Tag Archives: industrial archaeology

London’s mysterious Tower Subway, which opened in August 1870 and was the site for the city’s very first tube railway even though that was a small narrow gauge line with just one carriage carrying a few passengers a time under the Thames, has been the subject of curiosity for decades…

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I am writing this because I have seen two of Martin Zero’s videos on the excellent work by James Brindley, which revolves around the construction undertaken in the 1750s to resolve both flooding issues as well as give an abundant working water supply to the mines around the Irwell Valley…

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The Coventry Canal opened in 1769, that’s 250 years ago. Its architect, James Brindley, worked on the scheme for a few months before being sacked. It must be the only occasion which this most notable engineering genius was told he was no longer wanted. The first part of the canal…

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The Coventry Canal was one of the country’s earliest waterways to be opened following the success of the Bridgewater Canal. The section from Coventry to Atherstone was opened in 1769, and the rest of the canal followed as time went on eventually bringing it a total of 27 miles to…

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In the first instalment of this two part series, I looked at Oxestalls Road bridge, the Timberyard development and Blackhorse bridge, plus the wharves in between and the canal towards Trundleys Road. This second post covers the section north from Oxestalls Road bridge towards Greenland Dock. The picture at the…

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The Grand Surrey Canal is South London’s lost waterway. It stretched from the docks down towards Deptford, then towards Old Kent Road and Camberwell, with branches to New Cross (originally part of the Croydon Canal) and Peckham. It was built in 1801, the engineers initially being Ralph Dodd, with his…

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In this second part on New York’s Beach Pneumatic Transit, I investigate whether any remains still exist. This post can be considered an update to what is currently known about the fate of Beach’s subway. As far as things go it does seem that there is nothing left of Beach’s…

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