Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Whitsunday Pie Lock is the first of the wide locks. Retford helped finance the canal to Ret-
ford on condition that it was built wide enough to bring Trent keels up to the town. The lock
is said to take its name from a huge pie baked for the navvies by the wife of a local farmer to
celebrate completion of the lock, a fact recorded by the serving of a pie to boat club members
each year. However, there are signs that the name is rather older, relating to the time of the
tenancy change of a pightle of land.
Bonemill Bridge takes its name from a mill that used to produce fertiliser by crushing
bones brought by canal.
A house at Hayton has a wall incorporating a row of cartwheels. The church dates from
1120 and has box pews. The Boat Inn also has a children's playground and there is a canalside
picnic site.
The most prominent building in Clayworth is the Grade II Hall, a large white mansion that
looks down on the canal. The bridge to the north-west of the village is on the line of the Ro-
man road from Lincoln to Tadcaster.
The greenery opposite hides Wiseton Hall. Also hidden beyond Wiseton Park is Mattersey
Priory, founded by St Gilbert of Sempringham in 1185 but destroyed by fire in 1279. It
housed the only wholly English monastic order of the Middle Ages. The Grade II Lady's
Bridge or Old Man's Bridge has a bearded face on the keystone on each side.
The canal turns sharply in front of the White Swan Inn with its small basin and wharf.
Ahead is the end of the ridge of Cuckoo Hill, carrying the A631, a sandstone ridge that the
canal has taken a large detour to avoid as far as possible. The last part of the ridge is passed
in the 141m Drakeholes Tunnel, which has no towpath. Travelling north, there is a clear view
of any traffic approaching.
Gringley Top Wharf and Top Lock lie below Gringley on the Hill, with its windmill and
church. The Beacon Hill viewpoint has views as far as Lincoln Cathedral.
Fountain Hill suggests that artesian conditions have been present as Gringley Carr be-
comes Misterton Carr, an area drained from marshes by Vermuyden in the 17th century. The
spire on All Saints church dates from the 1840s although the church is 13th century and built
on the site of an earlier one. The list of vicars dates from 1254. The stained-glass window in
the north wall is over 500 years old.
The cut passes Stockwith Bridge and the Waterfront Inn to enter West Stockwith Basin,
where seagoing ships used to offload on to narrowboats. There was also boatbuilding in the
basin. Interesting buildings here include the 1797 warehouse.
Trent Lock only opens near high tide and leads out to the River Trent. Just downstream,
the River Idle also enters the Trent.
