In the words of @timharford.ft.com: “Whatever records there may have been had been destroyed in the Blitz. The moral of the story: institutional memory is valuable, and if an organisation starts forgetting important matters (such as the existence of the plug) bad things happen”
📌 #InstitutionalMemory
📌
According to the Canal and River Trust, which replaced British Waterways, BW “tried to put a positive spin on events” by issuing a statement saying: “For years there has been a history of leaks on this section of canal. Now we know where the water has been going”
Marvellous story. Thank you for this thread. I find myself wondering, where did the water go though? I mean, underneath the plug hole, was there a big cave? A tunnel out to sea? What happened to all the water??!?
Another person asked this, and I'm just about to post it at the end of the thread: into a nearby river!
I apologise for interrupting then. Please go ahead!
No, no. It's fine. I just thought: I'd better answer that while I remember!
Another quite fun detail is that the man who posed for that photo the following day was not Kevin Bowskill, Mick Tweed or Jack Rothwell. It’s one Bill Thorpe, who also worked for British Waterways, but only arrived on 10th, and agreed to pose for the photo for reasons now lost
The canal has other stories to tell (the 1¾ mile Norwood Tunnel was the longest canal tunnel in the country when it opened on 9 May 1775; tens of thousands of tons of stone were transported down it for the Palace of Westminster in the 1840s), but this one’s still the best
A couple of people have asked this. Appalling dereliction of duty not to have included it in the first place, but: “the millions of gallons of water that had filled the canal were all draining into the nearby River Idle” (see first link in thread)
Also, the Tim Harford link seems to be dead. So, trying again...
Fascinating read, cheers Chris!
Thank you! You been away? Not seen you you round these here parts for a while
Still here, but very little seems to happen round these parts (ooer!) nowadays...
Yes, there was a thing a day or so ago about how this place's growth had slowed, and people weren't posting enough, so I'm trying to post slightly more (besides the history threads)
This is due to lack of activity from folks who say they don't see activity. Since there's no algorithm to push content at people, those people need to find others/interests/hobbies and hold conversations/interact. A user gets as much out of Bluesky as they put in.
Also today, it’s the 124th anniversary of a jaunt around the gardens of Versailles by two Respectable English Ladies, who either experienced a joint hallucination, or travelled through time and saw Marie Antoinette
Yes, that was shameless self-promotion. I’ve just been RTed by someone with 50,000 followers. I’m going to make the fucking most of it. (I will also try to keep up with replies and follows, thank you)
No shame in linking the soundcloud after such a worthy skeet thread
Also (yes: more taking advantage of the attention), join me tomorrow for Rodrigo Borgia and ‘Do Popes really have to dangle their knackers through a chair with a hole in?’
Re your bio: niche drivel really is the best kind of drivel.
Brilliant. Thank you for bringing laughter to this dreary place. —I guess they probably just filled in the hole with concrete rather that with a shiny new plug
Now, that’s one detail I haven’t discovered. Maybe I should email the canal trust…
Oh dear, I know Chris' threads can take a turn but this is beyond the pale.
Hahaha! Surely nothing comes as a surprise any more?
One of whom, Charlotte Anne Moberly, became the first Principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford (1886–1915) and the other, Eleanor Jourdain, became her successor (1915–1924).
Thanks for reminding me of this. I sometimes wonder, if any of the Romans, Vikings and medieval folk I regularly encounter around here *weren't* re-enactors...how would I know?
I suppose solid to the touch is a good test, but for the fact that you might encounter difficulties if you go about prodding people
I am waiting for the day someone asks about one of the costumed staff in preparing for a school visit in the background at the attraction where I volunteer, so I can look puzzled and ask "What woman?". It hasn't happened yet but I AM READY.
Sorry, only just seen that. Excellent plan. Please report back if you carry it out
This is part of a plot in a @www.joditaylorbooks.com story - had no idea it was based on a real event- thank you!
The River Idle was, no doubt, rudely awoken from its slumber.
And newly christened as 'River Active'
Was there anything about a sunken village nearby or am I mixing up two stories?
Mmm, interesting. Not that I came across!
Yup - the canal goes over the Idle on an aqueduct close to where the plug was pulled out. As you write. It was designed that way.
Ah! Good detail, thank you
I remember when they pulled the plug out of the Rochdale Canal for cleaning. Delightfully it is a canal that goes over the River Tib. hidden-manchester.org.uk/waterways/ri...
The Norwood Tunnel was more or less at the end of the street where I grew up.
Even for 1978, that was brave hair.
And literally no one said "why do you look like a little Dutch boy who just took his finger out of the dike?"
Lol
I need to know where the water ended up? Did a village off an embankment end up paddling in 6 inches of canal water?
Ah, yes, a couple of people asked, so I added it at the end: drained into the River Idle
Thank you. This is wonderful. How long did it take to refill?
Good question. No idea, I’m afraid. I may have to email the canal trust in the morning!
Good story! Reminds me of the time workers drove a piling into the bottom of the Chicago River, breaching the deep tunnel and flooding the basements of buildings in the Loop. www.wttw.com/chicago-stor...
Amazing, thank you
You’re welcome!
I was evacuated. Worked at 311 W. Monroe at the time.
I worked 240 N. Michigan at the time.
Oops, 230, the Carbide and Carbon Building.
Oh, yeah! My dad actually worked for Great Lakes Dredge and Dock at the time of the incident, and to this day will go on a rant about this incident with minimal provocation... Another thread incoming, folks
So firstly, for a time, the City and the affected properties tried to pin the blame for the flood on GLDD. My dad maintains that not only did another contractor discover the leak and notify the City well in advance, but also they only drove the piling there because the City gave them inaccurate maps
Second, I was told that GLDD was sued for the said $2B in damages, and was only saved from a bankruptcy when the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the incident was subject to maritime law. Why is that important? Well...
Apparently, under US maritime law, in the event of an accident, the maximum value of damages that can be paid out is tied to the value of the involved vessel(s). The only "vessel" involved was an unpowered barge with a digger on top. So the max payout for ALL PARTIES was something like under $250K
The property owners and insurers dropped the suit against GLDD, as after that ruling they only stood to gain pennies by comparison to the cost of the damages. Finally, the Kinzie Street Bridge was also the site of the Dave Matthews Band poop bus incident. That bridge is cursed, I tell you.
This is a great story with a perfect callback
Ah, the poop bus. There should be a historic marker for that one.
great story! afterwards they probably found the tv remote control plus lots of loose change in the Chesterfield
Thank you. Glad you liked it
I'll bet there was a teaspoon, there's always a teaspoon when you pull out the plug
Bugger. It worked yesterday! I'll try again...
timharford.com/2025/05/the-... Found it :)
"... anyone who has ever filed tax returns can attest that a year is easily enough time to forget how to do any complex process."
This is a basic problem of long lived kingdoms and ancient empires. You yank forgotten plugs from canals and discover long dead kings in urban car parks.
The Blitz? I worked for the Waterways archive in the early 2000s and we were always being asked for copies of post-WW2 plans because they'd forgotten where they'd put the utility cables in dockyards and marinas.
My primary school had to halt rennovation because they forgot they'd put a bomb shelter under that bit. (When a digger went through, a bunch of grannies immediately went "Oh yes, that was for the factory over the road, my auntie worked there." You couldn't have piped up last week???)
