A Short History of the Stort Navigation

 Richard Thomas

The winding course of the River Stort in a way typifies the tortuous history of this waterway.

Unusually, the river gained its name from a town. Up to the 16^th century; it was probably yet another “Stour”. Then the cartographers needed a name and  by then the Norman manor of Estarteford had developed into Bishops Stortford and thus the Stour became the Stort.  By 1729 we find the first records of control being written in the minute book of  “His Majesty’s Justices and Commissioners of Sewers for the River Stort”.  These records last until 1760. The meetings took place at various hostelries along the course of the river.

Hostelries perhaps give a clue to the desire to make the river properly navigable.  Malting was an important industry in Bishops Stortford and the movement of the raw materials to the maltings and the finished product to the breweries in London was difficult in those days when roads were little better than tracks.  The smooth waters of a navigation would surely attract considerable income from tolls.

One of the inns where the Commissioners met was the Crown at Hockerill, just to the east across the river from Bishops Stortford.  The landlord, Thomas Adderley, was very interested in promoting the river as a trade route and became the prime mover for an Act of Parliament to make the river navigable from Bishops Stortford to the River Lea at Hoddesdon.  This Act, which received the Royal Assent on 23^rd March 1759 (the same day as the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal), unfortunately failed due to lack of finance.

Enter a man called George Jackson.  Born on 24^th October 1725, he joined the Civil Service at the Navy Board at the age of 18 and by 1758 was the Secretary to the Board. He eventually rose to become Judge Advocate of the Fleet. He was a friend and sponsor of Captain Cook who named Port Jackson in Australia (now Sydney Harbour) and Point Jackson in New Zealand after him. He was created a Baronet in 1791.

George Jackson was the Main Undertaker and was joined by two other gentlemen, Charles Dingley and William Masterman as the Commissioners for a new Act which received its Assent on 30^th April 1766.

On 24^th September 1766, work started under the direction of the engineer Thomas Yeoman. The contractors, William Glyn and his son and their gangs of navvies, took three years to canalise the river from the Causeway in Bishops Stortford to the junction with the Lee Navigation at Feildes Weir near Hoddesdon at a cost of £100,000.

The Stort Navigation opened on the 24^th October, 1769 with the arrival of three loaded barges, two with passengers and one with 15 chaldrons (19 tons 2½ cwt) of coal at Bishops Stortford.  Thomas Yeoman announced “Now the town of Bishops Stortford is open to all the ports of the world” There were considerable rejoicings in the town which resulted in Jackson writing in his diary “ 25^th October. Left Stortford, carrying with me the noise of bells, music, singing, roaring and dancing, all together making such a headache, that I was more indulged in the quiet of my Sister’s house than I was ever before sensible of.”

The main traffic was malted barley downstream and timber, coal and grain as return loads. There are no early records of the tolls but in 1791 there is report of “18-19,000 sacks of flour and 97,000 quarters of malt carried this year”.  A quarter sack of barley weighed 168 lbs. So assuming the same measure for malt this would equal 7275 tons or 180 barge loads of 40 tons burthen.  There is a further record in 1811 of 40,000 tons carried including 203,000 quarters of malt.  Yet in 1812, Sir George said that the first 20 years had “not been an advantageous concern.”  In 1838, the first year that a financial return is recorded shows £5477 taken as tolls.  This was probably a maximum, because in 1842 the railway to Bishops Stortford opened and the tolls show an almost immediate halving.  In 1848 tolls were £2593.  There are differing reports of the success of the Navigation but the probability was that it broke even until 1842 and from then on became a drain on resources.

To return to the chronological story; in 1770 Charles Dingley sold his share in the Navigation to a colleague of Jackson, Sir Samuel Barrington (Admiral of the White) for £2150 and the Navigation continued in the control of Jackson, Masterman and Barrington until 1786.  In that year, Jackson bought out Masterman for £4500 and Barrington for £2250 and became the sole Proprietor.  Shortly after, Jackson mortgaged the Navigation to George Brooks for £7000 + 5%.  He did say that “The Navigation to date has not paid a penny interest”.  In 1791 the mortgage was transferred to James Houson for £12,000 + 5% and a year later the mortgage was transferred yet again to Messrs Dyson, Wickens and Jackson for £15,000.

In 1795, Sir George Jackson issued the Stort Halfpenny token. Often wrongly called the Stort Penny, this was issued, along with many others, due to a national shortage of small denomination coinage. The tokens were redeemable at Bishops Stortford at the Company Offices at Swan Dock.

Sir George Jackson changed his name in 1797 to become Sir George Duckett, in order to secure an inheritance from his wife’s uncle.

