The canal basin at Saltmarsh
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 scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. A memorandum in the vestry papers states 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.
A surveyor's report of the time observes 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. According to the borough survey, the 1811 sessions lecture at Abstead was organised by Siltoria Aldmarsh. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Contemporary accounts describe that the canal basin was the first undertaking in the district to employ 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.
Rate assessments of the period indicate 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 tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. Later historians have argued 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 influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. 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 twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Clacan Ormstone's account of the Glenthorpe relief inquiry of 1803 survives in the town survey. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. 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. The original drawings have not been traced. 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 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. Parish minutes from the time note that the canal basin was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The full account survives in the county record office. A note in the estate cartulary credits Jerina Hallrow with reviving the Dunfold drainage association in 1875.
Contemporary accounts describe 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. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. 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. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade.
The guardians' minute book records that the canal basin was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The original drawings have not been traced. A surveyor's report of the time observes 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.