well connected

Visiting the abandoned Fourteen Locks on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal at Rogerstone [Bassaleg], I thought of Jack Hargreaves. How? One explanation is in his unsentimental evocation of old country ways in TV series “Out of Town” (1960-1970) and later offshoots. The other is in his avuncular narrative style, as relaxing as the rustic idylls he described. I still find his approach refreshing. It contrasts with the formulaic style of today's otherwise insightful documentaries. No matter if they are historical, archeological, cultural or anthropological. Respected authorities or celebrities seem straightjacketed into a house style of broadcasting that requires them to outline where they will be going, what’s “coming up” or “up next”, and where they have just been. Ten minutes content padded out into 30 minutes by repetition. They all have the same script. I wish the producers would let them speak for themselves.

Jack on the other hand would launch straight into the content. After a cursory “hello” from his Dorset shed, he might then introduce a rusty object posted by a viewer, having dug up the unknown item from their garden. It may have been the tiller pin from a canal boat, or some arcane agricultural artefact. I later realised how much his presentation style had influenced both my work as tutor and now my writing. He didn't waste words, and for me is still an inspiration.

Back to the overgrown canal, it is trampled into submission and silence by the 21st century. Having travelled the M4 countless times to and from Caerffili, I never knew what lay beneath the stretch between there and the Afon Hafren bridges. Below the only navigable reach of 35 miles from Aberhonddu to Cwmbran’s Five Locks, the canal transcends two centuries. It passes through a tunnel under the motorway to later join Afon Wysg. To the east, the motorway itself passes through a tunnel at Brynglas. It's almost a postmodern parody of the overlapping three bridges of Pontarfynach further north near Aberystwyth, and of the confluence of road, rail and canal to be found north again at Berwyn, spanning Afon Dyfrdwy near Llangollen.

Initial attempts at finding the waterway's ultimate destination on any website are thwarted, as if the only section with “virtual” legitimacy is that which is open for pleasure boats. Such is the business orientated nature of the internet I suppose. The canal is not, however, totally lost in the Casnewydd conurbation. The footpath is there. 

The railways turned canals into backwaters. They in turn were sidetracked by Beeching. I was introduced to the charm of the watery corridors many years ago by Anthony Burton’s book Back Door Britain (1977). The title neatly evokes the way in which waterways seem to creep up quietly on hidden corners of urban spaces, although much the same could be said of the railways. Long out of print, I remember much of his exploration of the old ways and cultures of the working boats’ crews and families. The HGVs of their day. Burton asked the owner of one such whether it was correctly a narrow-boat or a barge. "I call it my [something] boat" came the reply. 

The backwaters, byways and sidetracks are being rehabilitated, in ways that give intense pleasure in feelings of connectedness. Around Caerdydd a new Metro system links towns and villages with the capital. Services are frequent and sleek. Previously rundown valleys towns are starting to see roots of recovery. What remains of the above canal is at least “navigable” along its length by foot or bicycle. Its complete restoration as a waterway will be in progress for a long time to come. From the days of "slow travel", it speaks of a new era of post-industrial, post-corporate and sustainable community. Jack would approve.

Footnote:

Afon Hafren (Severn)
Aberhonddu (Brecon)
Afon Wysg (Usk)
Casnewydd (Newport)
Pontarfynach (bridge on the monk’s river): curiously, Devil’s Bridge
Afon Dyfrdwy (Dee)
Dorset (Caerddyrnwair)

LINKS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hargreaves

Back Door Britain: Amazon.co.uk: Burton, Anthony: 9780233968766: Books

Anthony Burton - The History Press

King's Bridge, Llantysilio, Berwyn | Coflein

Devils Bridge Falls

Extra Ordinary (cambriancrumbs.blogspot.com)

A pilgirmage to six decades ago (cambriancrumbs.blogspot.com)