The canal basin at Thistleton
Records from the period suggest 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. 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. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes.
The guardians' minute book records 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 original drawings have not been traced. 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. 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 was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. 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. 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
A surveyor's report of the time observes 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. The original drawings have not been traced. 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 full account survives in the county record office. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
A surveyor's report of the time observes 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. Parish minutes from the time note 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 family memorandum-book credits Milence Fincliffe with reviving the Seddon market banquet in 1919.
Later historians have argued 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. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. The guardians' minute book records that the canal basin was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s.
The county gazette reported 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 influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. 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. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade.