Borne In Pain

Today I cycled along "One Street" aka the Bridgewater Canal to Preston Brook. At Preston Brook the canal swings off to the right towards Runcorn while another leg continues a little way to the Preston Brook Tunnel. At a point 11 yards inside the 1239 yard long tunnel the canal transforms into the Trent and Mersey canal.

For over 100 years barges would have been "legged" through the tunnel while the horses which towed them were walked over the hill. In 1865 steam tugs were introduced but as the canal had no ventilation shafts a few boatmen were overcome by fumes and died. Ventilation shafts were introduced shortly afterwards.

The opening of the Bridgewater canal was probably the event which had the greatest influence on the village of Preston Brook with a number of warehouses being built. The canal company also supported the local school.

In the mid 1800s a canal boat was converted into a church by Lord Francis Egerton and it went up and down the canal and was used by the boatmen and their families. By 1860 it had been lifted out of the canal at Preston Brook and it was here that Rev Charles Dodgson, the vicar of Daresbury and father of Lewis Carroll, held services for the boat people.

The gentleman in the photo was waiting his turn to go through the tunnel and we got chatting. First about the weather and the rain that was forecast for later. He said that he didn't mind the rain in the least but didn't like the wind at all. A throw back to his days in the merchant navy. He recalled sailing back from Panama through very rough seas with a tea set that he had bought for his then fiancee, now his wife. He managed to get it home safely to Liverpool and was walking to her house when he passed a shop. There in the window was the self same tea service! And to make matters worse it was on sale for less than he had paid for it. He said that they still had the tea service and that they had never used it once.

I asked him about the name of his boat and he told me that it bore the name Jabez when he had bought it and that it was an old biblical name the meaning of which was "borne in pain." He added that the boat had indeed caused him much pain over the years. We bade each other farewell and he headed off through the tunnel.

I passed the time of day with a number of happy boaters including the skipper of the cheekily named "Passing Wind." On enquiry he told me that he had named it after his wife. Brave man, though she was out of ear shot when he said it.

I also passed the Duke and Duchess two barges that make up a floating hotel. They were on a 7 day cruise between Chester and Manchester.

More images here.