Number 210 October 2015 the BOAT MUSEUM SOCIETY

Number 210 October 2015 THE BOAT MUSEUM SOCIETY

President: Di Skilbeck MBE Vice Presidents: Tony Hales CBE, Harry Arnold MBE, Alan Jones, Tony Lewery. DIRECTORS Chairman Jeff Fairweather Vice Chairman Chris Kay Vice Chairman Will Manning Vice Chairman Barry Green Treasurer & Membership Secretary Barbara Kay Secretary Lynn Potts RE:PORT Editor Andy Wood Website Sue Phillips Bob Thomas Cath Turpin Mike Turpin OTHER CO-OPTED COMMITTEE MEMBERS Martyn Kerry Ailsa Rutherford Nigel Carpenter CONTACTS TO WHOM CONTRIBUTIONS SHOULD BE SENT. Museum Times Ailsa Rutherford [email protected] Editor(RE:PORT) Andy Wood 0151 334 2209 34, Langdale Road, Bebington. CH63 3AW [email protected] EMAIL CONTACTS [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Any committee member: [email protected] Those not on email can contact: The National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire CH65 4FW Telephone 0151 355 5017 The Boat Museum Society is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England, Number 1028599. Registered Charity Number 501593 Visit our website www.boatmuseumsociety.org.uk

Cover: A different view of the Pontcysllte Aqueduct as one approaches it from the southern end. [© Rob Farrow Creative Commons] RE:PORT Number 210

Dates for your Diary October 13 Tue IWA The Autumn programme starts with a talk by Ken Pye on Liverpool’s waterways. 16 Fri BMS Graham Boxer, Head of Museums, will be our guest speaker. 18 Sun Waterways Craft Group in the Island Warehouse at the NWM 20 Tue EPL&FHS Origins and history of Ellesmere Port Hospital November 4 Wed CCHT The Neston Collieries – Birthplace of Wirral’s Industrial Revolution – Anthony Annakin-Smith tells the story of the early collieries at Neston, including underground canals, the area’s first steam engines and tales of sabotage! 10 Tue IWA Underhand, Unfair and Damned Un-English – The development of the submarine by Tony Rowe RN and his experiences in our nuclear fleet. 20 Fri BMS Crossrail – The Great East West Tunnel Breakthrough. Steve Kay, Principal Vice-President, Bechtel and Civil Director Crossrail. December 2 Wed CCHT Water Engineering for British Waterways – a talk by Derek Jones on his work as a Water Engineer for BW, with responsibility for a large area including Scotland and the Falkirk Wheel. 8 Tue IWA Ropes, knots and Fenders – Dave Walker from the Change of venue International Guild of Knot Tyers will tell us about the history This meeting will be of ropeware and display some of his intricate handiwork. This held in the Holiday Inn will be followed by mince pies, sherry and our pre-Christmas bumper raffle. 12 Sat BMS Christmas concert with Wirral Singers and Ringers at the Museum. 15 Tue EPL&FHS Speaker and topic to be announced. 18 Fri BMS Boating with Manchester Grammar School Scouts Alan Jones. Alan introduced many lads from the MGS scouts to boating, many of whom are still involved today. BMS meetings are held at 7.30 pm at the NWM • EPL & FHS Meetings, start at 7.30pm at NWM IWA - Talks start at 7.45. Oct & Nov at NWM. December at Holiday Inn Chester Canal Heritage Trust (CCHT) – talks start at 8.00pm in the clubhouse at Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club, Boughton, CH3 5EL

Contributions for RE:PORT which is published four times a year are always welcome. Copy Date for RE:PORT 211 – Wednesday 25th November. All views expressed in RE:PORT are those of the contributors concerned and should not be taken as being the policy of The Boat Museum Society, The National Waterways Museum or The Canal and River Trust. 3 Number 210 October 2015

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT The National Waterways Museum exists to tell the story of the life, history and traditions of the inland waterways and The Boat Museum Society exists as the volunteer group to support CRT/NWM in the running of the museum and we have been fortunate over many years in having so many enthusiastic volunteers with so many different skills, people able to use their expertise and to pass it on to others. At the same time we should acknowledge all the hard work that the museum staff put in. It’s not often said but those of us regularly at the museum do appreciate their commitment, often over and above what would normally be expected. The society has been tremendously successful in forming and developing the museum, but in my view it now needs to re-target its efforts to new objectives and perhaps let other traditional and completed ones go. This in no way diminishes the importance of the society or its members to the success of the museum. It gives us greater opportunity to grow, and from this new position, the society should develop and continue to have a very active involvement in the museum. BMS and NWM are working hard together to tackle the issues of conservation of the joint boat collection, artefacts and buildings with our members working alongside the museum staff helping the museum in very many ways. Important and essential work continues to go on and be planned at the Museum. At the same time moves are afoot that we hope will take us further forward in improving the future for the collection and the museum. The museum is changing and acceptance of change is essential. Some of these changes we can have a direct input into and some we can only seek to influence, as we do. Hopefully it will enable BMS to focus its efforts in a way that will give greater satisfaction and fulfilment to the members. As individual members we can all support this by our active participation and support to the museum and society. On the less tangible side, but in the long term just as important, are current discus- sions between the society and the museum about the means for making all our volunteer efforts as effective and valued as possible. Management of volunteers calls for more skill and imagination than managing paid staff, since the volunteer can walk away without any tangible loss. It requires motivation, appreciation, communication and a well organised and varied work program to be successful. Our objective should be to provide a greater level of support for BMS members to make their voluntary work at the museum more productive and rewarding. Over this past year we have made an effort to increase our membership through various means of communication. We are particularly keen to increase the number of volunteers active on behalf of the society and the museum and one of the most effective methods of recruitment is for existing members to help introduce people to the society through their own personal interests so I ask all of you to support our drive to recruit new members to volunteer in all areas of the museum.

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Tony Hales CBE We are delighted to welcome Tony Hales as a Vice-President of BMS. Tony has given great support and encouragement to all of us at Ellesmere Port. He has come to share significant moments; he smashed the champagne over the first box-boat box made by the first group of apprentices working in the Heritage Boatyard which he helped to create. Tony has been very generous to The National Waterways Museum and has also given encouragement to The Boaty Theatre Group and to the Education Department. We are pleased to welcome him aboard as a Vice President and hope he will enjoy being part of the exciting new ventures at the Museum. Tony retired as Chairman of CRT on September 23rd and we look forward to hosting a celebratory event to mark his position as Vice-President. Di Skilbeck MBE President, BMS

Margaret Harrison Collections Manager of the Year Award Winner The prestigious Collections Manager of the Year Award went to Margaret Harrison, Col- lections Manager here at The National Waterways Museum, for “changing perceptions of best practice “at the museum. The judges described her work as an “excellent example of innovative working to raise the internal profile of collections management and how it delivers public value.”

Richard Parry BMS members and volunteers appreciated an excellent and informative talk and Question and Answer session when Richard Parry, Chief Executive of CRT addressed our first Friday evening meeting of the new season. Tony Hales was also on site as he was attending the performance of ‘Hamlet’ in the Island Warehouse by our young drama group. Graham Box- er had had a meeting with Richard, so early birds to the meeting had the benefit of informal chats with 3 of CRT’s leading figures, a fact noted by our President in her introduction to the evening. It was also an opportunity for Di Skilbeck to thank Tony for his inspiring Chairmanship of the Trust from nationalised BW to charitable CRT and in particular for his long term support of the Museum. Di announced that in appreciation of this, Tony has been invited to become a Vice President of BMS which he very kindly accepted. Richard gave an up-date on CRT’s strategic approach, very much reflecting many of the approaches Tony has championed: charitable status, volunteers, youngsters, cul- ture change and new ways of working. He made it clear there are no free lunches but the agreement with government plus the achievements of the first 3 years gives us all tremendous encouragement. The changes have been ones that BMS and many other or- ganisations have supported. Richard of course emphasised there is never enough money to do everything but the key was focussing on priorities and using resources effectively, people and money.

