Worcester 4th September 2015
It had been a while (more than eight years) since I'd last visited Worcester, high time, then to check up on the tally of floodmarks at the Watergate along the east side of the river near the Cathedral. They only mark the higher ones - otherwise they'd quickly run out of wall - of which there are now about twenty. As I've done elsewhere, I got my Cycling Man-cum-Bibliophile to stand under some of them for scale.
Since I’d last looked, there had at least two new additions –
July 2007 and February 2014. Both were well above his head, 2007 was the higher
of the two. February 2014 was not far below it, and just above November 2000.
All three floods topped everything else noted for the twentieth century, but
for 1947. March 20th 1947 was itself not far below the all-times
highs recorded on the brass plaque, 1770 and 1672.
According to BBC News Hereford & Worcester (
River Severn at “record” level, 13/02/14), the flood February 2014 flood peaked
at 5.67m at Barbourne, just north of the city centre.
The July 2007 flood was one of only two summer
floods recorded here, the other being in June 1924.
My reading around since our French holiday about floods on
both sides of the English Channel goes to show that high waters and extreme
weather are nothing new, though some years have been more notorious than
others. Invariably when mentions at date, my thought is a flood somewhere or
other. 1910, one of them. There are two floodmarks here for the December. The
Loire was high around this time as well (from November) and, the previous
winter (from 21st January) was the Great Paris Flood. I have just
been reading Jeffrey H. Jackson’s historical appraisal of that, Paris Under Water: How the City of Light
Survived the Great Flood of 1910 (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). It was
protracted and came after another of those persistently wet winters, saturated
ground compounding the problem. 1947 was a particularly cruel time, coming
during the aftermath of WWII and straight after an especially cold winter.
There were floods all around the UK and on many rivers it still is the record
high for the last century. The autumn and winter of 1960 sounded very like that
of 2000, the jetstream most likely stuck in a similar blocking pattern bringing
in one low pressure system after another. Again flooding over large parts of
the country.
University of Gloucester – Insight –Worcester – Your
community and its flood history | 09/09/15
From the Watergate we continued along the towpath to
Diglis Lock, where the Worcester & Birmingham Canal enters the Severn. The
fifty-eight locks are numbered in ascending order starting with no.1 at Diglis.
During a series of visits to Worcester during the
2000s, I regularly walked and sketched in the area around Diglis Lock and
Diglis Basin, attracted by the colourful narrowboats moored in the basin above
the lock and the lock keeper’s cottage. I’d known the makeover was coming in February
2004, when a local bemoaned it to me, along with the mess that would be left
behind once the winter floods had receded. By our last visit in spring 2007, it
the big development near the lock – luxury apartments, the usual same old
stuff – was more or less complete, though at that point not all occupied.
There’s since been similar so-called gentrification around the basin, with
brick warehouses either being converted into Property or pulled down to make
way for it. I’d rather that than paving over the countryside, but it all looked
very samey. The basin itself now looked too prim, proper and over-controlled, complete with petty Private
Moorings notices, hadn’t been there before and probably weren’t necessary.
We walked around to the far side of the basin and
the adjoining one, then along the Canal. Near the Commandery it passed under
the main road. Sidbury lock. Civil War swords and helmets on the wall of the
road bridge. We carried on to the next bridge and turned left along George
Street, near Asda and Staples. This brought us into the main shopping area /
high street.
A mural along the canal above the Sidbury Lock - a refreshing antidote to the prim-proper vibe downstream.
In due course, we made our way through there back to
the Severn and wandered towards the racecourse.
Bridgnorth 6th September 2015
 |
| My sketch of the bridge and Ridley's Seeds |
On a fine sunny Sunday morning, we headed north to Bridgnorth. Glimpses of Brown Clee Hill along the road into Bridgnorth from the south. I noted the satnav error signs at the turning down to the Hampton Loade ferry were still there. Particularly after finding ourselves inadvertently boarding the Purbeck ferry - thanks to blindly following the satnav about a month ago - I was keeping an eye on the map. Hampton Loade is now the only remaining ferry crossing on the Severn, walk-on ferry only. There are no road bridges between the Bridgnorth bypass bridge and Bewdley.
