Barges were able to move goods of all kinds between London and the River Severn via Oxford, Cirencester and Stroud
The parapet at the NW tunnel portal (Click image to enlarge)
The Thames & Severn Canal tunnel was opened in April 1789. The work was a major engineering achievement at the time.
There had been serious difficulty with the contractor originally chosen to do the work. But now it was complete, and barges were able to move goods of all kinds between London and the River Severn via Oxford, Cirencester and Stroud.
Here’s a short extract from the Gloucester Journal from 4th May 1789.
By a letter from Cirencester, dated the 19th ult., we learn that a great undertaking of conveying a tunnel sixteen feet high and sixteen feet wide, under Sapperton-hill and Hayley-wood (very high ground) for two miles and a quarter in length, through a very hard rock, lined and arched with brick, is entirely completed, and boats were to pass through it on the 21st ult.
By this opening communication is made between the river Severn, at Framiload, and the Thames near Lechlade, and will be continued over the Thames below St. John’s Bridge, and so to Oxford, etc., and London, for conveyance of coals, goods, etc.
It is now navigable from the Severn to Themsford by way of Stroud, Cirencester, Cricklade, being filled with water for the purpose near forty miles.
At the time of its execution the tunnel was considered a great undertaking; old King George III visited and expressed himself astonished with it, and that part of the canal at the east end of the tunnel is called “The King’s Reach,” probably in consequence of the visit.
The opening of the canal did not take place until the month of December, 1789, and the Journal of Monday, the 30th of that month, gives the following description of the event: —” On Thursday last was effected the greatest object of internal navigation in this kingdom. The Severn was united with the Thames by intermediate canal, ascending by Stroud, through the Vale of Chalford, to the height of 343 feet, by locks there entering a tunnel through the hill of Sapperton, for the length two miles and three furlongs, and descending 22 [sic 16] locks, it joined the Thames near Lechlade.
Notes from bygone years – Some more Januarys Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
January 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)
Flooding from the Churn
The River Churn burst its banks, most of the inundation was restricted to the flood plain, but some properties suffered a bit of damage. We were OK as we live on a hill, but anywhere down in the flood plain and most of central Cirencester is quite low lying.
Towards the end of the month I developed shingles. Although I had a rash on my left shoulder and upper chest, I had no discomfort with it other than a very slight itch. Eventually it faded away gradually and with no drama, and I’ve now been vaccinated.
In January 2022 I looked around the Abbey Nursery where there still remains some evidence of John Jefferies & Son, the old family business. It’s now a small park and wildlife reserve – City Bank Park. The concrete surface and the block built bins for sand, gravel and other materials can still be seen in the photo. Tidy up and sweep away the leaves and it would look much as it did when I was a child and the site was still in use producing the town’s supply of Christmas trees.
JHM: I wrote about three objects in the evening sky, not all of them easy to see. – World events: The number of COVID cases worldwide passed 300 million and more than 10 billion doses of vaccine had been given.
In January 2019 it was the end of the road for Bennett’s Garage in Victoria Road, Cirencester. Dad always filled his car at Bennett’s as John Jefferies & Son had an account here. I once borrowed a ladder from Brian Bennett when I locked myself out of Churnside. The business continues at another site, but Victoria Road will never seem quite the same.
JHM: I posted a video of the Earth rising over the Moon. – World events: The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was granted independence from the Russian Orthodox Church.
In January 2014 Paul and Vanessa visited us and we drove over to Cambridge and spent part of the day there, enjoying the sights and the bustle of the crowds. Cambridge has such a great atmosphere and energy! However, we got caught in a torrential downpour waiting for the Park and Ride bus to get home.
JHM: I posted about meeting Gerald who was in his wheelchair all alone in the middle of Huntingdon. – World events:Latvia adopted the Euro, the 18th member of the Eurozone.
In January 2009 Meredith took delivery of a new cooker. We drove up to York for New Year so the Christmas presents arrived a week late; it’s almost like having Christmas twice! We always look forward to our winter trip to York.
JHM: I wrote about the journey and how we know the way. – World events: The cryptocurrency Bitcoin was created.
We visited my Mum and Dad in Cirencester for New Year; this was about two years before Mum died, though of course we didn’t know that. Treasure people while you can! Mum always laid a fine spread on the table and you can see some of it in the photo.
I made some progress with WebForum, an information website for Unilever‘s research labs around the globe; there were two of these in the UK, one in the Netherlands, and another in the USA. I think by this time the software had been rolled out to all sites except for the Netherlands where they decided to create their own version. Attention was turning instead to Y2K testing.
World events: The new Euro currency was introduced on 1st January.
Dan visited us and we looked at some of the sights in Bristol, including the Observatory up at Clifton near the famous Suspension Bridge, and later the Industrial Museum down in the docks area. The photo shows Dan, Beth and Judy in the museum.
World events: The Northridge Earthquake struck the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles on 17th. Parts of a raised freeway collapsed and 60 or 70 people died.