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Richard concentrated on CRT’s progress nationally, as Graham will be speaking at the October meeting more specifically about the Museum and his vision for its development over the next few years. However it was clear also that Richard is a strong supporter of the Museum delivering its potential as a key part of CRT’s objectives Richard followed his talk by answering a wide range of questions from members of the audience and was given a well-deserved round of applause before Graham took Richard to catch his train home, before no doubt another busy weekend. After the break, there was the opportunity for members to see the latest SightSeen partnership’s DVD faithfully recording the traditional skills required on Canals. This time it was the raising of sunken boats using the boat raising tools which are part of the Museum’s collection. BMS is a key member of this partnership of which some newer members may not have been aware of this partnership. This and other titles are for sale in the Museum shop. As reported by Mike & Cath Turpin

Winter Closure As you may have heard, NWM have decided to close the museum during the winter. The decision behind the winter closure is based on a number of factors including the Window on the World project, and the opportunity to carry out unrestricted maintenance to our collection. During this time the archive will remain available to pre-booked sessions. The Ellesmere Port Local and Family History Society talks on 17 November and 15 December and the Wirral Singers and Ringers Christmas Carol Concert on 12 December will go ahead. Planning is in hand for the Santa Cruises and we will keep you posted. The museum will re-open on Saturday 13 February for the half term holidays. Events and activities for the week will be organised and announced nearer the time. Last day of operating will be Sunday 15 November 2015, re-opening on Saturday 13 February.

The Boat Museum Society would like to apologise for the late publication of this edition of RE:PORT, we hope to be back to normal publishing dates with the next issue.

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GEORGE – on the road to restoration

George just before being craned out photo Chris Bacon As part of the Window on the World project, the Leeds-Liverpool short boat George was craned out of the canal in June. The boat was craned on to the back of a low loader and taken off to Devon for the start of its restoration. Carvel-built (ie the planks are placed from edge to edge) of wood she has a distinctive transom stern with a large wooden rudder. George is now a unique survivor of this class of canal boat, which once numbered in the hundreds, She has a big open hold, but, as she has no built-up sides (combings) to her hold and no means of securing canvas hatch covers, she was unsuitable for valuable or perishable cargoes. Although she was initially registered as a horse-drawn fly-boat, she seems to have been employed as a coal carrier between Haigh and Liverpool from new, sometimes being towed by a steam tug. In addition she carried moulding sand and coke for the company’s steel works. In 1930 George passed Wigan Coal Corporation and was captained by William Deakin. She remained with the Corporation until 1946, when she changed ownership again, this time to the National Coal Board (NCB). She ended her working life carrying coal on the Bridgewater Canal for the NCB. After her long working life she was left abandoned and sunk for some years at Worsley. George was acquired by the Boat Museum in 1973 The Editor of Museum Times wrote in the July edition: I volunteer in the Archives on Fridays, and the task on 3 July was to start index-

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ing the contents of the newsletters of the North Western Museum of Inland Naviga- tion, now known as the Boat Museum Society. I’ve only managed to complete 19 so far, but from those it was clear that, in the initial days of the organisation, they were doing anything and everything to raise funds, including collecting and selling scrap paper, and postage stamps. A little gem I found is that Di Ascott co-ordinated the scrap paper collection and George was purchased by the NWMIN for the sum of £60, funded entirely from the sale of scrap paper.

Horses at Work and War Event Much better weather than last year for our “Horses at Work and War” event this August, writes Ken Catford. There was plenty of activity on site, and as always very many thanks are due to everyone who helped. Every open space at the museum seemed to be occupied by horses, as we had horseboating in action, harnessing displays, horse-shoeing, pony rides, Grenadiers from the time of Waterloo, craft demonstrations and children’s activities in the island warehouse, historic horse-related items on show in the Archive, and horsedrawn wagonette rides.Our theme of emphasising the importance of horses in the history of canals was augmented this year by adding the ‘horses at war’ aspect. Both the first World War (a hundred years ago) and the battle of Waterloo (two hundred years ago) were highlighted – and don’t forget that while the battle was raging at Waterloo, the canal here at “Whitby Locks” was already carrying on its day-to-day business.

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An Update on Gifford DI SKILBECK writes: Gifford was put on dry dock on April 14th so that the state of her bottom boards and shoeing could be assessed. On April 16th Adrian Polglase and Mike Carter, surveyor, came to examine the bottom boards with a view to deciding how many would need to be replaced in two years time. We have kept the bottom boards ‘going’ with doses of pitch and tar and Stockholm tar but it was obvious that the time had come for a professional renewal job to be done. About one third of the boards will need replacement in two years. For this job Gifford will go to Adrian’s yard at Alvecote near Tamworth. This will cost a significant amount of money and although we set up a maintenance fund when she was restored in 1995 we need to keep the fund well topped up. Adrian and Mike have given us some good advice and Martyn Kerry and his team will be doing some light maintenance work. We have been advised not to replace the shoeing until the bottom boards job has been done.

Faith, Hope, No Hope & Charity

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Large Objects Store WHAT IS HAPPENING in the Large Objects Store writes Barry Green is that we want to catalogue the contents and record their location on the new collections database. Firstly the padlock was changed and then two containers arrived plus every Wednesday two people starting moving items from the Lime Shed. Were they, late into the night, arriving with an old red Toyota and spiriting away our precious artifacts? Well the answer is NO and if you have worked with Margaret Harrison you would definitely know that nothing of significance will ever just disappear without following the correct museum procedures. So, what is happening is that we want to catalogue the contents and record its location on the new collections database. However when we started the task it did appear rather daunting with piles of objects balanced on each other and no access for mechanical handling equipment plus it looked as though a lot of items carried no accession number. The latter is not correct and as we got stuck into the task it was obvious a lot of work has been carried out in the past. We soon realised what an extensive collection the museum possessed including a four-berth green cast iron gents urinal! We also found a rare Douglas air cooled engine which the Power Hall is now restoring. The main walk ways and fire escape routes are clear so we can safely use mechanical handling equipment. Our final objectives are to produce a complete database on all the large objects and maybe we will be able to open the Lime Shed to researchers and even guided tours for the public. In line with the correct storage of objects the temperature and relative humidity is being monitored. As we make further discoveries and progress we will keep you informed plus, hopefully, our first open day.

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Back in Steam Again! BILL DARCH WRITES: The Pump House is back in steam. The boiler has been tested and passed its survey; the pigeons have been evicted; the engines freshly painted; the floor plates now painted black and looking good; and walls coated with anti flaking sealant paint. Sunday 7th June saw the engines running for the first time since November 2012, although there is still work to be done in the Pump House and the Lancashire Boiler House where walls have to be repainted, brickwork repaired, woodwork repainted and lighting to be upgraded. In the heyday of the working dock the Pump House was at the centre of activities. The hoists (jiggers) and winches around the site were powered by water hydraulics, this being supplied by the two horizontal engines. These delivered water into the pipe system around the site, and into the accumulator tower at a pressure of 750 psi. A weight in the accumulator tower provided the hydraulic power to the various hoists used to load and unload the boats around the docks. Steam for the engines was provided by the two coal fired Lancashire boilers. I now have four new volunteers to help me - three men and one young lady - and the engines will be in steam as before on the first Sunday of the month, and Bank Holidays. Come along and see this remarkable piece of engineering in operation: our volunteers will be on hand to explain how it all works and answer your questions.

