Description: The following identification for this view is believed to be correct but it has not been possible to verify it beyond doubt. If you can confirm (or otherwise) the location, please get in touch with Picture the Past by using the Add Info button at the top of this page.
Looking south up the navigable River Soar from near Redhill Lock with the wooden bridges carrying the towpath over Redhill Lock Weir in the foreground and the spire of Holy Trinity Church at Ratcliffe on Soar just discernible on the horizon (centre). Two men with knapsacks and what looks like a groundsheet(perhaps for a picnic) look out over the weir and indeed the further figure bears some visual resemblance to the photographer himself. Certainly the Douglas motorcycle (registration R 711) is his.
The river proper cascades over the weir here; that to the left is a navigable cut leading through Redhill Lock, this being a flood lock designed to stop water backing upstream as the Soar is just half a mile short of its confluence with the much larger River Trent at this point. Navigation and river re-unite beyond the lock at Redhill Lock Junction for the final length to Trent Junction. The centre line of the Soar also forms the county boundary between Nottinghamshire (left) and Leicestershire (right).
Dating from 1794, the River Soar Navigation is part canalised river and part canal and runs for 28 miles from just south of Leicester to the Trent. There are 21 locks.
This image was produced by Derby-based postcard publisher F W Scarratt but it is not known what number it was allocated in his series.