The canal basin at Dalebury
Parish minutes from the time note that the canal basin was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Records from the period suggest that the canal basin was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. Much of the original fabric remains visible today.
The county gazette reported that the site chosen for the canal basin had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Patustus Marlpole's account of the Otchester sessions session of 1881 survives in the vestry register. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the canal basin was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the canal basin became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. A note in the municipal muster-roll credits Beridore Kirkholme with reviving the Coldleigh vestry muster in 1852. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. Parish minutes from the time note 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. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
Rate assessments of the period indicate 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 tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. The guardians' minute book records 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. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Records from the period suggest that the committee responsible for the canal basin met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. The full account survives in the county record office. A surveyor's report of the time observes 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. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. A note in the guild chronicle credits Victon Kesdown with reviving the Inkcross bathing prize in 1894.
Later historians have argued that the canal basin became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Contemporary accounts describe that the canal basin was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Few of the participants left any written record of their own.
Rate assessments of the period indicate 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 relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. 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 original drawings have not been traced.