We had a quieter New Year’s Day after a fairly full-on Christmas the previous month. Debbie and Beth played draughts while half-watching ‘Neighbours’ on TV.
World events: The European Single Market was created; and Czechoslovakia divided itself into independent nations, the Czech Republic (later Czechia) and Slovakia.
We were living at 22 Rectory Drive in Yatton, between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. Debbie was nine at the time, and Beth was six. Judy might already have been teaching biology at Cotham Grammar School by this time and would have started a new term. I was working at Long Ashton Research Station.
World events: The Apple Macintosh went on sale in the USA, and President Reagan announced that a space station would be developed.
My Mum sent this postcard 0n 17th January to her mother (my Granny-in-Ireland) in the village of Coagh. She wrote, ‘We went to the theatre with Ruth and Martin, her boyfriend, and his parents. It was fun walking round Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square with all the lights on. Ruth sends her love to you both.
World events: The USA severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan and established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
Judy and I were living in our flat at 20 Belmont Road in St Andrews, Bristol. She was newly trained as a teacher, I was completing research towards my MSc thesis. The photo shows a view of Berkeley Square and the Wills Memorial Building (part of Bristol University) beyond it, taken from the top of nearby Brandon Hill. Comet Kohoutek was visible in the evening skies and we managed to spot it from the bay window in our flat.
World events: The F-16 fighter flew for the first time, and sextuplets were born in Cape Town with all surviving.
I began the second term of my third year at Bath University, Judy returned to Aberystwyth to continue her second year there. This was, as always, an unwelcome time of separation; but as compensation our engagement was announced in the Gloucestershire Echo. (It’s very tiny, click the image to enlarge it and you still might not see it at first.)
World events:The Beatles played live for the last time, and Richard Nixon was sworn in as President of the USA.
I was living at Churnside (37 Victoria Road) in Cirencester, with my Mum and Dad and three sisters. I was in the Fifth Form (now Year 11) at Cirencester Grammar School and just starting the second term in January.
World events: The US Government reported that smoking might be a health risk, and plans to build the World Trade Center in New York were announced.
I was 10½ years old at the end of January, and in my final year of Junior School. This was the year in which we would take our eleven-plus exams; the results decided which of us would go to the Grammar School, and which to the Secondary Modern; so the emphasis in this final year was partly to familiarise us with the style of questions typical of the eleven-plus. (Today these schools are combined.)
World events: The Soviet spacecreft, Luna 1, was the first to break free of Earth orbit, and Alaska was admitted as the 49th American state.
This was my second term at Querns School in Cirencester. It was a far happier experience for me than starting my first term: I knew my way around, I’d made some friends, and I had a good idea what to expect from my teacher, Mrs Hourihane; also I was more confident of spending time without Mum and Dad. I was 5½-years-old and I probably felt quite grown up! My teacher was a budding author as well!
I was 6 months old at the end of the month and we were living at Granny and Grandpa’s house (Churnside, 37 Victoria Road). I think Grandpa liked having a baby in the house again, apparently Mum found it difficult to get me back sometimes! Dad was by far their youngest child (his youngest brother, Bob, was 15 years older). Mum and Dad were on the list for a council house at the Beeches Estate, but those houses were still being built.
World events: Communist forces entered Beijing, in the USA Harry Truman was sworn in as President.
Dad was now driving my grandfather’s Wolseley on errands to the nurseries and managed to reach the amazing speed of 50 mph on 5th January. His ATC uniform arrived and he had opportunities to use the Link Trainer at South Cerney Airfield as well as examine some aircraft. He passed his Morse test at the end of January.
World events: The Allies landed at Anzio in Italy and a British vessel was sunk there by an early German guided missile.
If you live in or near Cirencester, or are visiting, I recommend this little gem of a place.
A new food outlet opened recently in Cirencester; we hadn’t had a chance to try it – until now. Burrito Mama is small, but very, very good.
Donna and I popped in at lunch time today to see what it was like. What we found was friendly, prompt service, lovely Mexicanesque decor, good coffee, tables inside and out, and an interesting menu. And when the food arrived it was nicely served and absolutely delicious. I chose their Ancho chilli asada mushrooms, and Donna went for the Honey chipotle chicken bowl. Both were great.
If you live in or near Cirencester, or are visiting, I recommend this little gem of a place. Check out their website online. Scroll down and take a look around. Book online or just pop in if they have space available. Locals will know where the Swan Yard is, very central, just beyond the west end of the Market Place.
Overall assessment… We’ll be back as soon as we have another opportunity!
I went to a meeting at the Golden Cross in Cirencester a few days ago. We enjoyed a great presentation from Vijay Shah who spoke about his experiences in Arctic regions where climate change has been particularly severe. He also outlined other aspects of climate change including its causes and actions we might take to limit it and the damage it’s doing. Vijay pointed out that there are individual actions we can take in terms of our diet, modes of transport and so forth, and there are industrial and government actions that can be taken too. In the excellent discussion afterwards some of these individual and local matters were raised from the floor.
