HOME
. . . . . . . .
SITE
MAP

. . . . . . . .
GETTING TO
KNOW THE
RIVER

. . . . . . . .
EXPLORING
THE RIVER

. . . . . . . .
MAP OF
THE RIVER

. . . . . . . .
MAP OF
NAVIGATIONS

. . . . . . . .
RIVER WEY
NORTH BRANCH

. . . . . . . .
RIVER WEY
SOUTH BRANCH

. . . . . . . .
RIVER UNITED
TILFORD TO
GODALMING

. . . . . . . .
THE WEY
NAVIGATIONS
• Introduction

• History
• The Godalming
Navigation

• The Wey
Navigation

. . . . . . . .
RIVER
TRANSPORT
• Introduction

• Lock
• Barges
• Life on the
Barges

• The Horse-
drawn IONA

. . . . . . . .
WEY INDUSTRY
• Introduction

• Watermills
• Flour & Bread
• Fulling & Cloth
• Chilworth
Gunpowder
Mills

• Charcoal
Making

• Brewing
• Papermaking
• Ice Houses
. . . . . . . .
WEY WILDLIFE
• Introduction

• Habitats
• Trees & Plants
• Insects
• Birds
• Fish
• Countryside
Designations

. . . . . . . .
WEY PLACES
• Introduction

• More About
ALTON

• More About
FARNHAM

• More About
GODALMING

• More About
WEYBRIDGE

• More About
BROOKLANDS

. . . . . . . .
WEY PEOPLE
• Introduction

• Legends
• The Big Names
. . . . . . . .
WEY ART
• Introduction

• Boat Art
• Inn Art
• River Graffiti
. . . . . . . .
ADJOINING
WATERWAYS
• Basingstoke
Canal

• Wey & Arun
Canal

• The Thames
. . . . . . . .
LINKS &
FURTHER
SOURCES

. . . . . . . .
ABOUT OUR
PICTURES

. . . . . . . .
USEFUL
BITS

. . . . . . . .
FEEDBACK
We welcome
your comments

. . . . . . . .
SITE
MAP

. . . . . . . .
WEY RIVER
FREELANCE
COMMUNITY

Wey Navigation
New Haw to Coxes Lock

The proximity of New Haw to the Thames, and the huge markets of London and Europe, ensured that the area was to remain highly industrious long after other areas along the Wey Valley fell into decline. Hackering Jack at Coxes Mill was to become a symbol of the industriousness along this stretch of the Wey, although not without dispute.

ELSEWHERE LINKS PAPERMAKING BASINGSTOKE CANAL BLACK DOWN SOURCE

Wey
Snippets

WEY HISTORICAL
"Somersford Bridge is decayed and downe, and the cawsye thereunto adjoining, which bridge is the Queenes bridge, and by her highnes to be mayneteyned, the stones of which bryda were caryed away by James Bromefelde and by him employed upon his own buyldinges and Peper harowe upon the form of Sir Richard Pexall Knight." Bridge Commissioners 1565 - referring to what is now known as Somerset Bridge in Elstead, Surrey

WEY LIFE
“I remember once when my mum didn’t have the rent money and got into debt. She was told to go down to the Town Hall and suffered the ‘Means Test’. You were only allowed one bed, one table and your saucepans, everything else had to be sold before you could get some money.” Surrey resident 1940s

SHALFORD MILL MACHINERY GEARING

click image to enlarge

WEY LITERARY
"Jane breathed her last ½ after four in the morn; only Cass[andra] and I were with her. Henry came, Austen & Ed came, the latter returned home." Diary of Mary Austen July 1817, recounting the death of Wey Valley resident Jane Austen

WEY BLOG
“I live alone on my boat and I mostly travel alone. That brings with it particular difficulties and other boaters, passers-by and lock keepers often offer me help when they realise I'm going solo. Many times I politely decline, particularly in locks and particularly if they are non-boaters, because sometimes their assistance is more hassle than it's worth and if they don't follow instructions, their actions can even be dangerous." Blogger: NB Bristol Fashion August 2006

WEY SUMMERTIME
“It was one of those delightful, mild, autumn days, with just a hint of warmth from the lowering sun. The leaves were starting to turn, and despite the brightness of its colours the boat somehow blended with the glow of the countryside...

"It was a memorable day in the life of the 45ft former hire-boat we had lovingly refurbished and christened 'Summertime'. With most of the work completed and the new colour-scheme gleaming, we were ready to start a new chapter - one that would include more leisurely cruising and rather less hard work, we hoped..." Blogger Andy S 15th November 2006

WEY NUDGE
“My narrowboat is now based on the River Wey so we can do The Thames for a season. She has a pretty powerful engine and good shape to the hull. In the canals she is restricted mostly because she is deeper draft than most.

