Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Working the Kingswood Flight .
A kilometre to the left of one of the bridges stands the timber-framed Packwood House.
Built about 1560, it is opened by the National Trust and contains interesting tapestry, nee-
dlework and furniture. More notable, perhaps, is its fine Carolean garden and yew garden
clipped to represent the Sermon on the Mount.
Two bridges over the Lapworth Flight at Kingswood are the first of many split bridges
on the canal. These have slots in the centre to allow the towrope through without unhitching
the horse and are built as pairs of cantilevered arms, the handrailing being in the form of a
distinctive double cross on each side. The locks themselves have large side pounds between
them, so large that some are used as moorings. They have small paddles, making them slow
to operate. Just below the Boot public house and a nearby grocer's shop, one has an overflow
that discharges a cascade 2m high and nearly as wide, rather than having the usual discharge
channel running through the undergrowth around the back of the lock. There is also some or-
nate footbridge ironwork to be seen.
Despite the fact that the two run parallel for some distance, the Stratford-upon-Avon falls
rapidly through a whole flight of locks while the Grand Union is level from Rotton Row to
Hatton, a distance of some 14km.
The southern section, linking up with the River Avon at Stratford, was completed in 1816,
14 years after the northern section. Unusually, it has been owned by the National Trust and its
recovery from disuse was a personal triumph for David Hutchings. Volunteers, services and
prison labour restored it to use in three years and it was reopened by the Queen Mother in
1964, a model for other canal restoration schemes and the first restoration led by volunteers.
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