The Book of Nynehead: A Village on the River Tone (Halsgrove Community History S.)

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This ambitious solution to the height differences that canals faced relied on the simple balance principle and they worked a treat. The idea had actually been proposed before (way before) in 1777 by no other than Erasmus Darwin in his Commonplace Book. He eloquently described a device including balanced water-filled caissons that could be used to raise boats from one level to another. Bingo! Cross the large field in the direction shown on the fingerpost; we were walking through wheat here but a clear and pleasing path had been left through the crop for walkers. Ahead a stone bridge spanning the River Tone comes into view and you may hear trains in the distance as they travel between London and the West Country. It is also part of the Taunton Deane county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. After 30 odd years though the ever growing threat of the rail became real and as soon as 1869 they had become commercially unsuccessful, purely due to the decline in use of the canals.

Historic England. "Aqueduct, formerly carrying Grand Western Canal over driveway to Nynehead Court (1307612)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 December 2007. a b "Statistics for Wards, LSOAs and Parishes— SUMMARY Profiles" (Excel). Somerset Intelligence . Retrieved 4 January 2014. A colleague of mine recently left our company, to start working for Firestone Europe (Firestone Industrial Products Europe, ARNHEM, The Netherlands). Cross the aqueduct and follow the footpath as it drops downhill. At the bottom of the slope go left to find a notice board, situated beside historic remnants of the canal’s lower pond and lifts, which explains the engineering in fascinating detail.Wellington RD". A vision of Britain Through Time. University of Portsmouth . Retrieved 5 January 2014.

The lovely sunken path now goes through the verdant woodland of Stedham’s Covert; follow it, ignoring any animal paths going off. The path bends right then left, and in less than 200m emerges from the trees. Ignore a right fork (if you see it) and stay ahead on the path, which gradually bears left then swings more distinctly left. To the right of the path is a treed boundary with a field beyond and houses on the outskirts of Wellington beyond that. You may also spot a passing train. Beautiful trees flank the route of what was the Grand Western Canal. The nearby railway rendered the canal commercially unviable. This section is now a lovely footpath (Image: submitted)Parking is nearly impossible, but there is a footpath that you can take from the road down to view the boatlift. It even has an info board erected by the Friends of the Grand Western Canal.

James Green’s lifts were possibly the first of its kind in the World and came and went some 10 years before the Anderton Boat Lift was even built! We have found a picture of this building, with the Firestone logo proudly in place. But there is also the story of a Le Mans winning Ford GT40, displayed in front of that building. Some investigation has shown that this must be 1075, the Wyer-Gulf GT40, that won twice, both in ’68 and ’69. Now they are looking for a picture of that GT40 In front of the Brentford buiding, preferably with the logo recognizable. It need not be high quality, just good enough to be put in a picture display illustrating the history of this logo. Guided walks and talks are available by appointment as well, which will explain the Nynehead Aqueduct over the carriageway of Nynehead House and the close proximity of Brunel’s railway. Historic England. "Aqueduct formerly carrying the Grand Western Canal over the River Tone, now disused (1060354)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 December 2007. Gradually the path comes close to the well-screened railway – any trains are barely visible – and, about 750m from joining it, the once-canal swings left, away from the railway and crosses an old aqueduct.The Nynehead Boat Lift, built by James Green in the 1830’s, is probably the earliest boat lift in the UK and it’s on the Grand Western Canal. Would you believe he built 7 of these substantial structures, but the remains at Nynehead are the most we have left of them. Historic England. "Nynehead Court and wall adjoining on north side of forecourt (1307540)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 December 2007. Hi Chris, bought the book from Nynehead books Sunday, arrived this morning Wed. Well researched and very informative with a good supply of pictures and maps. At the end of the bridge go through a metal gate, swiftly followed by a wooden kissing gate, on which a yellow arrow points the way, bearing right on the public footpath across the field. Follow this, but first glance left at the avenue of young trees, planted in 2011 to mark the line of the original avenue along which the old carriageway passed. Follow the footpath across the field heading for a point between two pylons. This line passes beneath the wires and reaches a metal gate. Go through, crossing a small bridge and entering under trees.

Nynehead is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Tone, 7 miles (11km) south-west of Taunton and 1.5 miles (2km) north-west of Wellington. The village has a population of 415. [1] History [ edit ] We recently took delivery of three of the Scammell training films from the IWM. The quality of them is top hole. Pause here. To the left is the other end of the avenue of young trees; to the right you can look down on the remains of the carriageway that once led to Nynehead Court. The bridge over to the right was built by Brunel to carry the railway over the carriageway. The aqueduct on which you are standing was part of an elaborate feat of engineering, which lifted the canal and its boats up and over the carriageway. Mine came on Saturday and I looked at all the pictures which took an hour or so, and realy enjoyed seeing and in some cases remembering.A family of swans graces the River Tone near Nynehead Court near bridge over the river that once carried the carriageway to the Court (Image: submitted)