Berkhamsted Grand Union Junction Canal home of Father of canal system Duke of Bridgewater Part I

The Storyline
Part I—'Lower Works' to the 'Port of Berkhamsted'
Part II—Cooper's Quay at 'Lower Works'
Part III—Castle Wharf, the Port of Berkhamsted and Castle Street
Part IV—Castle Street and Mill Street to Lower King's Road

Part IV—Castle Street, Mill Street to Lower King's Road
The picture below looks back to Castle Street bridge. The railway station is behind the photographer. Notice the new quay on the right, part of the new Canal Partnership for rejuvenation and the old coping stones on the canal side of the towing path.

Castle Street bridge is a 'turnover' bridge, where the towing path changes sides and in the days of the horse-drawn narrow boat, the curved coping stone helped to reduce fraying on the towing rope, as the horse walked across the bridge, the boat maintaining its momentum while the horse was unhitched and re-hitched. Unfortunately, those responsible for the new pedestrian access across the bridge lacked both visual awareness and historical understanding!

The road joining Castle Street on the right is Mill Street. With the exception of the conversion of the Castle pub (on the corner) with its outhouses into flats, most of the land between Castle Street, Mill Street and Lower King's Road forms the Castle campus of Berkhamsted Collegiate School—the combining of Berkhamsted School with Berkhamsted School for Girls at King's Road, now known as King's campus.

The picture below is of the River Bulbourne flowing through the school grounds towards the site of Berkhamsted's first mill, which was situated close to where the Music School now stands.

The corner of a building on the immediate right is 'Newcroft' named after Sir Isaac Newton and Sir John Cockcroft to stop it (most successfully) from being referred to as 'the science block'.

It is difficult to believe that this stream was once so powerful a river as to drive two water mills in Berkhamsted, serving the grain producers of this large farming area. The Lower Mill (The Old Mill Hotel, one of the first pictures in this series) was still working in 1900. The water of course now feeds the canal while the original river acts as an 'overflow' conduit to it.

Still with the station behind the photographer but this time looking upstream to Lower King's Road bridge, the scene clearly shows the canal's close proximity to the centre of town.

Behind the tree cover, on the opposite bank is Knowles Mill, the Animal Feed Mill with a wharf adjacent to the road. This now has planning permission for flats which will lose access to the mill wharf.

Part V—Lower King's Road and Broadwater Lock to canal fields.