Museum Wins the Sandford Award The Museum won the Sandford Award for Heritage Education in July. The announcement said: “The National Waterways Museum provides an excellent insight into the lives of people employed on the canals from the 1840s until the 1950s, when it closed. Thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers it was reopened in the 1970s and is attracting visitors of all ages as well as school groups, who are able to fulfil aspects of the National Curriculum whilst thoroughly enjoying the experience.”

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A Painted Boat One of the privileges of being a member of the one-time Curatorial Commit- tee, was that I got to see historic items that are behind the scenes. One that particularly caught my eye was this painting of a narrow boat that once formed part of an advertising panel for the Stoke Bruerne Museum – now in the Gloucester off-site store. Just a glance at the picture tells us that this painter knew his boats. Just look at the way the fore end is pushing the water ahead of the boat, making a slight wave that passes alongside the loaded hull. All the paraphernalia of the boat can be seen including the hand-operated bilge pump next to the engine room bulkhead – note also the ‘tail pipe’ lying on the ‘back end rail’. This was often put on when running on a long pound when it was not required to reverse the engine regularly. The longer pipe also assisted the engine temperature and carried exhaust smoke over the steerer’s head. The cargo being unsheeted, is probably coal heading from the Coventry Coalfields to one of several destinations on the southern Grand Union. Seeking further information, I contacted that fount of all to do with Stoke Bruerne, David Blagrove, who was able to tell me the following: The painting is by Brian Collings, who certainly ‘knows his boats’. The boat, Quail, was an ex-FMC wooden motor operated in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s by the Willow Wren Canal Carrying Co., whose livery can be seen on the cabin side, and in the roundal on the front of the cratch. The mast is shown extended with an attached string for ‘thumb-lining’, which is a way of operating bottom gates downhill, especially useful when working single-handed. Until September 1962 the boat was powered by a single cylinder Bolinder, and from then by a more modern twin. The captain of Quail at that time was Mark Harrison, a family man who always

12 RE:PORT Number 210 worked with a butty, (not shown in the picture). The signage, including the lettering and flowers was the work of Brian, who is still about, living in Towcester in semi-retirement. A picture then, that tells us so much – a boat in deep water (bow wave), loaded with coal (open hold) about 20 ton looking at the load line, operating set up for Grand Union thumb-lining (the kink in the upright of the lower gate handrail of Grand Union locks is all to do with thumb-lining – enough there for a separate article!). There appears to be BCN plates on the engine room bulkhead, which tells us that the boat would have worked onto the Birmingham Canal Navigations when in Fellows Morton & Clayton ownership. The large diameter exhaust pipe and ‘splitter’ is typical of a boat with a Bolinder engine. The livery tells us that the scene dates to the early days of Willow Wren ownership before, as Willow Wren Transport Services, they acquired the larger steel ex-Grand Union Company boats from British Waterways – a time when Willow Wren were making heroic efforts to make long distance narrow boat carrying going. Another of Brian’s signs appears in the offices of M. Jean-Marie leMaire, Expert Fluviale, at Douai, France, where the artwork can be admired by his bargemen clients from across northern Europe. Of all the objects in the various Museum stores, this is the one I would most like to take home with me! Norman Stainthorp

The National Waterways Museum – 40 years old on June 12th 2016 As we approach the 40th anniversary of the opening of the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port, Jeff Fairweather writes, I want to take this opportunity to thank the society’s members who have worked so hard over the past few years. The rewards and challenges have been equal. The creation of CRT in 2012, the arrival of Graham Boxer earlier this year have blown a breath of fresh air through the museum bringing the vision and expertise that was so badly needed. These last few years have not been without their problems, that’s for sure, but putting the museum on a sound footing was, and probably still is the greatest challenge. The increased efforts by the society to support the museum are clearly evident, but they by no means convey the amount of work and depth of commitment shown over the years. Graham Boxer, Head of Museums, recently said that we must never forget those pioneers of the early days and must continue to sing their praises because had they not had the vision and tenacity to rescue the decaying site and boats we would not be where we are today. So I wanted to take you back over the history of the society so that you will be aware

13 Number 210 RE:PORT of what has been achieved by the society in the hope that you will continue to support us for many years to come. The society had been formed for some 4/5 years prior to the opening of the museum and those times were some of the most remarkable in the museum’s history. To capture some of that energy and commitment I have referred to Museum Times, Re:Port and BMS minutes. The Society, under the name of The North Western Museum of Inland Navigation (NWMIN), was founded in 1971 and soon became a company with charitable status. Much time was spent pursuing sites for the museum. It was not until the summer of 1974 that dis- cussions with the newly formed Borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston (EPNBC) secured part of the then derelict Shropshire Union docks for an “Inland Waterways and Industrial Museum”. By the end of 1974 the membership had grown from the initial few, in 1971, to just under 300. The collection of boats was growing, some such as Scorpio and George were on “care and maintenance” and others such as Gifford and Worcester were being restored to operational order. As they became presentable they were taken to numerous rallies in the North West and Midlands. In the summer of 1973 the boats covered 602 lock-miles. The boats and the eye-catching display stands captured peoples’ interest, in particular those who were still involved with the waterways and who operated boats in the latter days of commercial carrying. This engagement with those with first-hand knowledge of the waterways brought much valuable information to the Society, enabling the displays and information produced to be authentic and authoritive. The friendships formed with these people and the information gained has been one of the great strengths of the museum. Their continued involvement with the museum over many years bears testament to its quality and ability in presenting a snapshot of their earlier lives. First working party at Ellesmere Port The first working party at Ellesmere Port took place over the weekend of 8/9 December 1974. The purpose was to secure the buildings. There was great excitement and support from local people. Businesses donated most of the materials. The key objectives and plans were set out in early 1975, with a five-year plan. The site originally was only to be the Island Warehouse, Pump House, Toll House and Pattern Shop although many had their eyes on more of the site. In the autumn of 1975 it was agreed that the first priority would be for the volunteers to restore the Toll House while EPNBC raised funds to restore the Island Warehouse. An opening date was set for 12th June 1976. Arrangements were made to bring the boat collection, which by then totalled a dozen craft, to the museum by water and road for those that failed their surveys. They were apparently scattered far and wide but they all arrived just in time for the opening. Earlier in 1976 the Merseyside Branch of the IWA were planning their annual rally and decided to support the museum by holding it at Ellesmere Port over the opening weekend. Approx. 60 boats set off from Chester in the morning carrying dignitaries arriving to coincide with the planned opening time.

