The Buckingham Arm in the 1950's

We had a very interesting email recently from Keith Baud who was born in Old Stratford in 1947 and lived in the area until moving to Devon in 1986. He has obviously spent some time reading our reports and surveys on the BCS website and his eight page email has been passed to the BCS Committee and archivist. Within Keith's email were some very interesting recollections, which I will spread over the next two issues of the Navigator. If you remember Keith he can be contacted through me. ED.

Keith Baud Memories

I can remember other bits of the Arm, and parts of the Grand Union when it carried working boats; my main story concerns the stretch of canal between what you call Bridge No 2 on the Stratford Arm and Bridge 5 on the Buckingham Arm. The reason for this is that this encompasses the approximate area that 10 year old's legs were likely to carry him from his home!

Bridge 2 was a lovely stone structure with a wooden farm gate and stile at its northern side. It certainly had water underneath it in the '50s, as did all this stretch. The parapets were in good condition, the stone wall on the south eastern side was a bit ruined where people climbed over it to gain access to the towpath, and the towpath went underneath the bridge on the southern side. Certainly the towpath, as I am sure you know, lay along this side of the canal for its whole length at least as far as Deanshanger.

The bridge serviced a stony track that ran from a gate on the Cosgrove road opposite what is still known as the 'Quarries', and is still I think used by the Scouts for camping. This whole area both sides of the Cosgrove Road had obviously been used for quarrying, as the fields were full of humps and bumps. The track to the bridge ran south along the edge of a field (with a dry stone wall on its eastern edge) to Bridge 2. This field was lower then the track, canal and Cosgrove road. In fact the Cosgrove road ran along the top of a small 15/20 foot cliff face which was obviously the face of the quarry (limestone). The canal ran along a low embankment that gradually increased in height as it crossed Dogsmouth Brook. As a child this embankment seemed HUGE, I am sure it looks very small today!

The field also held a rubbish dump close to the Cosgrove road, which we were always warned to stay clear of. It contained a lot of ashes, still hot underneath, and one of the Slaymaker brothers was badly burnt when he fell through the crust that covered it.

The canal executed a long curve on this embankment and was in water. I am glad you have identified the paddle gear and culvert. My memory recalls that this was a brick lined semi-circular culvert that ran down the southern slope of the hill through an area of rough land and into the brook. One of our favorite pastimes was damming this culvert with puddled clay from the brook, which implies that there must have been water coming down it at times - meaning water in the canal.