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Mystery photo challenge

A photo of a mystery location on the waterways will be featured in every IWA Bulletin. Send us your answer, as to where you think the photo below is, using the form below.

[If the form fails to send properly, or you have any difficulty with submission, please let us know at [email protected]]

Hint: This publicity shot from the 1962 film ‘The Young Ones’, starring Cliff Richard, was filmed in 1961 on a reservoir that was built for which canal?  Bonus points if you know the name of the reservoir and why this part of the film was filmed here.

Send us your answer

Previous Answer

Hint: This photo, taken in autumn 2022, shows one of the lowest (if not the lowest), in more ways than one, bridge on the connected navigable inland waterways network (unless, of course, you know differently), but which waterway does it cross?  There are bonus points if you know both names for the bridge and the height of its headroom.

Thanks to Mike Daines for the photo.

Answer: The bridge crosses the Old River Nene, part of the Middle Level Navigations.  The bridge is Exhibition Bridge, also known as Stoke’s Bridge.  The officially declared headroom is just five foot, although this can vary with water levels.  It is also a very low bridge in the sense that this part of the Old River Nene is the lowest level on the Middle Level Navigations and the bridge is about one metre below Sea Level.  There is a useful map of bridges on the Middle Level Navigation and their headroom at the Middle Level Commissioners website.  For bridge fans, there is a whole film about just this bridge on YouTube.

Correctly guessed (*with bonus points) by: Ian Cleathero*, John Foley and Rupert Smedley.

February 2025 Mystery Photo

Hint: This photo, taken in 1975, shows the north end of a tunnel no longer in use for navigation, at the heart of the Midlands canal network.  Can you identify the tunnel?

Answer: The photo shows the northern entrance to the original ‘Brindley’ Harecastle Tunnel (opened 1777).  Although often thought of as a single tunnel, there are two separate parallel canal tunnels.  The original tunnel had a network of smaller canals that lead to mines at Goldenhill, in which James Brindley, who designed the tunnel, had a share.  Operation of the canal access to the mines ceased in 1820, when it became unsafe.  The original tunnel was 2,630 metres long, had no towpath, and a low ceiling.  It’s limitations became obvious soon after opening, as it became a bottleneck on the otherwise successful Trent & Mersey Canal.  In the 1820s, Thomas Telford was commissioned to build a new tunnel of slightly greater dimensions, which opened in 1827, complete with towpath.  This is the tunnel in use today, although the towpath was taken out in the 1970s, having been disused for many years owing to collapse.  The original Brindley tunnel remained in use until the late 19th century, and has not been inspected throughout since the 1960s; it is now fenced off (since the photo was taken) to prevent access.  Thanks to John Fletcher for the photo.

Correctly guessed by: Mary Bithell, Jerry Bolter, Ivan Cane, Tony Clayton, Ian Cleathero, Chris Davey, Rodney Hardwick, Andy Lintern, Kenneth Nelson, Gwenyth Salt, Dave Turner, Cyril Wood and Jack Wootton.

January 2025 Mystery Photo

Hint: This photo shows a derelict looking lock, photographed on 20th September 1972.  The lock, is now restored and the scene now looks rather different, but this is Lock 14 on which canal?  The brick toll house in the centre of the photo might be a clue.

Answer: This photograph was of Lock 14 on the Cromford Canal at Langley Mill, near the junction of the Cromford, Erewash and Nottingham canals.  Replacement gates from the Nottingham Canal are beside the lock being readied for installation as part of restoration by Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association, which subsequently restored and continues to look after the Nottingham Canal brick toll office (the small red brick building to the right) and swing bridge (far right) at the junction of the Cromford and Nottingham Canals.  There is more info here.  Friends of the Cromford Canal are working to restore the Cromford Canal further north.

Correctly guessed by: Malcolm Bridge, Tony Clayton, Chris Davey, Brian Ferris, Michael Golds, Jonathan Lisle, John Lower, Andrew Shipman, Doug Swain, Dave Turner and Izzie Turner.

 

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