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This was certainly an exciting, invigorating time with so much achieved by relatively few people. While many are still involved or keep in touch, others have disappeared. Un- fortunately some are no longer with us, but if you are one of those who have participated in the museums development at this period of time and indeed over the following formative years after the museum opened in 1976 then we would like you to record your memories. This was such an important event in canal history, and if we don’t record the details fully much of what happened will be lost. Back in the early seventies I am sure that few of you could have envisaged what the museum would be like in forty years time. For some of us it is hard to visualise the scene in 1974 when the first working parties concentrated on making the Island Warehouse secure from vandals. Yes they had them in those days. Overall it has been a tremendous achievement by all concerned, whether involved directly or indirectly, as a member of staff, volunteer, sponsor, donor, local authority, central government, you name it, there is hardly an area which hasn’t been involved in one way or another in contributing to making the museum what it is today. It is well worth looking back at those times, reminiscing, thinking what has happened and what might have happened, the people who have come together, the people with dis- abilities that we have helped, people whose almost sole reason for living has been coming to the museum. If we add all of these together, the museum and those who participated in its development for more than forty years can be proud of what has been achieved. It might not have turned out to be quite as the founding few envisaged, but I think it has had far more effect on the area and people than they could ever have imagined, it certainly has on me and I have only lived here for five years. On behalf of The Boat Museum Society I would like to thank you for your continued membership in the Society. Our strength is dependent on the sustained membership of people like yourself and we appreciate your commitment to us. Without your support the society would not be able to fulfil its commitment to support The National Waterways Museum and waterways heritage in general. We need your membership to continue what our members have been doing for the past 40 years by working with and supporting Graham Boxer, Head of Museums, and his staff in some exciting projects. As chairman of The Boat Museum Society I am always conscious of where we have come from but I also realise that times and conditions change and that we have to change with them and possibly re-invent ourselves to cater for modern times and conditions and I hope with your continued support, donations and subscriptions that we can continue to do so with the same grit, determination and tenacity of our founders. Every member strengthens our position even when you don’t have the time to be personally involved, your membership subscriptions and donations support the actions of other BMS members who work hard to keep the museum alive and active. Next time somebody asks you what do we get for our subscriptions and donations I hope this goes some way towards answering that question and can be shown as a testimony to our success. I personally think it is money, time and effort well spent and will continue to support The Boat Museum Society for many years to come.

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BMS meetings in 2015 – 2016 We would like to remind everyone that these meetings are not just talks, but a social opportunity to meet other volunteers and friends and to catch up with what’s going on, often with behind the scenes news. Everyone is welcome as our meetings have never been limited to members only. THE MONTHLY Friday night meetings are an opportunity for members, museum staff, friends and supporters of the National Waterways Museum to get together and enjoy a social evening with a talk on a topic that we hope everyone will find interesting. Of course the talks programme is an integral part of these meetings. Your Committee is always open to suggestions for people to invite, so that we have a varied programme during the year that is attractive to as many people as possible. At each meeting there is the opportunity to get up to date with the activities of the Society and the Museum and to meet up with others. There is a raffle, the 200 club draw and the bar will be open. From September to December, our speakers will be as detailed below. On Friday October 16th our guest speaker will be Graham Boxer, Head of Muse- ums. Something completely different on 20th November. Steve Kay, the principal vice-president of Bechtel and Civil Director of Crossrail will tell us about the The Great East West Tunnel Breakthrough. Crossrail is the huge civil engineering project which will form an east - west rail link across London. At the December meeting on the 18th, long standing member Alan Jones will be speaking about his involvement with the Manchester Grammar School Scouts and how he introduced so many of them to canal boating. This is the talk which was postponed from March this year. We will have a Christmas card swap and a finger buffet, to which everyone brings a small contribution. We usually have a tombola, rather than a raffle. A good social evening. Our meetings are usually held on the third Friday of the month (except March, when we have our meeting on Good Friday. The venue is The Rolt Conference Centre at the National Waterways Museum, Elles- mere Port at 7.30 pm. Everyone is welcome. Cath Turpin

Volunteer Hub AS WORK CONTINUES around the site with offices moving and new exhibition space being opened up, the volunteers have now found a new permanent administration home in what will be known as the ‘Volunteer Hub’.This is in the upstairs area of the Pattern Shop, which used to house the old Ellesmere Port exhibition, with the downstairs area being used for the storage of all the equipment used by the site maintenance volunteers. The office upstairs has had functional flooring professionally laid and a suitable electric

16 RE:PORT Number 210 and computer supply, added courtesy of CRT, and the room has been cleaned and decorated by the site maintenance team. The purpose of the room is to provide a clean, office type environment which is now necessary as the way the world works becomes more digitally and technically advanced. It currently has two computer terminals, printer and scanner. Here people who need access to computers, to assist in their volunteering, can come along and get on with it. The room will also now provide the much needed amenity for volunteers to view the mandatory CRT safety videos, and is also an ideal volunteer meeting room for which it will be well used.

Naviglio Grande, Italy THE NAVIGLIO GRANDE is a canal in Lombardy, northern Italy which joins the Ticino River near Tornavento 23 kilometres (14.5 miles) south of Ses- to Calende) to the Porta Ticinese dock, also known as the Darsena, in Milan. It drops 34 metres (111.6 feet) over a distance of 50 kilometres (31 miles) and is on average 3.8 metres (12.5 feet) deep. It varies in width from 22 to 50 metres (72 to 164 feet) from Tornavento to Abbiategrasso, falling to 15 metres (49 feet) between there and Milan. The Naviglio Grande was the most important of the Milan “navigli” (canals). It probably originated as a ditch dug in 1157 between Abbiategrasso and Landriano as a defence against Frederick Barbarossa, and it was one of the largest post-medieval engineering projects, which brought about the development of commerce, transport and agriculture. In 1177 further construction began near Tornavento, but difficulties stopped work almost immediately. In 1179 however, a dam was constructed and water from the Ticino Riv- er was diverted towards Turbigo, Castelletto di Cuggiono, Bernate and Boffalora eventually reaching Gaggiano in 1233. This 30 kilometre (18 mile) section, the “Navigium de Gazano” took more than fifty years for labourers to dig using only pickaxes and shovels. Prisoners from Turbigo were put to work in 1239 to increase the carrying capacity of the canal. In 1258, the Naviglio Grande finally reached Milan. New taxes were levied to continue the digging, and although the work stopped again, following opposition from the citizens and clergy, the whole canal was navigable from 1272, when the deepening and widening of the cross-section was completed by the engineer Giacomo Arribotti and the canal finally reached the bridge of Sant’Eustorgio at what is now Porta Ticines. Although had been originally intended for irriga- The Naviglio Grande near Turbigo

17 Number 210 RE:PORT tion, rafts called cobbie towed by horses quickly began using the canal to take salt, grain, wine, manufactured goods, fabric, tableware, manure and ash upriver to Lake Maggiore and Switzerland, bringing back livestock, cheese, hay, coal, timber, sand, marble and granite. The small lake of Sant’Eustorgio was linked to the Fossa Interna (also known as the Cerchia Interna or Inner Ring) of Milan, using two new locks to control the water level, allowed boats to reach Piazza Santo Stefano. This was to allow the canal to be used particularly for transporting stone and marble for the building of the Duomo cathedral in Florence, the construction of which started in 1386. This confirmed the canal to be the most useful form of transport of Milan, and proved that the network could be expanded to serve the whole region, which would be especially useful for transferring troops rapidly between defensive castles. Between 1830 and the end of the 19th century, traffic averaged 8,300 boats of all sizes carrying 350,000 tonnes (344,472 tons) a year. It peaked again during the World War II because, with Allied aircraft bombing roads and railways, water transport again became useful for carrying goods. The increase of traffic continued after the war; in 1953 the Porta Ticinese dock was the thirteenth busiest in the country. However, an increase in the value of goods and strong interests supporting road transport brought about a rapid decline in traffic on the canal. During the 1960s, the Fossa Interna was covered over and on 30th March 1979 the last cargo of sand was unloaded at the Darsena. Since then the canal has been used solely for its original purpose, irrigation. Recently the “Istituto per i Navigli” has been campaigning for the return of navigation on the canal. The project, called “From Switzerland to the Sea” promotes the restoration of the canal as part of a long distance waterway linking Lake Maggiore (which is partly in Switzerland) to Venice.

