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silver propeller challenge
Exploring the far-fl ung reaches of the network is now even more rewarding
Chelmer and Blackwater, Springfi eld Basin.
Boating in Cricket Country
Sue O’Hare explores three Silver Propeller Challenge locations on South Eastern rivers
The majori of the Silver Propeller Challenge locations are on the main connected waterway network. Locations on isolated navigations pose a particular challenge, but also have a distinctive character and appeal. Here, we look at three river navigations in South East England (in Essex, Kent and East Sussex), which are perhaps unexpectedly connected by the theme of cricket.
In each case, the Silver Propeller Challenge destination is at the head of navigation. All three can be visited by local, portable and trailable cra and also by trip-boat.
Chelmsford Basin
The Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation is a canalised navigation using the Rivers Chelmer and Blackwater in Essex. It runs through largely rural surroundings for 13.8 miles, om Springfi eld Basin in the coun ci of Chelmsford to the tidal estuary of the River Blackwater at Heybridge Basin near Maldon.
The navigation was authorised in 1793 and opened four years later, with John Rennie as Chief Engineer and Richard Coates as the local engineer. Industry developed rapidly, with trade in iron ore, coal and timber inwards and grain and fl our outwards – and the more unusual cargo of live eels in later years.
The navigation has 11 locks plus the sea lock at Heybridge and fl ood gates at Beeleigh. The locks were built for 60 by 16 barges, which were horse-drawn until the building of Susan in 1953 (a timber-built lighter currently under restoration). Susan had an inboard engine, but in order to maximise load space the steel barges of the 1960s had outboard Harbormaster engines.
Trade eventually ended in 1972. IWA held a rally at Chelmsford in 1973 to start leisure use of the waterway, and coordinated the restoration of Springfi eld Basin in 1992. Uniquely IWA has been the navigation authori since 2005, through its subsidiary company Essex Waterways Ltd (EWL). EWL is based at Paper Mill Lock, where kayaks can be hired and there is a slipway for trailable boats. EWL licences are required for all cra . Trip-boats Victoria and Albert operate om here and it would be possible to charter one of these for a day to reach Springfi eld Basin.
The navigation is designated as a Conservation Area and has a public footpath along its full length. Willow trees can be seen growing along the bank. These are a specialist varie , grown as a commercial crop for cricket bat manufacture for over 100 years. EWL reinvests the income in the navigation.
Heybridge Basin was the home of E. H. Bentall & Co, which developed agricultural machinery and engines. The imposing yellow-brick Bentall’s warehouse is the only surviving building of a much larger complex alongside the navigation. It dates om 1863 and is a scheduled industrial monument.
The disused Langford Canal branches o below Beeleigh Lock and originally served a mill. It is next to a 1920s steam pumping station, formerly used to supply Southend-on-Sea with treated drinking water and now housing the Langford Museum of Power. Langford Waterworks nearby takes up to 35 million gallons of water daily om the navigation.
At Sandford Lock, the site of a water-powered corn mill was bought by Chelmsford Borough Council in 1924 for its waterworks. These are now redundant and the council is planning a new country park. EWL is keen to reuse the fi lter beds as a marina, which would create a new destination point on the navigation.
Springfi eld Basin was once surrounded by industry, including Chelmsford Gas Works, using
Chelmer and Blackwater, Springfield Lock.
coal brought by water from the North East. The basin is still being redeveloped, as part of a wider regeneration scheme known as Chelmer Waterside.
Chelmsford is built around the confluence of the rivers Chelmer and Can, which are currently separated from the navigation by an automatic weir. IWA Chelmsford Branch has campaigned since 1985 for a link, and has now secured support from the city council for a new lock.
Find out more at essexwaterways.org.uk.
Tonbridge Rail-Bridge
The River Medway rises in the Weald, the area between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and South downs. It flows for 70 miles from Sussex through the Kent towns of Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation to the Thames Estuary near Sheerness. The non-tidal Medway Navigation runs for 19 miles from Lucifer Footbridge above Tonbridge to Allington Lock below Maidstone. With appropriate planning and safety equipment it is possible for inland waterways craft to reach the Medway from the Thames Estuary, although the voyage is a substantial undertaking. Indeed, the now derelict Thames & Medway Canal was built to remove the need.
The Medway forms the traditional dividing line between ‘Kentish Men’ born to the west and ‘Men of Kent’ born to the east. The tidal section was very significant historically and is still busy with commercial traffic. Rochester Castle was built in the 1080s to defend an important crossing. Huge naval dockyards developed in Chatham, where the British fleet was attacked by the Dutch in the Raid on the Medway in 1667. In contrast, the rural non-tidal length is popular with leisure craft. It passes through medieval stone bridges and the rolling countryside, hop fields, oasthouses and orchards of the ‘Garden of England’.
