Beeston Rylands - On The Waterfront
w/e 29 April 2007
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

It's a fair few years since my work took me down to the River Trent and the Beeston Canal at Beeston Rylands and at that time there was only a tatty caravan park, a dusty housing estate being constructed during a dry summer and, in a cold, wet winter, a muddy towpath leading to a rugby club. Now the caravan park is a pleasant mobile home facility, the housing estate has matured and the canal bank has been nicely landscaped. This look at the Beeston Waterfront starts at the Marina where a pub, a cafe and a small shop adjacent to the mobile homes at the side of the Trent are accessible to both local residents and river traffic visitors.

The river traffic here, heading downstream towards Nottingham is prevented from progressing along the meandering river by means the floating orange barrier strung out across the river. Boats are diverted to the left into the Beeston Canal - or as it was originally called when it opened in 1796, the Beeston Cut - the reason being the weir just beyond the barrier (see left). The buildings seen in the distance among the trees on the other side of the river are at Clifton which, like Beeston and several more small towns and villages, has grown from small beginnings to be part of the conurbation of what is now the City of Nottingham.

The boats enter the Beeston Canal (below left) via the Beeston Lock which is overlooked by the lock keeper's cottage (above). The other images immediately below show views of the lock taken from both sides of the canal.

This bridge seen here on the left over the canal leads to some playing fields and also to a good viewing point of the weir (see the small image higher up this page). The bridge also offers a pleasant view along the canal itself and from here at the side of the lock keeper's cottage, the entrance to a side lock is just visible on the right and above the fence. This side lock once allowed boats to return to the Trent just below the weir but is no longer in use save for a couple of narrow boats that appear to be permanently anchored there. The road beyond the gate near the centre of the image is called, appropriately enough, Canal Side.

Many of the narrow boats and other craft moored along Canal Side appear to be permanent fixtures but despite the now pleasant surroundings, this pair of sea dogs (pun intended) did not appear to be too happy with their lot.

A little further along the canal where Canal Side turns away to become Meadow Road is the Turnover Bridge. An information board nearby includes the following: "In the days when canal boats were pulled by horses, turnover bridges were used when the towpath moved from one side of the canal to the other. The challenge was to get the horse across the canal without interrupting towing. The horse towed the boat along the path on the left and walked over the bridge from left to right. It followed the slope under the bridge back onto the path - now on the right of the canal. All whilst towing the boat!" Now that's what you call ingenious.

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