Cumbria’s Canals BEFORE THE RAILWAYS, three canals were built in Cumbria – the Kendal Canal, the Ulverston Canal, and the Carlisle Canal. Construction of the Lancaster Canal began late in 1792, following Rennie’s specifi- cations of a broad canal. The Preston to Tewitfield section was officially opened on 22nd of November 1797. The Tewitfield section linked the Kendal section in 1819, completing the canal’s course to Lancaster. The Canal was originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in South Cumbria. The section around the crossing of the River Ribble was never completed. In its 125 year working life, the canal brought prosperity to Kendal, as coal was imported for the various industries in and around the town, and limestone and slate from local quarries together with manufactured goods that local industries were producing at the time were exported.

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The Lune Aqueduct is the most out-standing feature of the Lancaster Canal. Designed by John Rennie, it is often claimed to be his best work. The structure is six hundred feet long and some sixty feet high, with five semi-circular arches supported by huge pillars. Along its top is a deep cornice and balustrades along the parapet. Its builder was a Scotsman, named Alexander Stevens, who died before it reached completion, and the work on the aqueduct was finished by his son. The aqueduct was completed by the autumn of 1797, at a total cost of £48,320 18s 10d (£48,320 95p). The Ulverston Canal is claimed to be the deepest, widest and straightest canal in the UK. It is entirely straight and on a single level. The canal was completed in 1796, in order to provide the town of Ulver- ston, one and a half miles from the coast at Morecam- be Bay, with a port. At 15 feet (4.6 metres) deep and 66 feet (20.1 metres) wide, it was intended to take largest ships of its day. The Lune Aqueduct by Humphrey Bolton. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons In the days before the construction of the Furness Railway, Furness was cut off by the mountainous Lake District on its only landward side; the region could be reached only by crossing the sands of More- cambe Bay. The Canal was once the starting-point for steamers to Liverpool, passenger ships to Scotland and London, and cargoes of local slate that made its way to coastal towns around Britain The Canal remained in use until 1945 when it finally ceased business. The Carlisle Canal had a rather short life butit was very successful in its early days. The village of Port Carlisle was developed as a port in 1819 to handle goods for Carlisle using the canal that was built in 1823. The canal was 11¼ mile (18 kilometres long, and had 8 locks which were 18 feet wide. From a wooden jetty, through the entrance sea lock and one other, the canal ran level for nearly six miles. Then followed six locks in one and a quarter miles, with a level stretch to Carlisle Basin. Within a few years the canal ran into financial difficulties, and was closed, finally being drained in 1853.

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Admiral Class Narrowboats IN 1957 IN THE NW DIVISION of British Waterways four pairs of boats of a new type, were ordered from Isaac Pimblott & Sons Ltd. of Northwich. They were known as the Admirals, because they were named after admirals of the Royal Navy. They were all-steel boats – motors and butties – with canvas sheets on curved steel pipes covering the hold. The first four pairs were the motorsEffingham , Collingwood, Anson and Grenville, and the butties Benbow, Drake, Frobisher and Howard. In 1960 two further pairs were ordered, this time from Yarwoods. These were the motors Mountbatten and Lind- say, and butties Jellicoe and Keppel. The boats were lighter in construction than traditional narrowboats, and could carry larger cargoes on a shallower draught. The cabins were also steel, and the engines fitted were Armstrong Siddeley 20hp AS2 diesels. These boats were the last to be built for commercial carrying on the inland waterways, but fortunately most of them are still in existence today. Grenville. Built by Pimblott’s was registered at Northwich No. 115 on the 20th Oct 1959. It was operated as a maintenance boat by British Waterways until it was holed in the ice at Etruria in 2010. It was sold to Rothen’s as a maintenance boat, who had to raise the boat from the mud at Etruria Clay Wharf. Mountbatten and Jellicoe were built at Yarwoods, Northwich as the sister pair to Lindsay and Keppel and registered at Northwich, Jellicoe in February and Mountbatten in July 1960 Nos. 116 and 119. Mountbatten was often used as the motor for Keppel during BW carrying days and later for other carriers. The pair was brought back together by Ivor Batchelor and ran as coal and diesel supply traders in the north-west until about 2010. Mountbatten is on the National Historic Ships UK register, and is recorded as being based on the Llangollen Canal. It is recorded as having a beam of 6.83 feet (2.08 metres), 70.33 feet (21.44 metres) long and with a draft of 3.00 feet (0.91 metres) and tonnage of 15 gross tons. In 2010 Lindsay and Keppel were at the Etruria Industrial Museum. The Museum’s intention was to refurbish the boats so that they could fetch coal along the canal to supply the mill’s 1903 hand-fired Cornish boiler.

An unidentified pair of Admiral class boats, thought to be Pimblott boats. 20 RE:PORT Number 210

Report from the Antipodes MIKE AND CATH TURPIN sent us an initial report of their visit to the Australian War Memorial (AWM) at Canberra, with particular reference to Large Objects in the Collection such as planes, tanks, etc. Nearly all the Mu- seum’s holdings are on display inside with fantastic displays which attract 800,000 visitors a year. The AWM has many similarities to our own Museum, highlighting their extensive use of boats on inside display plus a limited number of operation, functional craft. The Turpins’ report that the Museum’s Large Objects Collection e.g. planes, tanks, boats, are. nearly all on display inside. The displays are fantastic and the Museum attracts 800,000 visitors a year. The Australian War Memorial is one of the world’s great museums. It is also the premier archive and centre for research into the history of Australian involvement in war. The Memorial commemorates the service and sacrifice of Australian men and women in wartime. Mike met with Shane Casey (Senior Curator with conservation experience) who is a friend of Robert Turner who has been working with us on the boat collection conservation. Of particular interest, was that he got a copy of a vessel (curatorial) conservation plan for the important wooden vessel called Krait (circa 1930s), which was used by the Australians in WWII. While Krait has been operating and on loan to the Australian National Maritime Mu- seum (ANMM) it has now been agreed by both the boat’s owner and the Museum that the vessel’s long term future is on display under cover. Mike comments that this should prompt us to do some thinking ourselves. We should seriously be thinking of of a similar approach ourselves, he says: “How about starting with Gifford?”

MV Krait photo © AWM] 21 Number 210 RE:PORT

Krait was a Japanese trawler played a key role in one of World War II’s most auda- cious and successful commando raids. Codenamed Operation Jaywick, the boat’s crew of 14 special operatives sailed undetected through thousands of kilometres of enemy waters to launch a raid on the Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour. After the British surrendered Singapore to the Japanese in 1942, civilians fled on boats and ships of all sizes. Amid the chaos, Australian master mariner Bill Reynolds had salvaged the little fish- ing boat which was named the Kofuku Maru. As he rescued civilians from outlying islands, it became clear that unlike other vessels, the Kofuku Maru was not being targeted by enemy aircraft or nearby surface vessels. During that rescue work Reynolds came across a British Special Operative, Ivan Lyon, who became very interested in the Japanese boat. They realised, that if they could get people out of Singapore in that boat, they could both get back in. The crew flew a Japanese flag, and wore sarongs like the local fishermen around them. Once close to Singapore (still more than 30 kilometres from the harbour) they unloaded supplies, three collapsible kayaks known as folboats, and six men. From there, it was up to those six, armed with magnetic limpet mines, to paddle the rest of the way into the harbour and blow up enemy shipping. The approach to Singapore took them three nights of paddling; they could only paddle by night and hide up in the jungle in the daytime, They paddled along parallel to the wharf area, which was was all lit up, they were working on the area, and it looked absolutely impos- sible for them to paddle in there without being seen. Incredibly, all three folboats snuck in and out without raising a single alarm. The raiders paddled to shelter on a nearby island before the timed mines exploded in the early hours that morning. The men then paddled another 80 kilometres to rendezvous with the Krait, which had spent two weeks circling in the South China Sea, waiting to return for the pre-arranged pickup.

