Huddersfield Narrow Canal - Two Hundered Years in the Life of a Pennine Waterway
Authors: Keith Gibson, David Finnis
Ken Wright reviews the book by our very own David Finnis and Keith Gibson, recently published in softback by The Horizon Press:
Those of you with reasonable memories will be saying "I thought Keith Gibson had already written this earlier!" And you would be partly right. Keith's earlier volume "Pennine Dreams", published in 2002, was a book of text with many illustrations, dealing largely with the huge effort of re-opening the canal.
His current effort, in conjunction with David Finnis, is more a picture book with text, giving a more balanced story of the canal from its inception to the present day. Additional research has produced some hitherto unseen photographs and lots more detail, particularly of the canal's working years. It has also presented an opportunity to correct some facts from earlier publications, including "Pennine Dreams" (I am grateful that my long-treasured opinion that the Society's office was a wool shed and loading 'ole for Stonebottom Mill and not a transhipment shed, was correct. The 'shed' is on the wrong side of the canal! The Wool Road slipway was built in the entrance to what had obviously been the genuine 'trans-shipment' shed). I digress.
The 25 pages of text are in a very small font size but the high paper quality clarifies the print and makes for easy reading. The quality, and thickness, of the paper also assist greatly in the clarity of the pictures and illustrations, of which there are 80 pages, all with extensive notes.
And what a collection! The earliest photographs are from the end of the 19th century, but there are many from the early 20th century, including several from the popular picture-postcard era. There are also some delightful 'etchings' of the type used to head business correspondence in the old days. The classic must be one used by Thomas Hassall, a salt merchant, occupying what had been the canal company's warehouse in Ducie Street, Ancoats, Manchester. The canal basin beyond the building sports at least seven sea-going three-masted sailing vessels!
The book is divided into four sections, following a short introduction, namely Building the Canal, The Working Canal, Left to Rot, and Restoration and Re-Opening. Each section is followed by pages of photographs and illustrations relating to the section.
Building the Canal is fairly familiar to those of us who have been close to the canal for some years but I found more information about the individuals concerned and their comings and goings over the many years of the canal's gestation.
The Working Canal is a catalogue of just about every major carrier - who they were and what they did, with dates and many details of boats used etc. This must have taken an enormous amount of research and it is the first time I have seen such detail collected in this fashion. Credit is given to Trevor Ellis and Bob Gough for much of this work. There is also much detail about the coming of the railway, its effect upon the canal and the continued disruption caused by the need to use the canal tunnel to service the railway tunnels. Indeed, during the construction of the twin-track tunnel, opened in l894, the canal tunnel was closed to general traffic for long periods. This inevitably led to a loss of trade and was the beginning of the end for the canal's useful life.
The statistics show that much traffic transferred to the Rochdale Canal. The records of two major carriers show, in one case, only an average of twelve journeys a year for the years l901 to 1913 and, in the other case, the main user, an average of 140 per year - 2 or 3 each week - between 1894 and 1905.
Tunnel trade ceased, more or less, with the First World War but the canal struggled on, the last paying tunnel trip being 21st August, 1937. This was a canal cruising boat, perhaps a sign as to the future?
Left to Rot is a fairly familiar story, as is Restoration and Re-opening. This being a 'picture book' the story is told in crisp detail but nothing is left out and the political shinaneg ens are clearly spelled out, as are the various 'hats' worn by the Society as it progressed from being a learner contractor on the Peak Forest Canal to a respected contractor and training centre.
I say nothing is left out. There are many references to the various boats and pieces of large equipment owned by the Society but I can find no reference to the major purchase, Standedge Pioneer, the unique 'tug and butty' combination that operated from Marsden until it was sold off.
Something else left out - and rather strange in a book of this kind. There is no index and no bibliography. Perhaps, as a 'picture book' - and with 137 illustrations it certainly is that - such things are superfluous. There isn't a lot of text so it shouldn't take long to find 'that bit' again!
Published by The Horizon Press at £12.99 this qualifies as a 'coffee-table book', at least for this Christmas.
by Ken Wright
Order this book from the Society. £12.99 + £1.50 postage.
For delivery within UK, click the button below to order and pay through PayPal: