfully informative video, the Swan is a real treat and truly deserves saving, Rebecca is looking great with her new hair do too

[@valjadsplodgny4455]

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

[@UKAbandonedMineExplores]

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

[@nilo70]

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

[@haridaspanicker5888]

Reminds me of the numerous canals mentioned by Jerome K Jerome in his delightful book ,"Three Men in a Boat"!

[@pwhitewick]

Coming soon to a KZbin channel near you!!!!

[@matt6477]

TYVM - love your videos - a staple of my KZbin viewing 👍

[@dilwyn1]

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.

[@PhilipInCoventry]

Fascinating.

[@malcolmrichardson3881]

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!

[@pwhitewick]

Thank you, that would be epic

[@UsualmikeTelevision]

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.

[@marvintpandroid2213]

We have had a few wet days in the last month or so, not enough to do much for the ground water levels but it has helped revive some of the plants. Quite a few trees have started to shed some of their leaves early.

[@pwhitewick]

Yup everything is a lit greener now after 4 months of brown. Sadly the reservoirs are still empty.

[@neilthorpe3914]

Great video. I remember a sunken boat just like that one in the 1970s , opposite the the leawood pump house on the cromford canal in Derbyshire.

[@paulmcmanus6222]

Hello, from Portland, Oregon!

[@andrewholloway231]

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.

[@tomlee812]

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.

[@TheBlackmunch]

Extremely interesting 💕

[@davie941]

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 😊

[@markthompson3577]

👍...aahh a nice piece of history paul .....like the canal boat .....as always my thanks for making my sunday complete ....see you both next Sunday ......'till then .....take care ......🙂

[@davidbramley6730]

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.

[@stephensaines7100]

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.

[@Blade_Daddy]

Love Rebecca's faces.

[@deancutler]

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.♥️

[@timtownsend1171]

Hi Guys, great video (as always). Keep up the great work and I look forward to many more (railways and/or canals)!

[@corrie20679]

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

[@steve.b.23]

Interesting. Thank you. I spent a pleasant day cycling the length of the canal from Greywell to Byfleet a few years ago, but I've never ventured along the abandoned section. A return visit is in order.

[@lindamccaughey6669]

That was fantastic. Such a shame that boat is left, hope someone takes pity on it. Lovely area you walking in. Thanks for taking me along. Please stay safe and take care

[@handyandy6050]

Wow! What a gem you found. Thanks for all your efforts in making your vids!

[@3wheeler1000]

Every week, I tune in to watch your videos. Next week I'm off to find an old Railway tunnel, and have walked an old railway near our house- even my wife is interested now! Keep it up, I look forward to Sunday evenings!

[@-TheRealChris]

Great work you two, that was excellent! Always something special about stuff you rarely see due to water levels.

[@davefrench3608]

Absolutely fascinating, thanks you two

[@AndrewN75]

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.

[@johnstilljohn3181]

That boat is a fantastic thing to find...! Unlikely that it could be saved, but a replica could be made...

[@royjacques5650]

I must say rebecca looked scrumptious 😋 .yummy