SIR – Further to your piece on October 15 about the concern of city officers and councillors at the present state of this listed building at Diglis Basin, it is good to hear that British Waterways have plans to restore the cottage.

I wonder if part of it might be devoted to a public display of the dock’s history?

I know there is an excellent National Waterways Museum at Gloucester but this does not tell our local story.

The completion of the canal from Birmingham to Worcester and the river in 1815 was a significant event in the city’s history.

For more than 100 years it then provided an important artery for moving goods to and from the Midlands and so on and the basin once bustled with commercial activity.

The coming of the railways and then road transport caused a decline and the area now, which is increasingly used by leisure boaters and walkers, presents a more tranquil aspect.

The recent redevelopment has also given a new face to Diglis and future generations will have little idea of how it all began and how different it once was.

Such a facility would provide a lasting record, and would surely complement the new bridge and riverside improvements soon to be put in hand.

MARTIN HARRIS,

Worcester.