Graham

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Posts posted by Graham

  1. I thought that the stream at the rear of The Gurka Kitchen is Bilborough Brook which I thought found its way into Martin's Pond.

    Apparantly Tottle Brook was quite steep sided in places and I understand that up near Balloon Woods you could actually see the coal seam in its banks .

    As you will know it could flood after heavy rain which confirms that it could have flown through steep sided banks, especially near The Hemlockstone Public House.

    Does anyone know where the actual source of the Brook is?

  2. Yet the BBC still show Eastenders, full of aggression, fighting ,murder, and appalling behaviour. Why isn't this dropped too?.....................................

    and Prescott punches a protestor and as a reward goes to the House of Lords.

    So much hypocrisy about the BBC and politics. Talk about Freedom of Speech. The BBC is playing its part ensuring that this country is clamping down on anyone wishing to speak his mind.

    Political correctness is a dangerous American import.

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  3. I think the BBC has lost the plot. The News Website is vastly inferior to the old. I want to read the written word not listen to some PC Leftie Moderated hack who calls everyone by their forename.

    What happened to the old maxim "report the news don't make it!!"

    Sad to see how a once proud icon has fallen so far in recent years.

    I can see the time when the Licence Fee will be scrapped.

    • Upvote 1
  4. Go onto "Britain From Above 1919-1953", type in Wollaton and choose some pictures of the old canal route. Also on "Ipernity" there are pictures of the old canal which you may find interesting though I am not convinced about what they say is the exact location of the photos.

  5. I understand the now Bramcote Lane was originally called Noggin Lane and went from the now Admiral Rodney towards the old burial ground where it stopped (about the entry to Parkside)

    Three questions

    1. Why was it called Noggin Lane?

    2 Was Tottle Brook (now seen besides the Hemlock Stone Pub) the only small stream between Noggin Lane and the Bramcote Hills? Old maps only appear to show Tottle Brook but I have heard it said there were others

    3. Is the Riding School now seen at Toton on the road to Long Eaton the same Riding School that was once seen near the Tottle Brook on route to Sandy Lane?

  6. Yeh I can remember the mass of No M42 signs along the road neartowards the entrance to the Trowell Garden Centre. I am sure it was the early 1970s.

    Still it has left room for the countryside here to have more houses (i.e. Fields Farm) and concrete over more of our open land. You watch, Bramcote Moor will be next!!

  7. Maybe its the map that is not reliable !! It would be logical to assume that it was the canal bridge that was the Wollaton Bridge.

    I have also noticed that several photographs taken of the canal in the 1960s appearing on some internet sites are not technically correct in their location. I have managed to get one changed which purported to show the canal from the Coventry Lane Bridge when it was in fact taken from Moor Lane looking through the railway bridge and Coventry Lane Bridge is clearly visible beyond.

    Also there are photos of the Wollaton Flight saying they are from the Woodyard Lane whilst I believe that they are from the Old Coach Road.

    One must always be very careful about the Internet as to whether seeing is believing !!

    Would it be possible for anyone to post a picture of the bridge before its demolition??

  8. Shown on a map 1774 attributed to Chapman. This was before the canal. This map shows the Strelley Road and The Kings Head which has no canal beside it .

    Wollaton Bridge is shown here but no canal and no railway .

    Try to Google Chapman's map 1774 and you will see what I mean

    Graham

  9. The Nottingham Canal and The Railway crossed the Trowell Road in Wollaton adjacent to an area known as Wollaton Bridge.

    Wollaton Bridge is shown on maps earlier than both the canal and the railway so what was Wollaton Bridge and what did it actually bridge?

    The old maps show Wollaton Bridge as roughly mid way between the canal and railway bridge.

    Any views appreciated

    Regards

    Graham

  10. Thanks Barclaycon

    The sandstone theory is a possibility but why a cutting that is of the width of a " tramway"?

    Surely if sandstone was required it would have been hewn in a random fashion? It would also have been more easily available in many other locations.