Another digression is necessary to look at the ill-fated schemes to extend the Stort Navigation to Cambridge and beyond. Since 1779 when the “Thames and Canals Committee” in London instructed Robert Whitworth to survey a route, there had been no less than five separate attempts to join the Stort and the Great Ouse. The early routes were strongly opposed by Lord Howard de Walden through whose estate at Audley End the proposed route passed.  The Duke of Bridgewater was very much concerned with a proposal in 1801, even going to the extent of building a house in the area to live in while the scheme progressed.  Unfortunately, when he died in 1803, the plan died with him.

In 1811 and 1812 Sir George Duckett was involved with the Earl of Hardwicke in the last two attempts, the first of which failed at the committee stage in the House.  The second succeeded as the London & Cambridge Canal Act, which received its assent on 9^th June 1812. The Act failed due to lack of finance.  The estimated cost was £570,000. 

On the 15^th December 1822, Sir George Duckett died in his London home, aged 97.  He was succeeded as owner of the Stort Navigation by his son, also Sir George Duckett, a banker.

On the 17^th November 1824, Sir George Duckett and his wife Isabella mortgaged the Stort Navigation for £40,000 at 5% interest, to Richard Hanbury Gurney,  a banker of Norwich and a  member of the Quaker Hanbury brewing family.   The next day, the Ducketts also took a further mortgage of £5,000 at 4½% interest with a William Yatman.

Earlier that year, on 17^th May, Sir George obtained an Act to build the Hertford Union Canal, between the Regent’s Canal and the Lee Navigation in Hackney.  This link was to make the connection between the two waterways easier by avoiding the semi-tidal part of the Lee between Limehouse and Old Ford.  The 1¼ mile canal with three locks (also known as Duckett’s Cut) was completed by 1830 but because of high tolls levied both by Duckett and the Regent’s, it was never a success and closed in 1848.  It was finally sold to the Regent’s Canal in 1857, who reopened it.

On the 22^nd March 1832, Sir George Duckett was declared bankrupt.  The Stort Navigation, valued at £150,000 with an annual income of £5,000 was put up for auction along with the Hertford Union.  The sale took place in London on 11^th June 1833.  There were no takers.  At a meeting of creditors in November 1833 it was resolved to sell both waterways for £63,000.  Again, there were no takers.

The Stort Navigation remained in the hands of the Official Receiver, Moses Asher Goldsmid, for the next 21 years.  During this time little would have been done in constructive maintenance and the condition of the waterway would gradually have deteriorated.

There began a protracted legal battle between Sir George and Richard Gurney, as he tried to recover his £40,000. Duckett or his solicitors appear to have fought a lengthy rearguard action lasting 14 years, during which time they only paid the absolute minimum. Gurney finally lost patience in 1848 and filed a Bill of Complaint with the Lord Chancellor and after many more hearings and failures to pay, Gurney finally foreclosed on 2^nd November 1853 and reluctantly took over the Navigation. Richard Hanbury Gurney died on 1^st January 1854, and the whole process devolved on his executors, (who were the family firm, Gurney & Co) and who finally became the unwilling owners of a failing Navigation on the 16^th September, 1854.

In 1857 and 1863 unsuccessful approaches were made to the River Lee Trustees, offering them the opportunity of taking over the responsibility for the Stort. A further attempt was made in 1868, after the Lee Conservancy Board had succeeded the Lee Trustees.  The Board established purchase powers under Acts of 1868 and 1874 both of which imposed time limits.  That the powers were not exercised in time was probably due to the poor condition of the river and the costs involved in improving it.

In 1858 and 1870 Nathaniel Beardmore, the Surveyor for the Trust and the Conservancy, carried out surveys which reported on the state of the Stort. In 1858 he considered that 10 Locks out of the 15 were in a fair state of repair. By 1870 he reported that only 8 out of 15 were in a good state. He continued "It is therefore clear that the expenses charged for maintenance have not kept this expensive part of the Navigation repair up to the mark..." (NA Rail 845/17)

Gurney & Co finally disposed of the Navigation to Truman, Hanbury and Buxton on 13^th October 1873 for £15,000.  There may well have been Hanbury family pressure brought to bear in this sale. They were almost certainly unwilling purchasers, because the next year another unsuccessful attempt was made to persuade the Lee Conservancy to take over.  The Conservancy's Engineer, Mr Joseph Child surveyed the Stort in 1884  and the Conservancy were later quoted as saying it was   “better to lose tolls from the Stort than take it over and be compelled to keep it in an efficient condition”

An extract from the Minutes of the Lee Conservancy Board of 23rd November, 1888.  "The Clerk reported that Mr J P Davis, Manager of the River Stort, had informed him that the owners, Messrs Truman, Hanbury and Co; were in negotiation with a firm for the sale of the whole concern for £500...the Board did not think it advisable to entertain the question"

A further extract continues the history: 19th July 1889 " ..........Messrs Truman, Hanbury & Co had just sold to him the undertaking of the Stort Navigation; and that he hoped that the amicable relations which had hitherto existed between the Lee and the Stort would continue..."

