HEREFORD VBCW PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME

The 1930s was undoubtedly the decade of  massive "public works programmes", whether Hitler's autobahns, Mussolini's draining of the Pontine Marshes, Roosevelt's Public Works Administration and the Hoover Dam, or Stalin's Five Year Plans, huge construction projects and hydro-electric plants. It was in this spirit that Lord de Braose (in a rare moment of lucidity) recently announced:

THE DREDGING OF THE WYE PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME!

Staff Commander A.D. Mann, as ever, was tasked with relating, to a packed news conference, the "inevitable brilliance" of the Governor of Hereford and Lord Warden of the Marches. Residents of Hereford had become accustomed to the River Wye bursting its banks from time to time, causing "great nuisance and economic hardship". Dredging of the broad but shallow River Wye would put an end to such naturally occurring inundations, whatever the quantity of rainwater draining from the Welsh mountains. Even more urgently, and in the context of the lamentable Civil War, Lord de Braose's administration had recently received "extremely confidential information" and "a highly detailed dossier of secret intelligence" demonstrating that certain Welsh Nationalists, probably in concert with "the Red Ogre, Professor Bill Winters", had been planning a man-made inundation of the City, possibly by extensive pumping operations and the breaching of Welsh reservoirs (shhh! that's classified!). As it was, there was a considerable threat (so considerable that the file had been colour-coded as "Purple" in Lord de Braose's personal filing cabinet - and even given a special star-shaped sticker) that the Welsh Nationalist plot could result in the complete destruction of Hereford without warning and within 45 minutes.

A close up view of the Old Bridge over the River Wye during the floods of 1910

A more distant view of the Old Bridge over the River Wye during the floods of 2020,
the photographer being downriver from his predecessor 110 years earlier.
(It seems that, whatever the progress of  Lord de Braose's
 1938 Dredging Programme, the results have been "washed away with time")

The "huge dredging programme" designed personally by Lord de Braose, was consequently "a purely defensive measure" for the purposes of the Civil War, and the programme would begin immediately. Given "the regrettable presence" of an Anglican garrison (and shore batteries) at Ross on Wye, thereby rendering river navigation to Hereford hazardous, Lord de Braose "had been inspired by certain events in the recent Great War" [note 1] to dis-assemble and transport the required dredging vessel by road from Gloucester. Re-assembly works were to commence immediately at Sully's Garage, Bridge Street, and thereafter dredging of the Wye was to start "with all possible despatch".

The classic view of the Wye Bridge with the Cathedral in the background.
Sully's Garage is the white building with lattice work windows to the left.

Wye Bridge with Sullys Garage on the far bank. This is clearly a photograph from very early in the VBCW, with sheep being driven out of the City.

An Anglican Aerial Reconnaissance Photo of Central Hereford
Sullys Garage is clearly identifiable at the end of the Wye Bridge,
together with the Jetty at which the dredger is being assembled
(suitably camouflaged). The Royalists AA Observation Post
in the Cathedral Tower has also been noted.

A post VBCW shot. Sully's has now been taken over by Mead & Tompkinson, but
the "Dredger Jetty" is still visible (when the water level allows).

Unfortunately for Staff Commander Mann, the assembled journalists at the news conference became diverted from the technical details of river dredging by a more important question : would Lord de Braose emulate "Il Duce" by visiting the public works programme and revealing his manly torso?

Mussolini demonstrates fascist virtue on a visit to the Pontine Marshes.
An early and literal example, perhaps, of  'draining the swamp'.

Staff Commander Mann thought that "stripping off shirt and tunic could not be considered to be the act of an Englishman", adding  - perhaps somewhat hastily - that such was not meant as a criticism of Italians, nor of course, their Leader: "Lord de Braose has always greatly admired Il Duce".

The Staff Commander found the next series of questions rather more difficult. Was it not the case that, far from being a defensive measure, the dredging of the Wye was specifically designed to allow gunboats to pass up and down the river? Had the local fishermen been consulted? What was the attitude of the historic Hereford Rowing Club to this militarisation of a natural resource? Could he deny that the use of gunboats was in contemplation? For once, Staff Commander Mann was forced into an honest answer:

[Note1]: Lord de Braose was clearly inspired by the Great War Battle of Lake Tanganyika, where two RN Naval Launches (HMS Mimi and Toutou) were transported dis-assembled from the UK to the interior of Africa, re-assembled on the shores of the Lake, and thereafter won local naval superiority. See Giles Foden's splendid history, "Mimi and Toutou Go Forth - the Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika".