Hawkesbury Junction has been an important link in the regional
and national canal network for about 200 years. Today the boat traffic
is almost entirely made up of leisure craft, but the Junction's reason for
being was commerce. The junction is formed by the meeting of the Coventry
Canal and the Oxford Canal, and it is known locally, together with the area
immediately around, as Sutton Stop. This is also the name of the private
unmade road which gives access to the area, both being named after the Sutton
family who were well known lock-keepers for over half of the nineteenth century.
Because of its unique character, and its historical associations with
the early years of the industrial revolution and the development of the canal
system, Coventry City Council and Nuneaton Borough Council, in September 1976,
jointly designated the locality as a Conservation Area, as the area lies
across the administrative boundary between the two authorities.
Historical Background
The Coventry Canal was begun
in 1768 with the aim of opening up the North Warwickshire coalfield
for development, though more visionary people such as the pioneer
canal engineer James Brindley saw it, and the Oxford Canal, as part of a
major route connecting London and the south with the rapidly
expanding industrial centres of Northern England, via the large waterway systems of
the Rivers Thames and Severn in the south and Rivers Trent and Mersey in
the north. This concept was known as the "Grand Cross". By the
end of 1769 the first boatloads of coal were passing through Hawkesbury
between Bedworth and Coventry's Bishop Street Canal Basin. The
Oxford Canal was started at Longford in 1769, the first 10 miles being
completed by 1771, including the Hawkesbury section. Due to the
inability of the Coventry Canal Company and the Oxford Canal Company to
agree about tolls, the two canals ran parallel to each other only a few
feet apart, from Hawkesbury to Longford. Following a court injunction
taken out by the Coventry Canal Company, the two canals were joined in
1777 at Longford.
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A view of the conservation area
from the Oxford Canal
| The first junction at Hawkesbury was made in 1803 and in the 1830s the
Oxford Canal was shortened and the Coventry Canal Company asked the Oxford
to sanction a new wider junction at Hawkesbury. This was agreed subject to
the protection of the latter's tolls; the present junction was made in
1836 and the connection bridged in 1837.
In the early days of the two canals there were probably no buildings at
what is now Hawkesbury Junction, but by the 1830s the Engine House, the
Toll Offices of both companies, and what is now the Greyhound Inn, with
some of its outbuildings, were all in use. The presence of the Toll
Offices and the Inn resulted from the activity around the "stop locks" on
both canals. The Inn, with its stables, was probably built to serve the
increasingly regular overnight stops of barges at the locks and the local
coal miners.
The boat traffic on the two canals waxed and waned
according to the various circumstances in the nineteenth century, but
certainly from about the mid-century the general trend in tonnage was
downward as a result of intense competition from railways, with occasional
temporary halts in the trend, e.g., the two world wars. After the
Second World War the commercial traffic had declined to a mere trickle and
indeed it was only the upsurge of boating for pleasure on canals that
saved local canals from extinction.
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Britannia
Bridge
| The feature of the last few
years, at Hawkesbury as elsewhere, has been the greatly increased interest
in canals in general and in canal cruising in particular. The
conservation of historic canalside environment at the junction is a
consequence of these interests and the growth of the conservation movement
generally.
The area now and its buildings
Perhaps the most immediately
striking feature in the conservation area is the elegant bridge over the
actual junction of the two canals. This cast iron structure is a
fine example of the Victorian engineer's art, and has a span of 50
feet. The bridge was cast at the Britannia Foundry in Derby, and was
erected for the Coventry Canal Company in 1837, at a cost of £630.
The abutments are made of red hand-made bricks with a semicircular blue
brick coping. This style of bridge, and combination of materials,
was adopted between 1800-1840 on some of the Midlands canals; their use in
this bridge shows a lightness of design unexpected with such heavy
materials.
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The Greyhound Inn and 18 Sutton
Stop
| The Greyhound Inn and 18
Sutton Stop together form a terrace of two storey buildings which are
listed Grade II buildings of architectural and historic interest.
The terrace has smooth rendered walls and "rusticated quoins". The
windows are mostly simple casements though the Inn has two bay windows on
the ground floor. The main doorway has now been restored to its
original position as part of the recent major renovation of the
building. Inside the pub some of the old features have been retained
such as a fireplace and some high back wooden settles. At the rear
survive old farmbuildings, reminders that early publicans of the inn were
also farmers.