Truman, Hanbury & Buxton finally wrote the Stort off their books on 27^th June 1889, when they sold it to John Poole Davis, a former engineer, surveyor and manager of the Navigation,  for £100.  He owned the waterway for just nine years and then sold it to Sir Walter Gilbey, of gin fame, for £500 on 22^nd July 1898. Davis was the only owner who actually sold the Stort for more than he paid! In addition, he  made a handsome profit from his asset stripping by selling off many of the bordering properties. In the Report written in 1902 by George Corble, the Lee Conservancy Board's Clerk, concerning the possible purchase of the Stort, "Land. - There is none to offer. In 1870 the Engineer reported "There are many strips and wide banks alongside the River suitable for depositing dredgings, etc, but not of intrinsic value for sale, nor should they be sold."  To that Mr Tween adds:- "Unfortunately the late Mr Davis thought otherwise, and sold every piece he possibly could" ".

In 1900 Sir Walter, a resident of Bishops Stortford, recommenced negotiations with the Lee Conservancy to sell them the river, but the prospect of owning a low income navigation in poor condition did not appeal. The tolls in 1901 were £927.  The next detailed survey, written by Mr Charles Tween, was dated October 17th, 1901.  Comparison of the two gives the feeling that Mr Tween had Mr Child's report at his elbow, while he was writing at his desk. Both the 1884 and the 1901 surveys are reported on each of the relevant lock pages.

On 25th July 1902, The Lee Conservancy Committee met to consider a letter from Sir Walter, dated 11th July 1902 "....that the sum of £2,500 which I named to you as the price might be an obstacle in the way of purchase by the Lee Conservancy.  I have in consequence looked at the figures more carefully and altho' this sum was fixed by me as being the amount I had actually expended on the Stort with interest at 5 per cent, I think I can see my way to reducing the amount by some £500 if the Lee Conservancy were willing to purchase....I may say that I bought the Navigation as a public matter to save it falling into the hands of the Railway Company or from becoming derelict and since I bought it the whole of the receipts and more have been expended on its upkeep and I have had all the responsibility and risk which if it is not purchased by the Lee Conservancy, I shall seek to minimise by forming a small limited Company.  I do not desire to sell to anyone but a public body, such as the Lee Conservancy, who I think are the proper persons to have it....."  The Committee recommended that, subject to the Mill owners agreeing to maintain proper head levels and the Hertfordshire and Essex County and Town Councils agreeing to take over the the support and maintenance of the road bridges, purchase might proceed. 

The Board disagreed.

In 1904 the tolls were £615.  Sir Walter Gilbey formed the Stort Navigation Company in May 1905 and in July transferred ownership of the river to the Company for £5,000. That is 4993 £1 shares and £7 cash!

By 1907 the tolls had dropped to £319 and in October of that year the Lee Conservancy considered that it would take £10,800 to bring the Stort up to a condition to take 65 ton barges. They requested the Metropolitan Water Board to pay a contribution to the dredging of the River on the grounds that any refurbishment would secure "a material improvement in the purity of the water".  The MWB offered £500.

The local authorities along the river had agreed "under certain conditions" to pay for the repair, improvement and upkeep of the  road bridges in each of their areas after the work of rebuilding the River was completed.  These were at Roydon, Parndon, Burnt Mill, Sheering Mill, Sawbridgeworth, Spellbrook, Twyford and South Mill.

The Conservancy entered protracted negotiations with Gilbey, who continued to request that he recover his out-of-pocket expenses, which had now risen to £2736, although he again said that he would consider "reducing the amount provided there is a public demand that the river should be taken over by the Conservancy".  On 13th January 1908, the Board informed Sir Walter Gilbey that "they have now ascertained the views of the Local Authorities in the Stort Valley on the matter and find that they are unanimously of the opinion that it would be in the interest and to the advantage of the districts adjacent to the River Stort if the Navigation were acquired by the Conservancy". 

On 11th February 1908, Sir Walter reduced the sale price to "£2000, excluding from sale the Cottage at Latton Island."  The Board adjourned consideration of his reply and turned their attention to the Millers, inviting them to a meeting on Monday 2nd March 1908.

