Pidcock's Canal

Pidcock's Canal was constructed from 1778 onwards, connecting Upper and Lower Forge at the head of Lydney Pill in Gloucestershire, England. [ [http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqSearch=((text)='pidcock')&dsqPos=4 Gloucestershire County Council Archives] ] There were three locks below Middle Forge.

History

Large parts of the parish of Lydney were organised as an estate, which had been managed by the Bathurst family since 1723. The estate contained mineral reserves, and they profited from this after 1800 by building ironworks. The Lower Forge ironworks were supplied with water by several streams, which were augmented by a long leat which left the Newerne stream near the Chepstow road. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23251 "Lydney", A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 46-84.] ]

In 1775, David Tanner from Tintern was granted a lease of the Upper Forge, on the northern borders of Lydney. A new 99-year lease was negotiated in 1778, which included powers to construct a canal from there to the Lower Forge. It is known that the canal had been built by 1790, although the precise date of construction is unknown. Tanner sold his lease in 1789, and in 1790 it was sold to members of the Pidcock family, who were glassmasters from Staffordhshire. The Pidcocks managed the forges until 1813, when the lease was sold back to the Bathursts. They also had coal mining rights, and transported coal to Lydney Pill using the canal. On surrender, the lease covered the Upper and Middle forges, the Lower forge and rolling mill, the White Cross furnace, and the canal, which had by then been extended to Lydney Pill. John James took on the lease from 1814, building another forge at New Mills in the 1820s, and using the Lower forge as a tinplate works from 1844. In 1889, Richard Thomas, who had leased the works from 1876, made improvements to the Lower forge tinplate works, and the remaining works were stripped and abandoned.

Railways arrived in the area from 1809, when the Lydney and Lydbrook Railway was authorised by an Act of Parliament. It ran parallel to the canal as it followed the course of the Newerne Valley. This became the Severn and Wye Railway and Canal in 1810, when a new Act of Parliament authorised the construction of a tramway and the canal to Lydney Harbour. Pidcock's canal fell into disuse in the 1840s. [ [http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/History21.html#PDCC Jim Shead, Waterways History, Pidcock's Canal] ]

Route

The canal started at the Upper forge, and ran close to the Newerne stream. The lower section took a more direct route to the Lower forge, using the course of the leat which had supplied the works with water. There were three locks near the Middle works. [cite book |last= Paget-Tomlinson|first= Edward W.|authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=The Illustrated History of Canal & River Navigations|origyear=1978|year=2006|publisher= Landmark Publishing Ltd|isbn= 1-84306-207-0] The canal crossed the Chepstow road between Lyndey and Newerne, and the branch from the Lower forge to Lydney Pill was quite short.

ee also

*Canals of Great Britain
*History of the British canal system

References