Heybridge Basin.
Sue O'H AR e
hA re ' o Sue Barges above Allington Lock.
The Medway was made navigable with 11 locks (now 10) following Acts of Parliament between 1664 and 1824. It was a busy transport route, taking ragstone as well as apples and hops to London, and iron and timber from the Weald to the dockyards. Sailing barges known as ‘stumpies’ were developed without topmasts for easier passage through bridges. Bow-hauling by gangs of men was common on the upper river until just after 1836.
The Environment Agency is the navigation authority and all craft must be licensed. The IWA Kent & East Sussex Branch has played an active part in improving facilities for boaters, for instance in providing visitor moorings in Tonbridge. There are some unusual navigational features such as the canoe ‘chutes’ at locks, which double as fish passes.
Maidstone River Park was created for the new millennium. It stretches from Aylesford on the tidal section past the moored preserved barges near Allington Lock and the Kent Life open air museum, through Maidstone to Teston Country Park. The county town of Maidstone used to be a significant brewing centre. Its river frontage includes the 14th-century Archbishop’s Palace, formerly the residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury.
Upstream of Maidstone the village of Teston is home to the former Alfred Reader cricket and hockey ball factory, where hand-stitched cricket balls were made and exported around the world. The building is now apartments but the company still operates locally. Further upstream at Hartlake Bridge there was a disaster in 1853, when a wagon carrying 40 hop pickers crashed through the side of the rotting wooden bridge. The passengers were thrown into the flooded river and 30 people died.
right: Alfred
Reader & Co Cricket & Hockey Ball Factory, Teston.
The Silver Propeller Challenge is to reach anywhere above Tonbridge Town Lock. Small craft can navigate for another couple of miles, but Great Bridge above Town Lock has low headroom.
Tonbridge was renamed from Tunbridge when the railway was built, to avoid confusion with Tunbridge Wells. The ruined Norman castle is a major landmark, overlooking the river near Great Bridge. The Silver Propeller Challenge is to reach anywhere above Tonbridge Town Lock. Small craft can navigate for another couple of miles, but Great Bridge (or Big Bridge, or Tonbridge Bridge) above Town Lock has low headroom.
Boat trips and rowing boat hire are available in Tonbridge (tonbridgerivertrips.co.uk). There are several slipways along the river, and small boats can be hired.
Find out more – including useful links to the Environment Agency - at waterways.org.uk/ rivermedway.
© John K Thorne (CC BY 2.0) Tonbridge.
hA re ' Sue o
Bodiam Castle
Bodiam Castle is the head of navigation of the Eastern River Rother in East Sussex. Like the River Medway, the River Rother rises in the Weald, generally accepted as the area where the game of cricket originated. It flows for 35 miles through the borders of East Sussex and Kent, and reaches the south coast at the ancient Cinque Port of Rye.
The Rother has been used for navigation since Roman times. Scots Float Sluice just outside Rye dates from before 1723 in its original form and includes a sea lock. At the beginning of the 19th century, parts of the river and its tributary the River Brede were used to link the two sections of the Royal Military Canal. Together with the Royal Military Road, this canal was built as a defence against invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. It runs for 28 miles along the edge of Romney Marsh between Cliff End (4 miles from Hastings) in East Sussex and Hythe in Kent. It was intended for commercial as well as military use but became disused within 100 years. During World War II the gun emplacements were repurposed as sites for pillboxes. Today, the route and the surrounding marshland form a valuable wetland habitat. It can be explored by non-powered boats and during the summer there are small boats for hire and an electric trip-boat in Hythe.
The navigable section of the River Rother from Scots Float Sluice to Bodiam Castle is about 12 miles long and there are no locks. Although it is managed by the Environment Agency, it is a free river with no licence required owing to the Rother Level Acts of Parliament of 1826 and 1830. The river runs across drained marshland and has high flood banks, from which there are views of the chalk Downs to the north and towards the sea to the south. The only village near the river is Newenden, where there is a medieval-style arched bridge.
The magnificent medieval moated Bodiam Castle is a National Trust property which has featured in paintings by artists including J.M.W. Turner. It was the location of the 2013 IWA National Trailboat Festival. The surrounding area is known as ‘1066 country’. There are many vineyards, and the Kent & East Sussex Railway runs steam trains between Bodiam and the former port of Tenterden.
There are slipways at Scots Float Sluice and at the Bodiam Boating Station in Newenden. Boat trips to Bodiam and small boats for hire are available from the latter (bodiamboatingstation.co.uk).
Find out more at waterways.org.uk/easternrother.