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“British Canals: Is Their Resuscitation Practicable?” THIS WAS the title of a book by Edwin A. Pratt published by John Murray in 1906 in which the author commented on the inevitability of the absorption of the canal companies by the railway companies as follows: The canals that paid at all paid well, and the good they conferred on the country in the days of their prosperity is undeniable. Failing, at that time, more efficient means of transport, they played a most important rôle in developing the trade, industries, and commerce of our country at a period especially favourable to national advancement. For half a century, in fact, the canals had everything their own way. They had a monopoly of the transport business – except as regards road traffic – and in various instances they helped their proprietors to make huge profits. But great changes were impending, and these were brought about, at last, with the advent of the locomotive. Both canals and railways were, in their early days, made according to local conditions, and were intended to serve local purposes. In the case of the former the design and dimensions of the canal boat used were influenced by the depth and nature of the estuary or river along which it might require to proceed, and the size of the lock (affecting, again, the size of the boat) might vary according to whether the lock was constructed on a low level, where there was ample water, or on a high level, where economy in the use of water had to be practised. Uniformity under these varying conditions would certainly have been difficult to secure, and, in effect, it was not attempted. The original designers of the canals, in days when the trade of the country was far less than it is now and the general trading conditions very different, probably knew better what they were about than their critics of to-day give them credit for. They realised more completely than most of those critics do what were the lim- itations of canal construction in a country of hills and dales, and especially in rugged and mountainous districts. They cut their coat, as it were, according to their cloth, and sought to meet the actual needs of the day rather than anticipate the requirements of futurity. From their point of view this was the simplest solution of the problem. The canal companies, however, made no attempt to follow the example thus set. They were certainly in a more difficult position than the railways. They might have amalgamated, and they might have established a “Canal Clearing House”. These would have been com- paratively easy things to do. But any satisfactory linking up of the various canal systems throughout the country would have meant virtual reconstruction, and this may well have been thought a serious proposition in regard, especially, to canals built at a considerable elevation above the sea level, where the water supply was limited, and where, for that reason, some of the smallest locks were to be found. To say the least of it, such a work meant a very large outlay, and at that time practically all the capital available for investment in transport was being absorbed by new railways. These, again, had secured the public confidence which the canals were losing. As Mr San- dars said in his “Letter”: “Canals have done well for the country, just as high roads and pack-horses had done before canals were established; but the country has now presented to it cheaper and more expeditious means of conveyance, and the attempt to prevent its adoption is utterly hopeless.”

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All that the canal companies did, in the first instance, was to attempt the very thing which Mr Sandars considered “utterly hopeless.” They adopted a policy of blind and narrow-minded hostility. They seemed to think that, if they only fought themvigorously enough, they could drive the railways off the field; and fight them they did, at every possible point. In those days many of the canal companies were still wealthy concerns, and what their opposition might mean has been already shown in the case of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The newcomers had thus to concentrate their efforts and meet the opposition as best they could. For a time the canal companies clung obstinately to their high tolls and charges, in the hope that they would still be able to pay their big dividends. But, when the superiority of the railways over the waterways became more and more manifest, and when the canal companies saw greater and still greater quantities of traffic being diverted from them by their opponents, in fair competition, they realised the situation at last, and brought down their tolls with a rush. The reductions made were so substantial that they would have been thought incredible a few years previously. In the result, benefits were gained by all classes of traders, for those who still pa- tronised the canals were charged much more reasonable tolls than they had ever paid before. But even the adoption of this belated policy by the canal companies did not help them very much. The diversion of the stream of traffic to the railways had become too pronounced to be checked by even the most substantial of reductions in canal charges. It is clear from all this that, however great the benefit which canal transport had conferred, as compared with prior conditions, the canal companies had abused their monopoly in order to secure what were often enormous profits; that the canals themselves, apart from the excessive tolls and charges imposed, failed entirely to meet the requirements of traders; and that the most effective means of obtaining relief was looked for in the provision of railways. As the canal companies found that the struggle was, indeed, “utterly hopeless”, some of them adopted new lines of policy. Either they proposed to build railways themselves, or they tried to dispose of their canal property to the newcomers. In some instances the route of a canal, no longer of much value, was really wanted for the route of a proposed railway, and an arrangement was easily made. In others, where the railway promoters did not wish to buy, opposition to their schemes was offered by the canal companies with the idea of forcing them either so to do, or, alternatively, to make such terms with them as would be to the advantage of the canal shareholders. “The level beds of certain unproductive canals have been offered for the reception of rail-ways.” (This was as early as 1825). Later on the tendency became still more pronounced as pressure was put on the railway companies, or as promoters, in days when plenty of money was available for railway schemes, thought the easiest way to overcome actual or prospective opposition was to buy it off by making the best terms they could. So far, in fact, was the principle recognised that in 1845 Parliament expressly sanctioned the control of canals by railway companies, whether by amalgamation, lease, purchase, or guarantee, and a considerable amount of canal mileage thus came into the possession, or under the control, of railway companies, especially in the years 1845, 1846, and 1847.

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Amsterdam’s Canals IN 2013 AMSTERDAM celebrated the 400th anniversary of its inner-city canals. Cromhout Houses (de Cromhouthuizen), Geelvinck Hinlopen House (Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen), Our Lord in the Attic (Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder) and Museum Willet-Holthuysen (Museum Willet-Holthuy- sen) pooled their resources to present “Life in the Canal District”: real-life stories about intriguing people who lived along the canals. Displays in each of these houses highlighted the lives of various residents. Each presentation focused on a different century with historical narratives presented through the lives of residents of the house: Father Parmentier lived at Our Lord in the Attic, the affluent Cromhout family occupied four buildings on Herengracht, Abraham and Louisa Willet-Holthuysen left their home to the city of Amsterdam as a museum, while Dunya Verwey and Jurn Buisman are the current residents of Geelvinck Hinlopen House.

For some who lived by the canals, life was a roller-coaster ride: evicted and forced to move to the Wallen neighbourhood or married in aristocratic style at Cromhout House, while the Willets’ kept a veritable menagerie and elsewhere Dolle Mina was founded – Canal Stories reveals what life was really like. The Herengracht is considered to be the most important canal in the city. In the 17th century, the richest merchants and the most influential regents and mayors of the city lived on this canal. Even today, an address on the Herengracht is seen as prestigious. At the beginning of the Herengracht we find the Herenmarkt Square. Behind the square stands the West India House, built in 1617. From 1624, the building served as the head office of the Dutch West India Company, a multinational which administered the Dutch colonies in North and South America. In the year 1625, a meeting took place in this building, in which it was decided to found the city of New Amsterdam. which was later renamed to New York. In Amsterdam there are more than one hundred kilometres (62 miles) of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals, Herengracht, Prinsengracht, and Keizersgracht, which were dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the Grachtengordel.

