1,000 bricks and it looked as "Oh are you alright" bulky as you can imagine "and it was 1 million
bricks" [Music] well if I could give you a classic Canal story an abandoned canal with a typical
Canal Mania early years of trouble and uh toil and of course a classic canal with regards to lots to
see welcome to the abandoned LeoMinster Canal that's LEMSTER ah Steve's here too
[Music]
hello so let's crack on with this week's adventure and it's one that I'm really quite excited to
bring you I feel like I haven't done one of these adventures in quite some time so we're
going to be on the abandoned leominster Canal we're going to try and see as much as we can in
one day where are we exactly well the leominster canal was over here on the Herer and shropshire
borders now we're going to be starting on the Eastern side of the bit that was constructed
and we're going to be using Rail map online the canal section annotated by Chris lowe,
thanks Chris on with the adventure over to the Eastern side of southnet Tunnel right so we're
lurking around where we think one of the tunnel portals is that's in a separate video now the
reason we're starting this video here is because by and large this is the eastern most point of
the um the main line of the canal to the extent that it was built so we stood somewhere on top
of the tunnel right now which we're trying to find um this is the start of today's
Journey so we spent an hour and a half here looking for this tunnel portal and in the end
we found it completely by accident here's a view from above can you see it but for the meantime
let's Head West and explore the rest of the infrastructure and the story of this canal it
really holds a few [Music] gems so the year is 1772 and the Staffordshire and Canal has made
it out of Birmingham and down to the seven early canal days but show what can be done
the good people of Leominster the good people Leominster and kington wanted a piece of the
action, for 1789 Thomas dadford Jr was commissioned to survey the route now he
came out with the 31 mile route £81,000 I think was the initial uh cost to build it and a return
on that was only going to be £4,000 a year they went ahe planned extension to not knon kington
kington kington and I kind of guess that just makes me think well at that time canals were
going to be the future you think like where we are now what technologies we've got and
we think well that's it for them weather canals that was it canals is Chang in the world you've
seen what it did to the Industrial Revolution up towards Birmingham in the north and there's
no reason why it couldn't change the their lives here but there are little aspects which creep in
where for example that end of it there was many people saying you need to use tramways and when
we drove in this way this morning you look at the landscape and you think it's crazy when
you drive you fill the hills as you're coming through it's just like it's up and down [Music]
everywhere you spent a little bit of time along this stretch looking for some of the old locks
but all we found were indents in the cut where they probably used to be but were now filled
in and uh yeah we're going to head that way down right on the Canal top off it looks nasty so we
moved on knowing we had a big treat or two ahead of us in the aqueducts we just had to find them
that wasn't an easy task ladies and gentlemen Pathways in the United Kingdom look a bit like
this so Steve and I think we've got about a kilometer to go to the aqueduct we really
Keen to show you the first of two we've got the canal bed just there and we got this ridiculous
pathway it is a pathway it is a Right of Way but we as Steve just said we need to go into
the canal now again so we did get back in the canal and one of the things we found pretty
soon after was a huge hole in the side of the cut presumably this part was blown out here to
drain the canal into the Malmbrook after the canal was abandoned so 1791 Thomas dadford Jr
is appointed contractor for the canal but the issue we have is he's already working
on the mom of sha Canal so the shareholders have both agreed to a 75% time at M 25% here
at lempster and perhaps that uneven time share gives us our first clue as to why this canal
never fulfilled its potential onwards to the aqueducts I [Music] promise this has been a
killer we reckon 50 m or so to go according to the map maybe less cuz the landscape changing
here quite a bit Hills come down here which indicates there is going to be a river below
us um what a journey this has been this is is we're not even 12:00 in the day and I am
[Music] shattered best bit of pathway today ironically is on top of the aqueduct which
has collapsed so there has been a recent collapse hence the pathway is closed that whole side of the
aqueduct is gone there's a fence hanging in the breeze just there and uh Steve and I on top of the
acct well trodden pathway which is ridiculous but the pathway across here is um shouldn't tread on
it shouldn't walk across it for safety obviously but um me and Steve we're were hard as Nails in
in the war This was um this was drilled out they planned to blow this as part the stop by exercises
but they never did and even here quite a distance away from the main Aqueduct top part there you've
got the the parapet walls here and it's about six or seven bricks thick and bear in mind some
of the tunnels they built weren't that thick well Thomas dadford was reputed or Thomas dadford jnr
was reputed to be well if the right word is taking shortcuts or not really giving it his
full attention there wasn't always um Engineers on site and therefore at some point in the next
few years John Rennie would be called in to make a an assessment himself wow look at [Music] that
1794 3 years they had a section of this canal opened from the southnet tunnel all the way down
to leominster and that was it that was perfect for them because they could transport coal had
a series of tramways to the uh east of southnet tunnel but they needed more now as they were
constructing the South net tunnel within about a year there was a collapse and it's reputed to
have killed two of the boatmen along there as it collapse in on them might even still be there to
this day but for now we just stand in a of this amazing structure that's half collapsed half
spooled um but still as a testament to 235 year old Canal [Music] engineering. shouldn't really
cross it because the foot path's closed but you hope something might be able to be uh fixed and
you can see all the all the masonry actually and a beautiful picture through the woods ahead of
me with the canal cut out and the toe half on the left onwards to I no idea where another Aqueduct I
think I just walking along this beautiful bit of abandoned Canal the whole section
through there it's absolutely gorgeous largely because right down there we've got a huge say
Valley or brook or something probably 10 20 M down there and it shows you the engineering
leading up to this the aqueduct that we've just been on this huge embankment vast Great Piece
