Tuesday 29 May 2012

Mysterious chain disappearing down paddle gear

Following on from yesterday's revelation about the red-tipped racks, another strange thing about the Curdworth flight is that some paddle gear posts (is that what you call them?) have a chain winding down into the hole the rack disappears into.


As this chain is painted black and white to match the rest of the gear I suspect it doesn't get used these days.


At one location, however, what was attached to the end of the chain was visible.



It's reminiscent of the square shim which is used where the collar holds the heel post of a gate - but it's not near the gate and it has a right angle bend.

Anyone know the answer?


I mentioned a couple of days ago that the Aston Flight was beautifully maintained. Well, work has been done on the Curdworth Flight in the past. At each lock there is a small triangular flower bed with a post with the lock number on it. The flowers might have looked good last year!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does the square hole fit snugly over the square that the windlass fits on? May be a predecessor to the paddle pawl thingy that stops it dropping (as per Hatton) Else it may be supposed to fit round the paddle rod so that it "catches it in the slips" to prevent damage if someone drops the paddle rather than winding it down

Halfie said...

Anon., the hole was bigger than the spindle, so I don't think it's that. I like the idea of it being able to catch the paddle rod "in the slips"!

Anyone else with ideas?