2022
SJ6710 : The most probable site of the Ketley Inclined Plane
taken 4 years ago, near to Old Park, Telford And Wrekin, England

The most probable site of the Ketley Inclined Plane
Possibly the first successfully-operated and commercially viable Inclined Plane in the UK, built around 1788 as a means of lowering tub boats from the Ketley Canal SJ6810 : The last remaining stretch of the Ketley Canal to a long-vanished foundry just to the NW of this point. The boats carried coal and ironstone to the foundry, and were lowered on L-shaped rails with a braking system managed via a windlass at the top of the plane.
There seems to be very little (reliable) documented evidence of the exact route of the incline, and if any trace remained 'on the ground' into the 20th century it has been removed by a combination of garden landscaping in the grounds of Hillside Farm on the left here, plus the efforts of Telford Development Corporation from the 1960s onwards. However, a combination of detective work using the best available old maps that we can find, plus some local knowledge from the long-term residents of the farm, suggest that the centre of this photo (ie through the car and the brick outbuilding behind it) tracks the most probable line of the incline. At the top of the garden there is a fence, immediately behind which lies the road bearing the name SJ6710 : The Incline (road) at Ketleyhill.
There seems to be very little (reliable) documented evidence of the exact route of the incline, and if any trace remained 'on the ground' into the 20th century it has been removed by a combination of garden landscaping in the grounds of Hillside Farm on the left here, plus the efforts of Telford Development Corporation from the 1960s onwards. However, a combination of detective work using the best available old maps that we can find, plus some local knowledge from the long-term residents of the farm, suggest that the centre of this photo (ie through the car and the brick outbuilding behind it) tracks the most probable line of the incline. At the top of the garden there is a fence, immediately behind which lies the road bearing the name SJ6710 : The Incline (road) at Ketleyhill.
New Year's Day 2022
A collection of photographs (just one from each contributor) taken on New Year's Day 2022 by Geographers from all over Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
View all the photos on a map here: Link