    I still feel that coal is the catalyst and coal transport is the reason for the cutting, either in the early 18th or 17th century.

    Graham

  11. I am rather surprised about the distinct lack of photographs of the Nottingham Canal around the site of the Wollaton Flight.

    There are a few relating to the 1960s, when the canal way in great disrepair but I have come across no photos from the 30s , 40s or 50s.

    Does anyone possess any photos from this era ? Could they be posted on this site?

    Also few (if any) photos exist of Brown's Woodyard, which gave rise to "The Woodyard Lane". Again has anyone photos of this?

  12. I would like to return to the topic of the cutting through the sandstone on Moor Lane Bramcote and why was it made?

    Often I have heard it said that it was

    1) a tramway

    2) a cutting to enable a "direct " walkway

    3) a connection to coal mining

    Perhaps, looking at old maps of the area I think it is safe to assume that Moor Lane cutting was there before the Nottingham Canal and therefore before the railway.

    The cutting must have been made by paid labour or but by enforced labour by which I can only assume would be connected to the Napoleonic Wars. However if so this would have been after the Canal so I have to assume that it was made by "paid" labour and can conclude that it must have had an industrial reason for its being.

    Could it have been a form of "tramway" (horse drawn). Could it have been cut out about the time of the horse drawn railway on Old Coach Road Wollaton , reputed to be the oldest in the world.

    Without a doubt there are connections to the Willoughby Family and coal mining. An old map shows a "Tramway" at Balloon Plantation crossing Coventry Lane and going up to Spring Farm more than likely on the line of the road which goes up to Spring Farm now.

    This could have extended through to Moor Lane, through the cutting , over to Bridle Road and in a direct line through to the navigable River Trent. Being before the canals the River would have been the only way to transport coal other than by horse drawn overland routes often impassable.

    My belief is that it could well have been related way back to the time of the origin of coal mining i.e bell pits.

    The earliest bell pits were near Cossall on the soon to be Opencast Mine. There were also numerous pits of the same nature opening up around Trowell Moor and the Wollaton area. Transportation of any coal had to be overland horse drawn (and difficult). Wooden rails would have been an option.

    If you look at a gradient map then if you go south from Balloon Plantation , encompassing Trowel mining , then if a cutting was made on Moor Lane then there is an almost continual downhill route to the River Trent. Later, when canals were built to carry the coal, there was a Engine House Colliery at the junction of the Nottingham Canal and Moor Lane . Why was it there? Could it have been to take advantage of Moor Lane before the Canal was built?

    My belief is that the Moor Lane Cutting was created because of the need to haul coal to the Trent. Possible it was created in the early 18th century.

    Has anyone any further thoughts?

    BTW the attached photo is from the Moor Lane Canal junction not as headed.

  13. I have lived in Bramcote 40+ years now and often use the Moor Lane cut through.

    Firstly it was cut forged for a purpose

    Secondly it must have been for a commercial reason

    What commercial reason? Almost certainly coal and associated with the Willoughby mines (yes Wollaton Hall Willoughby).

    I believe it was a connection between the canal that is met if one continues along Moor Lane past the football pitches, (and its most commercial product coal from the the old Wollaton Pit)and the Trent Mersey Canal posssibly in the region of what is now Beeston Rylands. Coal is still to be seen outcropping at Balloon Woods, reached by crossing the Moor Lane Railway Bridge and continuing towards Trowell Village.

    I suggest rails and ponies with much of the route being gravity led (certainly Bramcote to Beeston). Extension into Bridle Lane down past Beeston Fields Golf Course and beyond. Coal would have been required for the steam age so I guess the origin is likely to be in the canal mania days 1740-1820, before the railways boom 1840 onwards. Remember Beeston was much associated withg mills and steam driven equipment.

    Anyone got access to Willoughby mines and their history plus canal building history? Thats where the answer is to be found

    I'd love to know too!!

    Regards

    Graham

    Bramcote