Arriving in Bridgnorth, we parked in the large car
park at the top. A French / Italian market in the high street. We made our way
from there, turning left at The Shakespeare, with its old style road signs, to
the Mary Magdalene Parish Church: the one above the cliff, overlooking the
river, built out of lighter sandstone (not the local red sandstone), tall clear
glass windows and green copper domed clock tower. From there, we followed the
path to the Cartway, the steep street going down to the bridge.
As I’d expected at this time of the year, the Severn
was fairly low, though there were still some strong currents in the deeper
stretches we saw along our walk. At the bridge, I watched the vortices – a
gentler version of what we’d seen on the Loire at Gennes back in May. The
opposing currents ensuing as the water flows around the obstruction of the
bridge pillar were particularly clear here with the peaty brown, water
displaying some froth like peaty brown ale.
Staying on the west side of the river, we began
following the Severn Way south, heading under the higher bypass bridge a bit
further on. We got as far as Lower Forge / Haye’s house before turning back.
We’d rather wished we’d taken the Severn Valley Railway to Arley or Hampton
Loade and walked from there. Compared to the stretch of river between Arley and
Bewdley, the stretch we saw today was disappointing. I’d hoped to get a bit
further, but we both felt the heat walking into the sun. Easier on the way back
when it wasn’t in our eyes. There were short stretches through wooded areas (path
narrow, sometimes steep and a bit muddy so had to watch our footing) with
glimpses of the river through the trees / undergrowth. For much of the way,
though, it was open fields with trees and hedges growing along the steep banks
hiding the view. Creeping development spoiled it most of all. I didn’t mind the
large factory like agricultural building further up the hill so much. More the
proliferation of mobile home / chalet parks along the river, one of them
crawling all the way up the hillside. Closer to Bridgnorth, bland cloney
anywhere appartments spoiled the view back to the hill where the High Town was
built. Near Daniel’s Mill, we had to divert up a road around a new private
development. It didn’t go on long, but it’s the sort of thing I fear creeping
in insidiously in the future, depriving us of the precious little publicly
accessible riverside we have now. As we hadn’t been this way for 10+ years, I
can’t remember what it was like before: I’ve a feeling the new house may have
been a pub, subsequently renovated or torn down and replaced with the residence
here now. Further along, near Hayes House, Lower Forge, the riverside path
looked narrow and a bit overgrown. Not clear which way to go around the houses
here. A path marked behind them on the OS map. We’d hoped we could rejoin the
Severn Way further on from the B’road at the top, but when we got to it, a
steady stream of traffic, no footway. As we didn’t fancy walking along it, even
for a short distance, we turned round at this point. Deliberate or otherwise,
the signposting of PRW around here wasn’t as through as it is closer to home.
Walking back was more pleasurable. It helped that we
weren’t walking into the sun and it didn’t feel so hot. I don’t know whether
there really was more of the river in view this way or whether it just felt
like it.
Stopped first in one of the anglers’ recesses to
quickly sketch the red sandstone outcrop across the river. This was Permian,
the Bridgnorth Sandstone on which the High Town is built, formed in a dessert,
hence cross bedding formed by wind blown sand dunes. Ducks beneath it. Glimpses
of a kingfisher.
Further along an open, shallow stretch of water
around an islet. Lots of Canada geese, some of them drifting with the current
in the deeper water around the islet.
Back in Bridgnorth, we had iced lattes very refreshing. We then split up for an hour to look a bit
more around the town, and me cross the bridge to the green area to sketch the
view looking back across the river to Ridley’s Seeds. Tricky against the light,
the sun looking lower down with the hill behind the town. The river near here
divides into two channels around an islet. The channel on the nearside was
shallow, often dries up in summer. Children paddling in the shallow water in
front of the green sloping down to the river. Heard people commenting on the
improvement in weather, come September, compared to August.
Around the old town, various historical signs and
frontages of shops, pubs, particularly in the Cartway area. Among them High
Town, with pointing hand; This cave was
occupied as a dwelling until the year 1856. I also spotted a couple of
plaques taking the piss: a small brass shield shaped sign near the front
doorway to a terrace cottage – On this
spot in 1832 nothing happened. A larger squarish plaque with white letters
on turquoise – On this site 5th
September 1792 nothing happened.
