In Praise of Locks (and lock-keepers)

Nighttime on Still Waters

There’s something almost indefinably special about canal and river locks. Tonight, I relate my struggle to outwit the ghost of Odd Lock as well as take time to celebrate the lock-keepers of old and their newer iteration – the volunteer lockie (I’m guessing at the spelling!)

Journal entry:

2nd June, Friday
“North easterly winds
Grey skies.
But there are five ducklings
Braving the bluster
And a swallow scissors low over
A meadow of buttercups.
This light makes the yellow Irises blaze."

Episode Information:

In this episode I read short extracts from:
Ernest Temple Thurston’s (1911) The Flower of Gloster re-printed (1972) by David and Charles.

Julian Dutton’s (2021) Water Gypsies: A history of life on Britain’s rivers and canals, published by Coles Books.

Ivan Broadhead’s (editor) (1994) Up the Cut: An anthology of inland waterways, published by Alan Sutton Publishing.

LTC (Tom) Rolt’s (1944) Narrow Boat now re-published by History Press.

I also refer to:
Sue Wilkes’ (2011) Tracing your Canal Ancestors: A guide for family historians published by Pen and Sword.

With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast:
Laurie and Liz, Phil Pickin, Orange Cookie, Donna Kelly, Mary Keane, Arabella Holzapfel, Rory and MJ., Narrowboat Precious Jet, Linda Reynolds Burkins,
Richard Noble, Carol Ferguson, Tracie Thomas, Mike and Tricia Stowe, Madeleine Smith.

General Details

In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.
Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.

Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.

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You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.