Messrs A E  Ayling of Roydon Mill, R E Smith of Parndon Mill, John Kirkaldy of Burnt Mill, A Savill (representing L W Arkwright) of Latton Mill, T Burton of Sawbridgeworth Mill, G A Wallis from Hallingbury Mill and J Lawrence of Twyford Mill attended the meeting. "The Chairman stated that all the Company's negotiations would be thrown away, and any expenditure...........would be rendered useless unless they could first come to a definite understanding with the Millers as to the level of the water on the sills of the Locks below which they would not draw". Considerable discussion ensued and eventually it was arranged that the Engineer and Manager (Charles Tween) should confer with each Miller individually.

At these meetings each Miller had said that they required the "old navigation level" but this, Tween said, would entail the lowering of the sills of practically all the locks on the river. The Millers were invited to another meeting. Although there is no mention in the minutes of the details, it was recorded that "Mr Burton ...and others were prepared to agree to the terms put forward for Twyford Mill." However, this may have referred to the question of the tolls that they could charge, as this letter from Thomas Burton, Miller at Sawbridgeworth, does not specify agreement on any particular subject.

"The Mills, Sawbridgeworth, Herts, 28th Sep. 1908,

Dear Sir, We are much obliged for your letter...informing us that, in the event of the Lee Conservancy acquiring the Stort Navigation they have no intention of endeavouring to interfere with the rights of the Millers and Mill Owners.  The Millers and Owners of the Stort Navigation have always worked amicably together in the past and if your Board acquires the Navigation the Millers will certainly endeavour to work in a friendly way with you, and if it is as stated in your letter, the Board's desire to dredge and keep the Navigation in working, there should be no difficulty in doing so in the future..." In the light of subsequent events, this letter was simply political pandering as the lack of agreement with the Millers over head levels was by far the biggest stumbling block to the Conservancy's takeover.

On the 15th December, Sir Walter  wrote to the Board  "The annual charges, the upkeep generally is serious and I ask for your assistance in its disposal - I will accept any reasonable terms you may fix"  On 21st December, the Board proposed that they should offer £500 plus whatever contribution could be obtained from the Local Authorities.

 But then the Navigation itself interrupted proceedings.

At 11pm on 20^th April 1909, the northern side of Brick Cistern Lock at Roydon collapsed, trapping all bar one of the Stort barges above the blockage.  The Stort Navigation Company started repairs in a leisurely fashion with just six men digging a ramp to start clearing the lock chamber.  The Conservancy’s engineer reported that "at that rate the Navigation would not be open for several years, thus depriving the Conservancy of the tolls the Stort barges paid on the Lee." (The Board helped in repairing the lock and the Navigation reopened on 4^th November 1909)

Sir Walter Gilbey immediately offered the Stort Navigation to the Conservancy without "requiring any payment in return" from them and in response to this the Board advised him that they would "now proceed to re-consider the question of making arrangements with the Millers as to their water rights, etc".

A lively and occasionally heated conference was held at The Great Eastern Hotel, Liverpool Street on Friday 15th October 1909, under the chairmanship of Mr Herbert Nield. It was attended by 43 representatives from the Lee Conservancy, Essex and Hertfordshire County Councils, five local councils, the Metropolitan Water Board and The River Stort Navigation Company. three local traders and ten millers. The Conference ended with everyone in general agreement concerning the wisdom of the Board taking responsibility for the Stort and spending in excess of £10,000 in rebuilding and dredging it - except the millers.  They were protective of their rights.

These negotiations continued for another two years until finally, on 8^th September 1911, the Lee Conservancy Board paid a nominal 5 shillings for the ownership.

In 1912, the Lee Conservancy commenced improvements which included replacing the 13 turf sided locks, rebuilding the only other brick lock at Harlow Mill and dredging throughout.  The dredging alone cost £11,722.  The total cost of the reconstruction was £54,186 16s 7d. With the interruption of the First World War the works continued until 4^th July 1924.  On that day the Rt Hon Harry Gosling, the Minister of Transport officially reopened the Stort Navigation, saying,” The Stort is now open and available for the passage of barges of 60 tons from Bishops Stortford to the Thames.  It now remains for the Local Authorities and traders near this reconstructed waterway to utilise it to the fullest extent and thus compete with the railways in keeping down freightage and to the relief of the now congested road traffic”

The work carried out by the Lee Conservancy 80 years ago and maintained by them up to 1948, has been continued by British Waterways and has left us with a beautiful, unusual river navigation which deserves to be explored.