It was good to talk with others at the meeting, I was surprised by the wide variety of ages, professions, and opinions represented. And I was prompted to think about some new ideas that the talk sparked in my own thinking as I listened, chatted, and again as I walked home afterwards.
Some are original, others are already being widely discussed, some were mentioned at the meeting, but I present them here in the hope they will encourage others to think creatively about what is possible. Here are some of those ideas:
Streetlights – LED streetlights are becoming common in towns and villages, replacing the less efficient high-pressure sodium lamps just as they in turn replaced the older sodium and mercury lamps installed in the 1960s and ’70s.
But why not go further? Instead of drawing power from underground cables, why not fit lithium-ion batteries in the streetlight posts and top the lamp off with a solar panel and a wind generator? The one-off cost savings of not providing a mains power connection, and the lifelong savings of electrical energy would help offset the additional manufacturing cost. Once installed, the street lighting would be entirely green.
Greening the desert – Some deserts have ready supplies of seawater nearby, parts of the Sahara, the Kalahari, the west coast of South America, and regions of Southern Australia spring to mind. Building wind farms and solar farms in these coastal deserts would allow for green desalination, green pumping of the fresh water far inland, and the literal greening of large areas of desert. Not only could the land be used for crops, it might also be possible to establish areas of forest, thus sequestering significant amounts of carbon. And evapotranspiration would reduce the temperature and increase the humidity of the climate downwind of the greened zones. If a sufficient area could be greened in this way, clouds might form and reflect away some of the incoming solar energy
Solar car parks – Many towns and cities have public parking areas, asphalt ‘deserts’ where cars bake in the summer heat while we are shopping or working. Why not cover these areas with solar farms supported on frameworks above the cars and pedestrians? Most towns could generate as much power this way as would a small solar farm in the countryside. As a bonus, radiant heat transfer would be partially blocked from the covered area, so parked cars would stay cooler on hot days, and warmer on cold nights. And pedestrians would get shelter from rain and snow.
Using electric cars to balance demand – Electric cars have considerable amounts of energy storage and this could be used to help smooth power peaks and troughs. Cars plugged in overnight at home or during the day in town and workplace car parks would absorb wind power when excess is available, and return some of it to the grid at times of peak demand. Combined with dedicated battery storage facilities, this would make a change to fully renewable energy supplies possible.
Generating methane – Elon Musk is considering using green electrical energy to extract carbon dioxide from the air and combine it with hydrogen from water to generate methane and oxygen. Using the methane as a fuel would consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide and water – a closed system. Originally this idea was intended to allow refuelling of SpaceX’s Starship on the surface of Mars, but he is now looking at the idea of using the same process on Earth to fuel the spacecraft. Extending the idea, methane has potential to be used as a storable fuel for air, sea and land travel. Clearly, as methane is a potent greenhouse gas, it will be essential to burn it in an oxygen-rich manner to make sure none escapes.
Using ocean trenches – Why not place organic materials (including plastic waste) in the subduction zones in deep ocean trenches where the material would be buried as layers of silt are deposited naturally, and in the very long term would be carried down by plate tectonics and processed by heat and pressure into simpler, harmless molecules.
Solar farms in polar regions – This is, perhaps, the oddest of ideas -but aspects of it may have some merit. Incoming radiation from the sun comes from low in the sky during a polar summer. Solar panels would need to be angled close to vertical and would throw very long shadows; they would need to track the sun across the sky, east to west. The shadows would provide some cooling by absorbing incoming solar energy, reducing the melting of ice and snow in the shadows. But what to do with the electrical power? I suggest radiators at the focus of parabolic reflectors pointing vertically upwards, sending the energy back into space. The atmosphere is transparent at visible, radio, and some infra-red wavelengths. Rather than trying to cover large areas, the idea would be to protect specific areas at risk of losing the white, reflective cover of snow and ice. This scheme might be a bit zany, but perhaps it will spark other minds to come up with more practical alternatives.
Solar rooftops – By no means a new idea, but many industrial and commercial buildings do not currently have solar power generation installed. Reduced taxation could encourage more rooftops to supply energy in this way, and it would be generated in towns and cities, right where it is needed. Lobby governments and local authorities to encourage this.
Burying organic matter – Organic waste and/or purpose grown biomass could be air dried and packed into disused coal mines or other available spaces. Sequestered in this way, the carbon content would be removed from the atmosphere, reducing the levels of carbon dioxide that drive global heating.
Over to you! – Maybe you can come up with some green energy ideas of your own; this planet needs all the good ideas we can provide. Anything that reduces our level of consumption or enables us to live in harmony with the natural world should be publicised and adopted as widely as possible. If you have a good idea, leave a comment and tell us about it. And make sure to share it as widely as you can.
This was the family business, founded in 1795. It prospered for many years, growing and selling nursery stock to other businesses, the government, and to the general public. It ceased trading in 1984 and the garden centre business was sold to Country Gardens PLC, although the company was not officially dissolved until 1994.
