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Beautiful But Tragic Landmark:
It is a place of beauty. On a day to day basis it is seldom considered and often forgotten. It is, however, one of the greatest legends in Milton Keynes. Sadly it is also a location of error and tragedy.
There are one hundred and sixty-six locks on The Grand Union Canal, one thousand five hundred and sixty-nine across the entire waterway network. Fenny Lock is the smallest of all.
A lock adjusts the water level allowing a boat to climb up or descend an incline. That is what Fenny Lock does, raising and lowering the water level by just four inches it is the smallest lock on the network.
So what did the original Not The Concrete Cows have to say on the subject ?Stony Stratford established itself in the north of the city about the turnpike road map of the
The story of the canal in Milton Keynes began one June evening in 1792 in a room above an inn in Stony Stratford. There met The Marquis of Buckingham, several local men of substance and one James Barnes, an engineer who had worked with the father of England's canal system James Brindley. Barnes proposed linking London with the industrial midlands by way of Linslade, Solbury, Stoke Hammond, Fenny Stratford, Simpson, Woughton, The Woolstones, Linford and Wolverton. He had costed the project at £500,000. The meeting agreed to his plan and promised the finance. In April 1795 parliament passed The Grand Junction Canal Act (the canal was renamed The Grand Union Canal in 1929.) and work began immediately at both ends of the intended waterway.
Only two years later, Saturday 31st May 1800, The Marquis of Buckingham and his fellow shareholders officially opened the first section of the canal from Tring to Fenny Stratford. It was a carnival of a day with bands, cannons firing, the ringing of church bells and a grand parade with members of the Buckinghamshire Militia.
Charges were set for freight on the canal at:Three quarters of a penny per ton per mile for coal, half a penny per mile for livestock, one quarter of a penny per mile for limestone, one penny per mile for all other goods.
The Marquis of Buckingham and his fellow shareholders looked forward to enjoying considerable profits from their investments. And they were not to be disappointed. In 1832 a £1 share in the company, had risen in value to two pounds ten shillings and a dividend of 13% was declared.
So Fenny Stratford saw the opening of The Grand Junction Canal and with it came a period of some considerable change in the area. But it is not just the initial opening that entitles Fenny to claim fame within the history of Britain's inland waterways. The lock opposite The Red Lion is the smallest lock in the entire system, adjusting the water by only twelve inches.
One explanation for Fenny being the smallest lock on the network is the two sections of the canal being navigated to meet there but it was found the two sections were at different levels. Fenny Lock was installed to correct the error. This explanation is widely accepted and has formed into a legend among those who live in the locality. It's a nice little story and I rather hope it is true but the odds are against it.
The more accepted explanation among those who profess to be authorities upon this part of our heritage claim that the lock was indeed installed to correct an engineering difficulty but not one of the dug levels.It was intended to run the course of the canal all the way north to Cosgrove without a lock but that would have entailed banking up the canal side by several feet all the way from Fenny Stratford to Woughton. No matter how the engineers tried to overcome the problem the bank persisted in leaking. They were faced with either cementing the bank in order to make it watertight or installing a lock and so reducing the water level. They chose the latter.
I concluded that original chapter in Not The Concrete Cows with: My father-in-law recalls as a boy being taught in school that the engineer responsible for the Fenny Stratford section of the waterway committed suicide. It would appear whichever the error he could not face up to the disgrace. So Fenny Lock has gone down in history both as the site of the official opening of the waterway and as a cover up for a monumental engineering mistake.
SS Chellwood:
The following I put together from the school record books of Bletchley Road School where the headmaster tells how pupils did their bit for the war effort during World War Two
The teachers and children of Bletchley Road School threw themselves wholeheartedly into the war effort. They were adopted by Royal Navy battleship SS Chellwood and held a number of fundraising activities to buy items and equipment with the RAF.
Recorded in the school log book: This morning at 9:30 AM a very pleasing ceremony took place. The presentation of a rubber dinghy to the RAF by the school. The idea was conceived by a boy named Horn in form 1A. It was announced to the school that during the Christmas Holidays a competition would be arranged, the making of toys of all kinds out of scrap metal. When these had all been brought in an exhibition followed by a sale of work would be held. Prize winners would be awarded saving stamps this was duly held and £30 pounds raised.
At the end of March 1942 Bletchley held up Warship Week to raise finance in support for the Royal Navy. A concert in the school raised £33 pounds which was donated to the cause.
The SS Chellwood’s crew responded the next March presenting a cup to be used for house competitions. They also gave the school the casting from a shell that fired to bring down an enemy aircraft.
But no further mention is made in the school log of the Chellwood after 22nd May 1942 when it seems likely that she was lost to enemy action. From then on until the end of the war the school directed his attentions and efforts towards the RAF.
A couple of Milton Keynes Boat Legends within
our heritage. Something we can all be very proud of.
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