Middleport

Posted on October 6, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged barrels, Boats, Bottle ovens, Canals, Cauldon canal, Chair, Choir, eras, Memories, Middleport pottery, Seat, Singing, Trent and mersey canalLeave a comment

This weekend I went to Middleport pottery to sing with a choir to accompany a play called “Boats, Barrels and Bottle ovens”.

We sang seven songs. From different years over the time when the Trent and Mersey canal and the Caldon canal that is an offshoot of it were built by Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley. Each era was represented by the cast acting out scenes, first by the side of the Dane, a working narrow boat, then inside a bottle oven to represent the Harecastle tunnel in Kidsgrove. A scene at a boat club in the 1960’s where they discussed reopening the cauldron canal that was full of rubbish and weeds at that time and finally we sang in a scene from the 1980s and then up to date.

I’m not fit or well and this was challenging with freezing cold, wet and windy weather, uneven cobbles and slippery surfaces. I can only thank the people who placed chairs for me so I could sit down in safety when I needed to. Without them I could never have done it. X

Ground mural

Posted on February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, ground mural, Newcastle branch, Painting, Peeling paint, Stoke, Trent and mersey canal, Westend villageLeave a comment

Narrow boat painted on the car park of Westend village in Stoke. It’s on the route of the Newcastle branch of the Trent and Mersey canal that used to run alongside London Road. This photo was taken from the hump in the road in Corporation Street that used to be a canal bridge. I hope they repaint it! It’s much more faded than this but I’ve upped the contrast and saturation because it’s really dull and the paint has peeled off.

On the side of a barge

Posted on February 2, 2024 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Bridge, Canal, canal barge, Etruria, Heron, Life, Painting, Swans, Trent and mersey canal, Waterlilies2 Comments

Seen on the side of a canal barge today at Etruria, Stoke on Trent. Not your usual castles and roses, but very nice image. I’ve actually seen a heron on that stretch of the Trent and Mersey canal. I like the waterlilies that have been included, they are not usually found in city canals though and the water is generally not that clean as there is usually some pollution. But I would say canals, are better maintained than in the past.

Heron on the bank

Posted on July 29, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bird, Canal, Environment, Fish, Grey, Heron, Life, Nature, Time, Trent and mersey canal5 Comments

Blurry photo of a heron chilling out on the canal bank today. It leant forward a few times and looked into the murky brown water but then resumed it’s original position again. I guess it must have seen a fish.

We have previously seen people magnet fishing in the canal, they said they sometimes find things, but nothing valuable. Is a shopping trolley or bike frame worth it? I guess you can weigh things in for scrap. In the meantime I hope the heron got his dinner!

Bench by a lock

Posted on July 21, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bench, bench appreciation, metal bench, Stoke-on trent, Trent and mersey canal, View2 Comments

Trent and Mersey canal with a thin metal bench. It’s not the most picturesque view I’m afraid, but I’m a member of a bench appreciation group, so I keep an eye out for them. It’s sometimes nice to find a beautiful place with a comfortable bench, but more than likely it’s a seat in not a nice place.

Barge

Posted on March 18, 2023March 18, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Barge, Canal boat, Holiday, life off grid, metal hull, Trent and mersey canal, wooden hull2 Comments

A barge called Lothlorien

Holiday or daily living, canal barges offer accommodation ‘off the grid’. A friend of ours had one for about five years while he was living on his own. It was an old wooden boat, about seventy two foot long, and had a massive lifeboat engine powering it that was started with a huge starting handle like on an old car! It took many turns of the handle to fire up the engine.

His barge was a wooden Hull, so every year he took it into dry dock to recaulk the gaps between the wooden boards. If he didn’t the boats planks would let in water. It was lovely in the summer, but cold and damp in the winter, especially on foggy days.

The photo of a metal hulled boat was taken today on the Trent and Mersey canal.

Canal boats

Posted on February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Boats, Canal, Painting, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Traditional, Trent and mersey canal, Walk, Westport lake2 Comments

On our walk today round Westport Lake we incorporated a bit of the Trent and Mersey canal. We saw a few canal barges as we walked along the towpath. It made me think of a song we sing at choir which goes ‘fifteen miles on the Erie canal’. Most of the boats were painted dull blues and greys but there was a more traditionally painted cafe boat in primarily green and red but with yellow and white details too. It made me smile to see it.

Brindley and Wedgewood mural

Posted on January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Emulsion on wall, Fine Art, History, James Brindley, josiah Wedgwood, Mural, Painting, Trent and mersey canalLeave a comment

Here is another one of my murals from the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. It shows the four creators of the Trent and Mersey canal. I remember two of them are James Brindley , standing, and Josiah Wedgwood, seated on the right. It’s a long time since I painted it, so I can’t remember the names of the other two. It was painted in 2007? I think. This popped up on my Facebook memories today. Sadly it and all the others I painted were destroyed in a fire when the Leopard burnt down early last year.

White bridge

Posted on April 6, 2022April 6, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Canal, Cauldon canal, Ducks, early spring, Etruria Industrial museum, Etruria locks, Trent and mersey canalLeave a comment

I drew the horizon a few days ago walking over this bridge but I decided to show it from the side too. This is on the opposite side of the canal from the Industrial Museum at Etruria. Facing away from Hanley in Stoke on Trent. Taken on a sunny but breezy day. The ducks were out enjoying the sunshine. This coming weekend it will be having a steaming weekend. I will try and find out the details.

Tree fall

Posted on March 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged blown down, Canal, Fallen tree, March winds, Tree, Trent and mersey canal, Walk, Westport lakeLeave a comment

A large tree has fallen on the far bank of the Trent and Mersey canal opposite Westport Lake. Luckily it seems to have fallen sideways instead of across the canal. It doesn’t appear to have damaged any canal barges or cars on the access road behind it, although some of its branches are trailing in the canal. Seen on a walk today.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Trent and mersey canal