cill (hidden by spray) of a lock in Grindley Brook staircase on the Llangollen Canal - if the gates hadn't leaked so much I wouldn't have taken the photo
A couple of days ago an alert from Waterscape about a stoppage on the South Oxford canal read as follows:
During our emergency stoppage we found that the Babbie had been seriously damaged at Slat Mill Lock and needs to be replaced as a matter of urgency. This work will commence at 9am on Thursday 5th August by closing the lock for a period of 1 hour to remove the old Babbie, we will then reopen to complete the works to the Babbie on the bank side, then reclose again for an hour to install the replacement. Each closure is expected to last up to 1 hour.
This was soon followed by this explanation:
Slat Mill Lock, South Oxford
Thursday 5 August 2010 - Thursday 5 August 2010
UPDATE (04 August 2010): For further information the 'Babbie' timber is a piece of oak about 9" thick which protects the solid part of the lock cill.
Is this an Oxford Canal term, or is it in common usage? And how come I haven't heard of it before? (I've just checked, and Jim Shead doesn't have "Babbie" in his glossary.)
4 comments:
I believe it was me that illicited the explanation from BW, by asking for clarification.
The personal response I got said that it is specific to the Oxford Canal: on the Grand Union the same thing is termed the cill bumper.
BigJohn, I'm exceedingly grateful to you.
You can see a photo of it on my blog at http://nbharnser.blogspot.com/2010/08/thursday-5-august-2010.html
Thanks Brian, a photo of the actual babbie, no less!
Will we see you at the IWA Festival?
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