The Wey itself is oddly canal like. The locks though are not. They are somewhat unrefined compared to the normal canal gear. Even though a lock is an apparently simply industrial machine, using the Wey locks shows you a lot of improvement has gone in to the design.

They Wey locks are hard locks to work, with very low gearing. Without large lock sides often there is not the long balance beams I'm used to and a variety of ropes and chains are used sometimes to pull the gates shut. We were heading downstream and at the first lock noticed the upper gate paddles were simple gate paddles. On a canal lock the upper paddles are ground paddles, the water being directed along sluices around the gate and into the bottom of the lock chamber. They can still be rough, but the river lock was something else. The paddle simply opened a two foot square hole in the gate, whereupon a lance of water sycthed with raw thundering power into the lock several feet above the water surface; something like a beam weapon in a sci fi movie. One to remember on the way back up on Friday methinks.

The nicest thing about the Thames is that all the locks are manned during the day, which makes them so more pleasant. The first lock was the Thames lock where the Wey meets Old Father Thames. This is still a manual lock, but the lock keeper does it for you. It is also a strange lock as it has a third set of gates. Normally only the main lock is used, but deep draft vessels need the third gate closed further down to ensure they can get into the relatively shallow lock.

Just how shallow we found out. As I tried to leave the lock the boat was handling a littlle oddly and a lot of vibration was hitting the rudder. It *felt* shallow and the only thing to do is take it easy, any power put on is going to make the boat sit down. The lock keeper shouted to take it slowly and we would be fine. I've experience shallow locks before so I should have thought more about what happened next, but when an authority figure says you will be fine your mind switches off... In essence we nudged the lower lock sill.

The rest of the family disagree with my use of the word "nudge" suggesting "great rending crash that felt like God himself had grabbed the boat" would be more appropriate. I discount this as melodrama.

Still, the instincts worked, the boat was out of gear before I even noticed. The lock keeper leaned over with a concerned and surprised look and enquired how much we drew. "About 2 foot 3 or 4" was our reply, knowing we were deeper than most narrow boats. "Blimey that's deep" came the reply "I've only got 2 foot 6 in the lock!". Careful contemplation of the water gauge showed that this was so. Ah. Perhaps coming back we should appraise the lock keeper of our deeperness.

Joining the great Thames at this point is quite challenging. By a fluke of nature by the time both rivers are made navigable by locks the only place for the Thames wier to flow is across the exit from the Wey. This makes it... challenging... to navigate and make the turn. It was at this point that the boat's power really became apparent. Throwing the throttle wide open to deploy the full 55 horses under by hand rewarded me with a surge forwards, the squat of the stern no longer an issue. The power was electrifying, the only issue being the heavy vibrations the churning water stream over the simple unbalance rudder blade was causing.

We made the lock fine, though not as fine as I would have liked, the cross stream making life momentarily difficult, as was the task of joining the other river traffic as I was unclear of priorities; a task that was solved by the skill and politeness of the cruiser who waved us on. Blogger: Passenger Action 23rd June 2008

WEY FLOWN
Around 40 pheasants were half-inched from woodland near Abinger Hammer (September 2009) just before the gaming season leaving local landed gents and their guests with nothing to fill their sights. Although the fate of the pheasants was still ultimately the same as dinner plates were undoubtedly filled somewhere in the country. The big question is how do you entice that number of free-roaming birds away from their lovely wooded home in the first place?

MOVE ON
to the next stretch of the Wey Navigation:
COXES TO WEYBRIDGE TOWN LOCK

MILL LANE WEY BACKWATER BYFLEET

Wey Industry

Just downstream of the bridge at New Haw Lock (GR: TQ055631) there was an official Navigation Wharf operational for several hundred years at which goods could be both loaded and temporarily stored in a warehouse under the watchful eyes of a Navigation wharfinger. The wharf has long since been built over. A lime kiln operated near to the wharf.

Lime Kiln
English Lime Kiln
Photo by C Ford - permission under
GNU Free Documentation License

There has been a settlement at New Haw for at least 800 years when the first documentary note of its name appeared in a will in 1187. The word ‘haw’ is of Anglo-Saxon origin meaning flat marshy land by a river.