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Pump
House | The engine or pump house is
perhaps the most unusual and interesting of all the buildings in the
conservation area, both historically and architecturally. The
lean-to at the rear is the oldest part and housed the first engine to be
installed in 1821. This was a Newcomen type engine which had already
seen around one hundred years' service at one of the local
collieries. It was named "Lady Godiva" and used to raise water into
the canal from a stream flowing underneath. By 1837, however, this
supply proved inadequate, a 114 foot shaft was sunk and a new, more
powerful engine installed alongside "Lady Godiva" in the handsome
three-storey building which now fronts the canal. In 1913 this water
supply failed due to the sinking of the new Coventry Colliery and the
engine house fell into disuse. The newer engine was scrapped during
the Second World War. "Lady Godiva" remained in place until 1963
when it was moved to Dartmouth, the birthplace of Thomas Newcomen, as the
centrepiece of a memorial museum.
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4-14 Sutton
Stop
| The cottages at 4-14 Sutton Stop are
also listed Grade II buildings, of two storeys built in chequerboard
brickwork, with a slate roof hipped at each end of the terrace. It
is thought that these were originally associated with the old Victoria
Colliery which lay on land to the rear.
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32 Sutton
Stop
| 32 Sutton Stop fronts
directly onto the Coventry Canal almost opposite the junction and at a
point where the canal is wider than average. The building is a
mid-nineteenth century two storey house with later additions to the
northern facade. It has served three main uses: the storage of
gunpowder until 1850; the fitting out of canal barges from 1850-1930;
since l930 it has been used for residential purposes. The outline of
a canopy can be seen at first floor level, this once housed winches for
the moving of large items of cargo from barges to the upper floor
level. The double doors on the ground floor provide evidence of the
previous commercial use of the building. After a long period of
vacancy and dereliction, this house has now been restored, as part of the
adjacent new residential development (on the Bedworth side of
the Conservation Area).
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Lock
Cottage
| The site of the lock cottage,
by the side of the stop lock on the Oxford Canal, was occupied fairly
early in the history of the canal, but it is not clear whether part or the
whole of the existing building is original. The style of the present
building appears to date it as being of mid to late nineteenth century
construction.
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Enhancement and the Future
In declaring a Conservation Area a local authority commits itself not
only to preserve but also to improve the environment where possible and to
ensure the retention and continued satisfactory use of its buildings and
spaces.
Since designation in 1976 the following major enhancement works have
been carried out by the two councils, the British Waterways Board, the
West Midlands County Council, Bass, Mitchells and Butlers Ltd. and various
other agencies:
| 1977...... |
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Undergrounding of overhead wires and cables and improvement of
Sutton Stop roadway. |
| 1978 |
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Refurbishment of bridges and canalside features and landscape
improvements to peninsula area. |
| 1981 |
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Rehabilitation of Nos. 4-14 Sutton Stop. |
| 1983 |
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Refurbishment of the Greyhound Inn. |
| 1984 |
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Landscape improvements along Sutton Stop, rationalised car
parking arrangements in central area. Remodelling of sanitary
block. |
| 1985 |
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Partial remedial work and basic restoration of the Engine House,
jointly funded by British Waterways Board, the Engine House Trust
and the two Councils |
| 1989-90 |
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New 9-space car park provided with improved pedestrian access to
Coney Lane Bridge, benches and tree planting; a new welcome sign was
also erected at the junction of Sutton Stop and Grange Road |
| 1992 |
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further discussions with BWB and English
Heritage about continued restoration of the Engine House; grant aid
possible for a preliminary archaeological excavation and documentary
research (required prior to any repairs) |
| 1995 |
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Drivers Jonas co-ordinated a regeneration study of the Junction
and the surrounding areas of derelict land for the two Councils and
British Waterways. |
| 1996 |
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Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council produced a booklet of
'Development & Design Guidance' for the Conservation Area.
Another scheme for restoring the Engine House was put forward by
British Waterways and Sansome Hall. |
| 1998 |
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Road improvements and new lighting to the section of Sutton Stop
between the Junction and Grange Road. |
For further information about the Conservation Area contact either:
Mark Singlehurst,
Conservation Officer,
Civic Centre 4,
Much
Park Street,
COVENTRY CV1 2PY
Tel.: (024) 7683 1265
or
The Chief Planning and Development
Officer,
Council
House,
Coton Road,
NUNEATON.
End of transcript - other information below
See also Sutton Stop Description for photos and comments on walks.
Good for Dogs rating: 
Plenty of scope for walking dogs, especially in the areas to the south
of the canal. |
