Mystery photo challenge

Hint: This bridge is just before a lock that has been out of action since March 2024 when the Environment Agency used it for flood defence purposes, from which silt deposits made it inoperable, and the Agency has yet to clear it – the waterways equivalent of borrowing your neighbour’s vehicle in an emergency, but still having not returned it nearly 18 months later.

Answer: This is Brandon Bridge on the River Little Ouse [photo by John Revell], just before Brandon Lock, which has now been closed for nearly two years, following use of the lock in January 2024 for flood management (i.e. the vee gates were padlocked open and the guillotine gate was used as a sluice).  The silt that came through the chamber then silted up the approach channel and lock, making them both too shallow for boats to use.  This was highlighted by a Wilderness Trailboat cruise in September 2024, when the twelve boats were unable to reach their intended  venue at Brandon Town.  The sandbank below the lock has occurred this year and the Environment Agency has advised against navigation to Brandon – closing that town to navigators.  As Brandon Lock has been categorised by the Agency as ‘Navigation’ rather than ‘Flood management’ assets, hence, although the Flood Management part of the Agency caused the siltation, the Navigation team has been told to find the funds to rectify the situation.  Ivan Cane and other members of Wilderness Boat Owners Club plan to make a small Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign cruise to Brandon Lock on Friday 21^st November 2025.  Please email [email protected] if you are interested in joining the cruise.

Location correctly guessed by: Malcolm Bridge, Chris Davey, Rodney Hardwick, Alan Manton, Neville Reeves and Rupert Smedley.

Hint: Where is this IWA event being held?  Bonus points if you know the name of the canal, what the event was, and which year it was held.

Answer: The photo shows moorings at the end of the Staffordshire Arm of the Bridgewater Canal in Castlefield, Manchester.  The Event was IWA North West Region’s Castlefield International Festival held on 1st to 3rd May 1993.  The photo was by the late Ian Gall, a key figure in the organisation of many of the Association’s most successful rallies and festivals in the late 20th century.  There is a plaque commemorating Ian’s contributions to the waterways nearby.

Location correctly guessed by: Heather Bacon-Campbell, Keith Barber, Harri & Rick Barnes, Malcolm Bridge, Ivan Cane, Ian Cleathero, Alan Dodds, George Eycott, John Fletcher, Rodney Hardwick, Heather Howarth, Martin Hunt, Andrew Lawton, Edd Leetham, David Mack, Andy McLaughlin, Andrew Roger Nuttall, Marion Pearse, Andrew Perry, John Revell, Penny Scott, Dave Turner, Paul White, Cyril Wood and Jack Wootton.  No one guessed the correct event and date – the 1988 National Festival, held at Castlefield, was a popular guess.

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.

Answer: The canal is the Grand Junction Canal, now part of the Grand Union Canal.  The reservoir is now known as Ruislip Lido, but no longer supplies water to the canal.  The reservoir was completed in 1811, and the long feeder channel in 1816 entering the canal at Hayes Bridge, Hayes.  The 8-mile length of the feeder was its downfall and it ceased being used in 1851.  Eventually the reservoir was sold to the local authority and the feeder stream abandoned, much of it now disappeared under housing and another chunk recently obliterated by HS2 without ceremony.  Read more about the feeder stream here.  The reservoir is now owned and operated by Hillingdon Council.  The site was popular with film studios of north and west London because of its close proximity, which saved on costs, including for the film ‘The Young Ones’, which was mostly filmed at Elstree studios.

Correctly guessed by: Malcolm Bridge, Ivan Cane, Geoffrey Castro, Alan Dodds, George Eycott, John Hawkins, Martin Hunt and Cyril Wood

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.