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Thoughts of a Waterways History Heretic – Part 6 Sources: Other Waterways History Books IN AN EARLIER piece writes Joseph Boughey I suggested that waterways history books could be divided into those that aim to instruct, and those that “simply take waterways history as their subject”. I discussed The Canals of the British Isles series, which undoubtedly aimed to instruct, but in now dis- cussing “other” waterways history books, the latter expression may seem rather obscure! I had in mind the many “picture books” that reproduce historic photographs and other illustrations, sometimes, seemingly, merely to entertain rather than to explain history. Such illustrations may provoke all manner of queries, or at least inspire further work. Other works with similar intent seem to aim to record and describe, rather than to explain. Books of the “company history” type, providing a long chronological account of an individual waterway’s history, thrived in the later 1960s and early 1970s, fostered by the publishers David & Charles; later volumes came from the Oakwood Press and others. These have constraints, often with the focus on events rather than analysis, and often with limited coverage of the postwar period. The quality varies, partly due to authorial abilities and support, but also due to the depth and range of available sources. “Piecing-together” from any available source (much of it newspapers) was essential for a book like Kenneth R Clew’s Dorset & Somerset Canal (1971), for which primary records had been destroyed. On the whole, most accounts are accurate within the limits of then available sources, albeit with little analysis. Picture books about individual waterways contain mostly photography, sometimes with drawings and excerpts from historic maps. These can be no more than compiled and miscellaneous, with no coherent account or insights; nevertheless, the historic illustrations and commentary can prove useful, especially in pinpointing particular locations. There are honourable exceptions, like the late Nick Billingham’s Stratford Canal (2002), which includes much local detail about the canal in the earlier twentieth century, while Ray Shill’s many recent volumes include many insights. Waterways history studies that cross the boundaries between individual waterways are rarer. The Robert Wilson series, and later studies of waterways carriers, provide instances, while Harry Hanson and others have studied the lives of boat people and other canal workers. What is generally missing, however, is the broad analysis, over long periods of history.

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What are the problems with using waterway history books as sources, say, for that broad analysis? The first problem is the preoccupations of the author(s), which have shaped what has and has not been included, and with what emphasis. Transport history is not a field of publishing in which there are set standards and protocols as to what constitutes history. Many authors have a period towards which they gravitate (mine, I suppose is the twentieth century), so that coverage of other periods may be sketchy and misinterpreted. I favour history that analyses rather than narrates, but some historical investigation is shaped by the need to force the past to fit the biases of the writer! The next problem is the date when research was carried out and the sources then available. In some cases, the author was unaware of, or ignored, sources that were available. It is worth looking closely at references and bibliography (if any) to determine the range of sources (and to consider what might be missing). One final problem is the publishers insistence on illustrations – obviously very strong in the case of picture books. How much has been passed over because it cannot be illustrated, or has excessive text been placed because there are copious illustrations? All that said, any study must involve a reading of the secondary literature.

Thames & Severn Roundhouses A DISTINCTIVE FEATURE of the Thames and Severn Canal are its five roundhouses. They were all constructed in 1790, the year after the canal opened, and served as lengthsmen’s cottages. They were constructed of stone, externally rendered with plaster. The roundhouse at Chalford has since had this removed. They were built in two basic forms, either with a conventional pitched conical roof, or an an unusual inverted conical roof. The inverted roof was lead-lined and was used to col- lect rainwater which was channeled down to an underground storage tank which supplied the roundhouse. The Chalford and Cerney Wick roundhouses have a conventional pitched roof, while those at Coates, Marston Meysey & Inglesham have the inverted roof. The roundhouses all have three floors, with a single room on each floor. Orig- inally the lowest would have been used as a stable and was accessible only from the outside., Although later these seem to have been converted into additional living accommodation. The first floor was the living room with the front door opening directly into it. While the second floor was the bedroom. A lean-to scullery of the Coates Roundhouse was a later addition.When the roundhouses were built there would have been no bathroom and the privy would have been outside, as was The Roundhouse at Coates 27 Number 210 RE:PORT the usual practise at that time. The walls of the roundhouses are 20 inches thick and the diameter of the rooms is 16 feet 10 inches. (The circular plan was slightly flattened on one side to accommodate a kitchen range and the chimney. The lock-keepers’ cottages were more conventional structures The Oxford Journal reported on Saturday 19th February 1785 that the Thames and Severn Canal was opened: “The Navigation is now finished to receive Boats from the Severn up to Chalford, in Gloucestershire. “Wharf and Weighing Machines for Teams are put down at Stroud and Brimscomb to convey Coals &c. from the said Navigation at Stroud and Brimscomb; from the latter Place the Country towards Cirencester, Minchenhampton, Leachlade, Fairford, Cricklade, &c. may be supplied with Coals near Two Shillings a Ton lower than from Wallbridge, near the Town of Stroud. “The Tonnage on coal from the Severn, if landed on the Thames and Severn Propri- etors’ Wharf, above Brimscomb, three miles from the Town of Stroud, in Chalford Bottom, from whence a good Road is making to Minchenhampton, and into the Turnpike Road leading from Stroud to Cirencester.”

Newcastle-under-Lyme’s Lost Canal THE NEWCASTLE-UNER-LYME CANAL was a 3 mile 6 furlongs (6 kilometre) long level canal from the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stoke-on- Trent to Newcastle-under-Lyme, which was completed in 1800. The canal has been disused since 1935. The northernmost part of the canal was closed in 1921. Fourteen years later the remaining part of the Canal was also closed and the whole route was abandoned. Since its complete closure a great deal of construction took place andconsequently very little evidence of the canal remains. The terminus of the canal was close to Brook Lane. A pub named the “Boat & Horses” still stands near the former basin though the basin itself was converted into railway sidings many years ago during the construction of the Stoke-on-Trent to Newcastle-under-Lyme railway, which began construction on 26th June 1846. Although the sidings still existed in 1971 they have also been removed. The canal headed south-east on the west side of London Road. Where Occupation Street leaves London Road is where the bottom of the proposed inclined plane to provide a link to the Newcastle-under-Lyme Junction Canal, which was never built. A little further south there is a small Jewish synagogue/cemetery and a bowling green. The canal ran behind these into a cutting in a small wood. It then emerge by the side of the busy A34 opposite the General Hospital and the newly built University Hospital of North Staffordshire. Sur- prisingly this section has survived and today it is the only part of the canal that holds water. A couple of minor roads crossed the canal as it ran south close to the main road. At

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The only remaining part of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal in water.

Oak Hill the canal curved south-west for a hundred yards or so and then curved back to head east under the A34. At Oak Hill the dry bed of the canal can still be found behind “The Cottage” pub. Roughly following the B5041, the canal continued east until it reached the now minor road but former A5006 which runs north east from the afore mentioned roundabout. When the canal reached the old A5006 it turned again and headed northeast into Boothen. The route pulled away from the A5006 until it came close to the B5041. In Boothen the line of the canal can still be seen where it is grassed over alongside this London Road. Just before the B5041 and the former canal line met the A52 in Stoke the canal used to disappear into a relatively short tunnel. At the far side of the tunnel is theSpode Factory and museum, and shortly after this the Newcastle Canal made a junction with the Trent & Mersey Canal near Glebe Street. Until the early 1970s a 100 yard length of navigable Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal was used as moorings for the Stoke Boat Club, but this stretch was obliterated when the A500 by-pass was built. The only remaining evidence of the canal that can still be seen in Stoke is the site of a bridge in Corporation Street where both parapets have survived at the road’s junction with London Road.

That Sinking Feeling Rob and Jean took Jean’s Granny and Grandpa for a cruise on a their new narrowboat. Granny had never been on a canal before and she was very nervous. “Do boats like this sink very often?” she asked. “Not too often,” replied Grandpa. “It’s usually only the once.”

29 Number 210 RE:PORT Membership Matters Barbara Kay

We would like to welcome the following new members: Brian Boyd, John Howat and Robert and Yvonne Owen. We also welcome those volunteers who have become BMS members.

The code on your 2014-15 membership cards gives you access to the BMS Members’ website.

