Thursday, April 23, 2009

WISH I'D HAD MY CAMERA

Remember in those film and TV westerns when the cowboys used to ride into town and tether their horses to those arch-shaped wooden posts?
Well, outside Brigg's anglers' toilets, almost under the Ancholme Way A18 road bridge, is what appears to be a metal version of just such a post.
It would be much easier to explain using a photograph, but I didn't happen to have the faithful Fuji digital in my pocket at the time.
As water is available at this point, it would prove a good watering stop for thirsty steeds. But, as far as I know, it's decades since heavy horses used to trudge that way down the Ancholme towpath, pulling barges.
Anyone solve the mystery of the metal post?

We will look to upload a picture to Brigg Blog at a later date.

2 comments:

Ken Harrison said...

Re the 'anglers' toilet' - in fact the toilet/washroom was built by the Environmental Agency. It was originally intended to serve boaters (they had a key) moored alongside the adjacent jetty - but the shallow water depth + AWOL trolleys + miscreants throwing stones from the bridge at the site essentially stopped boats mooring there.
When the toilet block was built, there was an proposal that the old gas works site be dug out and made into a small mooring marina for visiting boats.
(When travellers camped on the site some years ago, it is believed that they 'unofficially' used the toilet block)
Indeed, very few boats sail along the Old Ancholme - the depth is shallower than the new cut and skippers don't know what's under the water. In addition, modern boats tend to have a high air-draught and the old bridge precludes all but smaller, or low air-draught vessels.
But having said this - about 5 weeks ago, I took a photo of green narrow boat moored at the jetty (a narrow boat is flat-bottomed; normally has a hatch to the prop so any plastic bags etc can be removed from the prop and has a low air-draught)

Ken Harrison said...

Nige......distantly connected...if you have your camera with you, perhaps you can take a photo of the Pingley Camp water tower. Went to the Garden Centre yesterday..on return trip via Brigg noticed the billets have been bull-dozed and the tower is standing is grand isolation.