Campaigning charity, The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is asking for people to help uncover hidden heritage on Erewash, regional and national waterways.
Along the canals and rivers of the UK are many smaller manmade features that were installed way back when the waterways were first built or while they were being used for transportation, and IWA believes that these are often overlooked today. IWA would like to record more of these small details but needs help from the local community.
Larger structures such as bridges, locks, aqueducts and tunnels are all quite obvious and some of them are protected either by being Listed or as part of a wider conservation area, but smaller features can sometimes be missed both by people using the waterways and by council planners and developers. IWA feels strongly that although they might be small, these features are no less important to the history of waterways.
IWA would like to know about things like rope marks on a bridge, mason’s marks on a lock wall, canal company signage or mile posts along the towpath. Each of these might seem like a tiny thing but it all adds to the overall heritage of the waterway setting and tells the story of how the waterways were built and used in the past.
Alison Smedley, Campaigns & Public Affairs manager, IWA says: “IWA believes that waterways should be protected from inappropriate development, through being included in a Conservation Area or by specific buildings and structures being Listed. As part of our campaign to call for local authorities to better protect waterways heritage, we are asking people to investigate their local canal or river in more detail than perhaps they ever have before and find items of interest. We want to make sure the quirky features of the waterways are retained, ideally in working order and are not forgotten in the future.”
So how can you help?
Next time you go down to your local waterway, why not see if you can spot a forgotten historic feature from the days of the working boats, or something that dates from when the canal was first built?
If you spot something, IWA would like you to snap a photo of it on your phone and then send it to hiddenheritage @ waterways.org.uk.
Once received, one of IWA’s resident Heritage experts will try and identify the feature and upload it into the IWA Hidden Heritage Gallery which can be found on the charity’s website www.waterways.org.uk . The aim is to record as many important historical features as possible as a resource for future generations.
Please include the exact location, ideally using the ‘what3words’ app. If you could take a close up picture of the feature and also a photo of the overall setting, that will help with the identification. Please also grant permission for IWA to use your photographs.
If you are interested in downloading a FREE 'Hidden Heritage Spotters Guide', visit waterways.org.uk/campaigns/canal-heritage.
Canal image by Alex Hillier from Pixabay