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Wey Navigation The longest cut of the canal running 5 miles (8 km) from Walsham Gates terminates at the penultimate lock before the Thames at Weybridge. Not the prettiest lock on the Wey, but it stands alongside the bridge that gave Weybridge its name. |
Wey WEY LEISURE WEY BLOG WEY BLOG WEY BLOG WEY SCRAPE WEY WARS "Several farm waggons and carts were moving creakily along the road to Addlestone, and suddenly through the gate of a field we saw, across a stretch of flat meadow, six twelve-pounders standing neatly at equal distances pointing towards Woking. The gunners stood by the guns waiting, and the ammunition waggons were at a business-like distance. The men stood almost as if under inspection. “That’s good!” said I. “They will get one fair shot, at any rate.” The artilleryman hesitated at the gate. “I shall go on,” he said. Farther on towards Weybridge, just over the bridge, there were a number of men in white fatigue jackets throwing up a long rampart, and more guns behind. “It’s bows and arrows against the lightning, anyhow,” said the artilleryman. “They ‘aven’t seen that fire-beam yet.” The officers who were not actively engaged stood and stared over the treetops southwestward, and the men digging would stop every now and again to stare in the same direction." H G Wells. The War of the Worlds 1898 WEY WARS "The feel of the navigation changes all the time. At one time it felt like the middle levels, another time like the broads, and then like the Nene. I don’t know if giant pandas have ever visited Send, but they should because for quite a distance the river bank is thick with huge clumps of bamboo. MOVE ON |
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Long Tradition of Industry The railway bridge crossing the Navigation beneath Coxes Mill (GR: TQ062642) is the branch line connecting Weybridge to Chertsey and was built in 1848. The intrusive industrial usage of the riverside between Coxes Mill and Town Lock is not new as this stretch of the canal was industrialised very soon after the canal was built. There was a busy water-driven saw mill here in the mid 19th century. In 1844 the owner, one Thomas Liberty, was in dispute with the Navigation Commissioners over what he saw as the excessive use of Town Lock downstream. Dependent upon the Wey for water to power his saws he was being severely affected by the bargemasters who in a year of particularly low water were discharging water from the lock to top up levels in the wharf pool below. Added to the problem another mill downstream was also drawing water for their waterwheels. Next to the moorings for narrowboats is The Pelican pub (GR: TQ063645) on Hamm Moor Lane. The first record of a pub here was in 1892 which was licensed to sell beer only. If you’re trying to get to it from the towpath there is no footbridge near here so you’ll either have to stick to the road after Blackboy’s from the town end heading upstream, or cross the river at Coxes’ Lock to approach downstream. Being close to many commercial premises The Pelican has a regular clientele and offers a good food menu and has a garden by the river. Blackboy's The Navigation below the cross-over bridge at Blackboy’s, where the towpath swaps over from east to west bank, is considerably higher than the Addlestone Road running alongside it. The backwater running along by the road to disgorge downstream of Town Lock is a branch of the tributary River Bourne. Blackboy Bridge (GR: TQ064647) which was named after an imposing statue that had once stood nearby, had much of its brick structure replaced by featureless concrete in 1956 to take the considerable weight of gravel lorries servicing the quarry here. The now disused quarry pit was left to a lake for a while but has since been in-filled and returned to agricultural use. There was a blacksmith’s cottage at Abbis’ Forge which is now converted to offices. Weybridge Town Lock
Town Lock (GR: TQ068648) - rise of 5ft 6in (1.68m) - on the western extremities of Weybridge is regarded by users of the river as one difficult to navigate given its proximity to the bridge with a small and awkward entrance. The towpath is interrupted by the bridge here, and horses and carters would have to cross over the road and climb down the horse-steps to meet up again with the vessels they were towing. These low-rise steps were constructed here to provide traction for the horses when traversing the steep bank. Thus not only did the bargee have to swing his vessel around a sharp turn in the pool downstream of the lock having made it under the bridge, but he had to have sufficient momentum to rejoin with his haulers. The upstream manoeuvre was doubly difficult. There is a vertical post on the corner here with a towing roller to prevent the ropes snagging. The lock has been repaired and rebuilt from time to time over the last 300 years, and past emptying has revealed Tudor bricks bought in from Oatlands Palace and used to construct the two cills. The Lock is 0.8 miles (1.3 km) from the Thames. The tumbling bay just before the lock carries water off into the Wey proper that rejoins just downstream under the far spans of the bridge. This bay is regarded as unusual in that it is L-shaped allowing for longer steps making for a gentle connection with the river below. The wide wharf pool immediately downstream from the lock was once an extremely busy terminus for barges unloading at the old town wharf (GR: TQ068647) on the Weybridge bank. Eastwoods, a builders merchants, operated two of their own barges from here called ‘Landrail’ and ‘Surrey’ hauling in bricks and cement from London between 1900 and 1920. The wharf was converted into residential use in the 1990s. The Wey Navigation here saw a huge variety of cargoes loaded at the wharves here, or pass-by for wharves upstream in Byfleet, Guildford and Godalming. These regularly were timber, wheat and flour but there were some unusual ones. Eastwoods Wharf in 1920 loaded 19 cargoes of decommissioned aeroplanes totalling 165 tons that had been built at nearby Brooklands, but now the war was over were superfluous to requirements and were being scrapped. Another 18 cargoes were to follow during the next year.
It is the river crossing on the left hand side of the wharf (Bridge Road) leading to Chertsey that gave Weybridge its name. The original course of the River Wey rejoins the Navigation beneath the iron bridge (GR: TQ068647) here, having last been in contact at Walsham Gates 5 miles (8km) upstream near Ripley. The existing bridge by Town Lock with cast iron arches was designed by the County Surveyor and built in 1865, replacing a series of wooden bridges that had straddled the river here since medieval times, with the first reference to a bridge on the site in 1235. Prior to that crossing was only achieved by wading across a ford. Prior to Henry VIII’s activities in this part of the Manor of Byfleet, Weybridge was of little importance, and there is even an account in the Middle Ages of the hamlet’s inhabitants requesting to be excused from conveying the royal baggage, an expectation of the time, as they only had a single cart. The coming of the railways in 1838, when the London & Southampton Railway drove through the first section of line as far as Woking, helped complete the transformation to the straggling suburbs that are evident today. Move on to the last stretch of the Wey Navigation: © Wey River 2005 - 2012 |