of engineering and right ahead of us we've got probably the ultimate demise of many canals in
this country certainly this one we're just about to cross a railway I can't remember
which it was because I've done no research on the railway Steve uh Herford and Shrewsbury
Herford and Shrewbury's Railway perhaps huge cut come straight through here the bed of the
canal would have been here so um certainly no remains left to see on this [Applause] [Music]
section we've nearly reached Newnham which is just down the valley there in the distance we've
got this beautiful stretch here of canal once again but bear in mind I think this was well it
certainly was probably about another are going to stand in it for you 6 or 7t no maybe more
than that probably 10 ft lower down than this even though you can see a beautiful line down
there the key is a portal of a tunnel behind us we'll show you that in another video but for the
meantime let's head down to Newnham just the other side of, and we'll see another gorgeous
Aqueduct you got another huge walk across Fields Marshland malls mountains just to bring you some
pretty good content I feel not blow my own trumpet but next up we got another Aqueduct not sure what
state this one's in but apparently it was um blown up to unblock the uh the route underneath it when
it became blocked we'll see what this one's got in store for us very close to the corn Brook this is
sketchy how is in it still I'm going to be on my backside again in a minute maybe was there even
that I got a tree got a tree oh my God I mean I got quite a lot of outtakes in this video to
maybe there was was there an aqueduct here oh it goes off steep that side but not this side
this is a weird oh you know what Steve this isn't is this a canal here this isn't an aqueduct this
is a massive embankment with a CT this is almost even better right so we've established we think
that is the canal there big curve coming around we're on one of the toe paths our other side here
there's a huge embankment and drop and what we must be able to find at some point on here is a
Culver underneath this canal because there's a stream the cornbrook which comes down here
okay take a look at what is unfolding before us it looks like a sheer drop this embankment just
stops now the reason why there is a sheer drop there about 50 ft will help us to unravel this
mystery so it turns out that when the a canal was abandoned well the whole area to the north
of it in the brook filled up with water the Culver essentially got blocked now the railway
company just down the valley where they were a little bit concerned the embankment was going
to go and ruin their Railway so they stuck some dynamite in the Culvert there and blew
a huge hole in this embankment leaving it in pretty much the shape that it's in today you
can see the front face of the culvert just there and of course just the other side well there's a
Monumental hole and a bit of the culvert still left for you to see when we first started this
video I think I said to you this was a classic canal in terms of um what's left to see and I
expected to show you some abandoned locks and some old infrastructure I didn't expect to be
treated to some of the stuff that we've actually seen today the aqueducts really here were key on
this cow canal and I'm calling this an aqueduct but either way it's a massive embankment for the
canal and a huge culvert now 1795 1796 we had the tunnel claps and as ever John rennie was called
in to make his assessment and he uh was pretty negative about the um well everything workmanship
leadership you name it on this canal so uh he said well you need another £150,000 worth of
work doing to make the canal usable and of course what did the owners say to that yeah let's go
[Music]
go right we found the railway we're looking for which crosses perpendicular this bit of
the Railway didn't take the line of uh the canal just through here over this sty so we're on the
western side of T now over the sty possibly the most gorgeous Canal embankment you'll see look at
this so you've got absolutely Picture Perfect um landscape there where the canal get curves around
and down here in the field I reckon you've got lots of um Square shaped indents into the field
and I would imagine that's where they just Bard out that Earth from that ground there put it up
and made the embankment out of it but look at this absolutely p perfect and at the end of it
is exactly what we're here to see the aqueduct I can just about see it so um I've left Steve
behind because I'm so excited about this look at this embankment absolutely [Music] stunning so
June 1976 in the British Chronicle I'm going to read you a snippet from the newspaper um a boat
Bound for leominster named The Royal George built by Mr bird of stourport numerous people
attended the launch which took place amid firing of Cannon flag flying music playing
and other demonstrations of Joy Steve we're going to have a few demonstrations of joy in
a minute because we're going to see this it looks impressive already now about that so the canal
opened 1796 albeit very much cut off from any other Canal Network would that be part of its
demise
so you've got an initial three arches all the way across and the middle one is completely
gone um Roofing is gone everything's gone so we remain I think we've got now two
arches left either side um what a stunning structure this is really epitomizes this
canal mix of bricks mix of like Sandstone type masonry perhaps [Music] absolutely
good walked all this way found this lovely little visitors book Teme Aqueduct little
Hereford and friends of Leominster Canal can now signed by loads of people reminds me of
the Geocash and days and uh haven't got a pen or pencil on me so I can't sign it.
Now oddly a year later there was another ceremony on the edge of the river temps and a ribbon was
cut and they were celebrating once again the opening of this canal despite the fact it
didn't reach the temps and they were celebrating the opening of this canal and I wonder how much
of that was a bit of advertising a bit of look at us we've got this canal come use it despite
the fact it didn't really do what it was intended to do which was to reach um the river temps River
seven seven sorry River 7even I even wrote down TS on my notes so we think this is one
of the last most picturesque bits the canal as I said heads down to leominster itself and
there might be a couple of little bits but me and Steve have been on the road since 6:
a.m. this morning it's now 4 or 5:00 in the evening it's actually getting a bit dark here
in the valley you can see the hills of Wales in the distance I that's Wales is it must be getting
on for that direction it has to be either way from the banks of the lemon St Canal the abandoned now
this video has brought us a lot that we didn't think we were going to see in terms of the
infrastructure itself not the locks but more about the aqueduct and the bricks and that kind of uh um
slide to it thanks for watching go subscribe to Steve 2 and we'll uh see you in the next [Music]
video