New Haw c 1960
New Haw c1960
Reproduced courtesy of The Francis Frith Collection
 

A large timber yard that once used the waterway was on the west bank downstream of New Haw Lock, now consumed by the ever hungry property developers. Further downstream on the towpath bank alongside the sharp right hand bend as you approach Coxes Mill pond you can see evidence of Heresey’s watercress beds that operated here until they were closed in 1963. Look out for the overgrown hollows. Watercress, a popular garnish and addition to salads, grows naturally in gently flowing water and was quite common along the Wey. Commercial cultivation started along the Wey Valley in the late 18th century, and the earliest large-scale cultivation in Surrey was at Abinger Hammer (GR: SU ) on the Tilling Bourne, a Wey tributary. The development of the railways in the 1850s enabled the cress to be cut, packed and loaded onto trains to be on the tables of restaurant diners in London a few hours later. Although Heresey’s didn’t expand to the size of 25 acres of beds at Abinger, it was still a considerable concern.

COXES MILL HAM MOOR

Coxes Lock & Mill

Having opened in 1653, for well over a century of the Wey Navigation’s operation Coxes Lock (GR: TQ062642) - rise of 8ft 6in (2.59m) - was in splendid isolation. Coxes is the deepest unmanned lock on the Navigation and is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the Thames.

In 1776 an ironmaster recognised the potential the site offered and started to build his iron mill which became known as Coxes Lock Mill. It is generally regarded as industrially the most significant mill on the Wey, its importance reflected perhaps by the fact that it was not to finally close until 1983, making it the last commercially operated mill on the Wey Navigation.

The huge hammer fondly known locally as ‘Hackering Jack’ was powered by the waterwheel, drawing its power from the mill pond. The huge mill pond was dug to overcome fluctuating water levels caused by the operation of the lock alongside with a cill at the entrances to the Navigation to prevent any back-flow when the river levels drop. Drawing water from the river as the mill expanded soon ensured that this would become a contentious issue between the mill and the barge owners. The pond was constructed without seeking agreement with the Navigation Commissioners. The Commissioners however resorted to biting their collective bottom lip as they needed the revenues such a large mill would attract from the barge traffic needed to service it. It wasn’t for another six years before the mill and the Navigation struck a deal. In payment for the water one shilling for each ton loaded for transportation in either direction between Coxes and Thames Lock was to be paid, with a backstop payment of £130 annually if the tonnage was not sufficient.

At full speed the hammer could deliver a pulverising 45 blows a minute and such industriousness was not delivered quietly. Hackering Jack was so noisy that the infamous 3rd Earl of Portmore, who owned the adjoining Portmore Estate, did everything in his power to try and get the mill closed down. He eventually got his way when the lease in 1808 was passed from Alexander Raby, an ironmaster from South Wales, to one John Bunn who converted the mill to flour in the 1830s. Mill owners were well versed in having to change usage in order to survive, and Coxes Mill was no different. The mill was even used for silk weaving for a short period, although the venture was unsuccessful.

COXES LOCK HAM MOOR

With the advent of new technology at the end of the 19th century Coxes was financially strong enough to invest, and unlike many of its contemporaries further upstream went from strength to strength. The mill was rebuilt in 1901 and extended in 1906, becoming one of the most important industrial buildings in the country at the time. New machinery technology saw the demise of waterpower at the mill when power sources switched at first to steam, and then finally to electricity. By the mid 1960s a huge great wheat silo standing at 137ft (42m) had been constructed, with a further flour silo erected in 1969.

In the same year Captain Steve White, who is featured throughout this web site by way of his recollections of his life on the river, was the last bargemaster to transport wheat to Coxes Mill as traffic switched to the roads. Barge crews at the time where able to buy loaves baked at the mill in order to test the quality of the flour for a penny a loaf.

The mill joined with Allied Mills' 21 other mills in the country, and by this stage was producing an impressive 60 tonnes of flour each day. The production of five grades of white flour together with wheatmeal, wholemeal and bran was achieved by the installation of state-of-the-art milling machinery from Switzerland which utilised fluted steel rollers. In recognition of the efficiency and durability of older machinery the miller continued to operate a hundred year old belt-driven sifting machine alongside all his gleaming metal gadgetry.

The three mill buildings, having been listed for preservation under a Grade II category, was converted to residential use after its closure in 1983, and now houses a considerable community of apartment dwellers who have been attracted by the idyllic setting next to the lock and large mill pond with its abundant wildlife. The complex also boasts a private residents-only gym and swimming pool.

An apartment in the Daniel Lambert Mill providing two bedrooms and two bathrooms on the ground floor and complete with a balcony overlooking the canal was available for rent in August 2008 at £1,250 per month.

Move on to the next stretch of the Wey Navigation:
COXES TO WEYBRIDGE TOWN LOCK

BACK TO TOP OF PAGE

© Wey River 2005 - 2012

Supported and created by volunteers from Wey River Freelance Community Visit our nice sponsors Getting to know the river Introducing the two Navigations Transport along the Wey Navigations Industry along the Wey Valley Wildlife in the Wey Valley Places of interest in the Wey Valley The people of the valley who made names of themselves The art of the valley Climb out of the river