Burton upon Trent is the home of Marmite and was, at its heyday, the home of beer brewing in England. Sadly for us because Eric loves a pint of Hobgoblin as much as I love the dark sticky stuff, Burton’s manufacturing industries have shrunk to almost none existence in the town, leaving it with a rather run down neglected feel. That said the mooring is excellent, with a newly laid and well used towpath.
Breweries dominate the sky
And there’s never an advertising opportunity missed
Brewing was the predominant industry in Burton, the high mineral content of the local water created a good flavour and when it was discovered that hops were a natural preservative, Burton became a leading brewer of India Pale Ale, so named because it was exported for the British troops in serving in India. Of course the canals also contributed to this commercial success because the beer could be transported easily to the sea ports. Even the canal took advantage of the local industry when the extremely hard wearing Staffordshire Blue bricks were used to line the locks and build bridges.
The Burton Boat Company owned warehouses on the river, known as Bond End. They tried to persuade James Brindley to amend the planned route of the Grand Trunk Canal to include these warehouses but for whatever reason- probably money, it didnt happen. So the short Bond End canal terminated at what is now Shobnall marina. Companies were forced to unload their goods at the Shobnall Bar and reload them onto the Grand Trunk boats. After much political wrangling and shenanigans, the railways took over as the preferred transport system and the Bond End canal fell into neglect but the mid 1800’s. Eventually it was only the basin that was left and in 1973 Jannel Cruisers took ownership and created Shobnall marina as we know it today. We filled our diesel tank for 81p/l and booked ourselves in for 3 nights mooring so we could leave Firecrest safely whilst we went off visiting family. There is a detailed history page on their website, it’s worth a read, even if you only look at the photos of how it was to how it is now.
Whilst I was looking at Burtons history I discovered that the name Marmite is taken from a French term. A marmite is a large earthenware covered cooking pot, just like the one you see on the Marmite label. Of course I should say other savoury spreads are available …. but they’re nowhere near as delicious. Do you think I could become an “influencer”?
