Glascote lock cottage dweller is a real brick

If you are going to enjoy living in a lock cottage, you need to have an interesting story to tell.

When I passed through Glascote Locks last weekend, I stopped to chat with the cottage resident, a really friendly chap called Paul.  In his day job he runs Balloons and Tunes, which is:

... an International Award Winning Company in Balloon Decoration, Childrens Entertainment, Balloon Art Team building (with a twist) and Balloon Decoration Teaching as well as Balloon Twisting Teaching.

One thing led to another, and he told me a fair bit about the locks and the cottage.

He says it seems that in recent BW reorganisations the two Glascote Locks have officially ceased to exist; they are now Nos. 12 and 13 of the Atherstone flight (seven miles away) - there's an engraved but overpainted '2' on the balance beam next to the repainted '13'.

The Glascote Locks are memorably described by Pearson's Canal Companion as 'like piggy banks, slow to fill but quick to empty', and while Granny Buttons slowly inched up I had the chance of a personal guided tour of the cottage garden, which has many charming, original features.

What are those old towpath post called, the ones that showed the boatmen of old who had reached the locks first?  Anyway, he's got a couple of original C18th Coventry Canal versions in the garden, which he uncovered in the soil like Egyptian relics when he moved in 12 years ago,  50 years after being discarded during nationalisation.

And he showed me a strange groove rubbed in the brickwork.  If it was canalside you'd say it was from a towing rope, but there's no way a boat could have been pulled from that direction.  In fact it has a far more unusual origin; try to guess before he tells you.   

But what really caught my eye was his collection of bricks.  Yes, bricks.  If you laughed at Carl Andre's famous Tate Gallery brick work (I'd call it brickwork), you'll be far more impressed with Paul's collection. 

(Carl Andre is on record as saying about his bricklaying: "It was like stepping from water of one depth to water of another depth", which of course is a terrific metaphor for lock brickwork in general.)  

 

What marks out Paul's collection is that he only collects bricks with brickmakers' marks on them.  And he's got them from all over the UK, and even from Europe (although none from Carl Andre, as far as I could tell.)  

If you are abroad and coming for a narrowboat holiday in the UK, please bring a brick from a far-flung foreign brickyard for his collection.  Make sure it's got an interesting mark or words on it.

 

If he's in (call in advance) he'll give you a guided tour of his garden in return for the contribution.  I think Paul's work is far more interesting than Carl's!

I'm kicking myself for not asking for a photo of Paul himself leaning on his garden gate, but I was a bit bashful to push his friendliness.

Never mind, here's a photo of his feet and the pretty flowers in the front garden.  What kind are they?  I know nothing about bricks, but still less about flowers.

Comments

[Halfie]

I've found the "recent comments" now. They were probably there all the time, but, being a creature of habit, I hadn't noticed that they'd moved to the other side.

[Halfie]

Whipping posts?

I posted recently about interesting canalside bricks here: http://jhalfie.blogspot.com/2009/01/history-cast-in-brick.html but Paul's collection is great.

While I have your attention, Andrew, could you please restore the list of recent comments? And I find it annoying not being able easily to see read comments made on a post in chronological order. It used to be so simple: start at the bottom and work up.

[Adam]

They're an Arum Lily, although they're more usually seen in pure white.