On one of last year’s sunnier days I decided to take a walk along the Nottingham and Beeston Canal. It opened in 1796 as a means of transporting coal and is still an active part of the city, albeit more for leisure than commerce these days.
The Fellows Morton & Clayton Ltd was a large canal transportation company that operated from 1889 to 1947. The offices and warehouses pictured above were constructed in 1894 and are one of four such buildings to exist in their entirety. They were turned into a canal museum in the 1980s, hence the sign (I vaguely remember a trip there when I was a child) but that closed in 1998 and the building is now a bar and restaurant.
The British Waterways building was a warehouse built in the 1930s by the Trent Navigation Company which was responsible for river and canal traffic until 1940. British Waterways was established in 1948 and the building itself is now a rather smart block of flats.
This walk along the canal was a good opportunity to look closer at some of the canal boats, especially on passing through the Marina.
It also proved a good opportunity to view some of the local wildlife close up – for instance this very friendly family of swans.
A nice, free thing to do especially if the weather is good. You can find more of my photos here.
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