BURIED BOAT RISES AGAIN
Long-lost ‘Cuckoo’ unearthed after crusade
IT WAS once the site of a thriving waterway, bustling with canal traffic serving the industrial sites along its banks near Chesterfield.
But after the collapse of the almost 3,000-yard-long Norwood Tunnel in October 1907, the stretch of the Chesterfield Canal between the tunnel at Kiveton in Rotherham and the end of the canal at Chesterfield was cut off, and became derelict, eventually being filled in for good in the 1970s.
Many of the boats that had been used for centuries to carry supplies and freight along the waterway were abandoned.
Now, thanks to the Chesterfield Canal Trust, which has carried out extensive renovation work along the route of the old canal, an archaeological dig has uncovered a lost ‘cuckoo’ narrowboat at the Bellhouse Basin at Staveley.
The two-week excavation is mainly due to the hard work of co-ordinator Andy Robinson, who, in 2012, wrote a paper entitled The Lost Cuckoo, saying he believed there could be an example of the wooden narrow-keeled boats hidden beneath the basin. He had carried out extensive research among older members of the community, and went as far as to pinpoint exactly where on the site he believed one could have been left.
Rod Autin, a trustee at Chesterfield Canal Trust, said: “Some people thought he was talking rubbish but some of us had faith. Around this time last year, Scott Lomax, an archaeologist from the City of Nottingham, got in touch, and after reading Andy’s paper he thought there was something in it.”
Mr Lomax worked with Mr Robinson on a bid for funding from Aviva Community Fund, and after attracting 9,500 public votes, a detailed bid won £10,000 to fund the dig, which began on August 5.
And on the very first day of work, it hit the jackpot.
Mr Robinson said: “The plan was to just scrape the surface of the turf up ready for the diggers and participants, who were arriving the next day. But on the second scrape, we hit a piece of wood, and then another, and another.” And it wasn’t just a cuckoo. They also unearthed a maintenance boat, complete with iron ice-breaker, and then
You could see rotting, manky old boats, but what I see is a story. Andy Robinson, who co-ordinated the project.
later, the original canal towpath. Mr Autin said: “It was magical to find the first boat.
“For Andy in particular, it was wonderful because a lot of people hadn’t believed what he was saying – but he was entirely vindicated.”
Mr Robinson added: “Initially it was a relief that there was plenty in the ground still to see, and then the excitement of seeing more and more exposed.” Teams from the Canal Trust and up to 50 volunteers are working with Rotherham-based Elmet Archaeological Services to fully uncover the boats, but sadly, after an open day this Saturday, August 19, they will be covered over once again.
Until then, local children have been at the site learning about the boats and the dig process. “Hopefully, by the weekend, we will have learnt everything we want to know from the boats,” Mr Robinson said. “Then eventually, the site will ether become a visitor car park or part of the restored canal itself, in around five years’ time.
“You could look at them and see rotting, manky old boats, but what I see is a story. People here used them to make a living.”