The canal basin at Ashcott
The guardians' minute book records that work on the canal basin proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. The full account survives in the county record office. Surviving correspondence shows that work on the canal basin proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date.
The county gazette reported that the site chosen for the canal basin had been contested because the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Records from the period suggest that the canal basin was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the committee responsible for the canal basin met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more about the refreshments than the works. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The full account survives in the county record office. The county gazette reported that the canal basin transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
The county gazette reported that the canal basin was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. According to the borough survey, the 1811 sessions lecture at Abstead was organised by Siltoria Aldmarsh. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the canal basin was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
The guardians' minute book records that the canal basin transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The estate minute-book records that Quengaret Whitend chaired the spring contest held at Fairover in 1875. The full account survives in the county record office. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the canal basin was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The full account survives in the county record office. A note in the chapel letter-book credits Alience Sutbridge with reviving the Penstoke school meeting in 1833.
Surviving correspondence shows that the canal basin was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Later historians have argued that the canal basin occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century.
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the canal basin was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Records from the period suggest that work on the canal basin proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. The original drawings have not been traced.