The Titford Canal near Oldbury

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The Boats Other People Care For

photo HNBOC Skylark Skylark carried chemical cargoes from Trafford Park, Manchester to Courtaulds Main Works site in Foleshill Road, Coventry, which backed on to the Coventry Canal, and occasionally to Courtaulds plants at Little Heath (near Coventry) and to Wolverhampton (on the Staffs & Worcs next to Horden Road Bridge). The main cargo carried was carbon disulphide, but other products carried to the Courtaulds sites included acids, solvents, acetone and oils carried in drums or glass carboys. Salts and lime were carried in hessian sacks and caustic soda was carried in drums. Return traffics tended to just be empty containers and carboys. The hazardous nature of carbon disulphide led to the introduction of pairs of cylindrical steel tanks being fitted to some of the boats between 1935 and 1936. When the tanks were put in, all boats were equipped with a flood valve in the fore end port side to enable the boat to be sunk quickly in the event of fire. The tanks were kept full of liquid at all times and the carbon disulphide was displaced with water under pressure on delivery. After discharge the boats returned to Trafford Park with the tanks full of water. The fleet stopped trading in 1956, most of the boats having already been sold off by then. Skylark was one of the last three boats to come out of service and was sold in 1956 to Jonathan Horsefield Ltd of Runcorn. Skylark did not spend long in the Jonathan Horsefield fleet before being sold again, in 1958 to private owners at Kegworth on the River Soar. They rebuilt the Gardner engine which had been damaged in a fire, and a full length conversion was fitted by David Wyatt of Stone. Further private owners bought the boat in 1978 (Clayworth on the Chesterfield Ca- nal); 1983 (Grand Union Canal); 1988 (Banbury on the Oxford Canal); 1994 de-converted and fully restored to working trim. In October 2008 Skylark was bought by its present owners and is now based on the Caldon Canal in Staffordshire and used for winter coal deliveries.

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Prussian Canals HARRY HIGNETT has contributed the following: In the course of a report on the trade and industry of Germany, for the first half of the year 1905, Mr. Consul-General Schwabach writes as follows with regard to inland navigation: “After a struggle of six years’ duration Prussian Canal Bill has at last obtained the sanction, of the Prussian Diet. The Bill provides for the construction of a waterway connecting the Rhine and the Weser, with a branch canal to Hanover, the construction of a waterway from Berlin to Stettin for vessels of 600 tons, besides two minor schemes for the improvement of the waterways connecting the Oder and Vistula Rivers and the regulation of the Oder. The total cost is estimated at £16,728,750 of which £12,537,500 are for the Rhine-Weser Canal and £2,650,000 for the Berlin-Stettin waterway. The Bill establishes State towing monopoly for the Rhine- Weser system and the Hanover branch canal and the principle of tonnage dues, navigable streams. Special regulations for State towage will be heard at a later period. Mechanical towage by private A modern passenger cruise boat leaving one of the locks on The Augustów Canal (Polish: Kanał Augustowski) enterprise is prohibited and special permits are required for the use of these waterways for vessels propelled by their own motive power. The introduction of the towing monopoly was advocated as a means of abolishing the prevailing competition between the railways (the railways are practically all Stat-owned) and waterways as a means of organising a forwarding service on uniform lines with fixed deliveries, and freight rates. Lastly, the towing monopoly will enable the Government to extend its tariff policy both over waterways and railways. It remains to be seen whether the substitution of the state management for private enterprise will fulfil the expectations held by the advocates of the monopoly. Its adversaries point out that the tariff policy of the Gov- ernment may be influenced more by fiscal than by economic considerations, which is a frequent complaint, with regard to the State railways. The tonnage dues on navigable rivers are to cover the interest and charges for redemption on the sums expended for the regulation and deepening of such streams in the interest of shipping. The Prussian Diet passed a resolution urging the Govern- ment to introduce Bills for the canalisation of the Mosel, Lahn and Saar rivers in West Prussia, and for the construction of the Masuirc Canal in east Prussia. The canalisation of those tributaries of the Rhine would benefit, in the first place, the iron industries of Lorraine, Luxemburg and the Sieg district, and, by thus enabling them to obtain coal

32 RE:PORT Number 210 and Ore at cheaper rates than now, increase their competitive power. The Lorraine and Luxemburg iron manufactures large extent exported. The rapid strides made by the Rhine ports Ruhrort and Duisburg, is principally due to the extension of the German coal and iron industry in the west and to the great improvements in the Rhine navigation, more especially in the middle and upper reaches of the river. These improvements have benefitted, to a very great extent, the two ports of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen on the Upper Rhine.

A resurgence in canal restoration has seen many British canals re- open in the past three decades, but many are still abandoned, some even vanished under roads, railways and buildings. Many thousands of route miles of canal and navigation once used to criss-cross the British Isles, serv- ing collieries, iron mines, steelworks, towns and villages. From the start of the twentieth century onwards, many of these canals closed down as a result of lack of trade. Many of the lost canals are in the industrial belts of Scotland and Wales, with a smattering of Irish routes, from the Rockville Navigation via the Monkland Canal, now under the M74 motorway, and the Aberdare Canal. Andy Wood gives us a brief history of each of the lost canals, from the Athlone Canal to the Trewydda Canal.

Paperback, 160 pages £15.99 ISBN 978-1-4456-4868-2 Available from all good bookshops or www.amberley-books.com

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Who Were the Boat People? IN THE 1930s, when racial classification was the fashion and people were looking back to an idealised pre-industrial age, some writers described boatmen as romantic “water gypsies”. The canal boatmen certainly had a lot in common with gypsies, but the two groups had come from very different backgrounds. The Gypsies or Roma, are a tra- ditionally itinerant grouping of North- ern Indian origin. Canal boatmen and their families were, by the nature of their work, also travellers but their background was, on the whole, En- glish. For many, the canal boat people were the only community they were a part of. Often boatmen who worked on regular runs married within their own boating community, sometimes even within their own families. It was sometimes the case, therefore, that a girl would not have to change her surname when she married. It was also the custom for first names to be passed down through generations. The boat people were, by and large, isolated from the rest of working society. Non-boating communities frequently eyed them with suspicion: people who were here today and gone tomorrow could not be trusted; it was an attitude that did have some justification. By the 1880s many boatmen had a house “on the bank”. While they worked with their eldest son or a brother on the boats, the rest of the family would work in local industry. There was competition between boatmen and rivalry between companies but boatmen often helped each other without the expectation of thanks. They were protective of each other against outsiders. Boats often had a dog on board. This would be a guard dog but also the lurcher types were used for poaching. Travelling and working on Sundays meant boatmen did not attend church. They were said to live in sin and have their own non-Christian marriage ceremonies. Due to the poor education standards among the boatmen most were illiterate. They relied on inn keepers to read letters for them. Many boatmen were unable to write or spell their own names. On marriage certificates boatmen often signed with an “X”. In Liverpool their names were often spelt incorrectly because of the boatmen’s Lancashire accent and illiteracy. Boatmen had their own art. They decorated their boats and belongings in distinctive ways. Often it was possible to tell which company they worked for or which region they were from by the style of painting.

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Boatmen and women had distinctive dress. The men wore waistcoats and clogs and the women wore bonnets. Boatmen didn’t have the rhyming slang of other cultures but they did have plenty of technical terms for boating. Mispronunciations of words especially place names were common. Canal boatmen and women were known for their prolific use of swearing. As a group boatmen were victimised by the town dwellers. Like many modern day travelling groups they were seen as untrustworthy criminals. They were an easy target for stone throwing youths. In cases where boatmen caught the culprits the respectable community often sided with the stone-throwers assuming the boatmen had deserved or provoked it. There were requests for the sides of bridges in Liverpool to be raised to stop the locals throwing missiles at passing boats. After legislation was brought in to compel boatmen’s children to attend school, they were often bullied. But their attendance was irregular. At school they were called names and stood out from the other children as different. While some romantics portrayed the canals as a pre-industrial utopia the reality was that for much of their working life they were the essential arteries of the industrial revolution, and the boatmen played a key part of the industrial process.

Foxton Trust to Work With English Heritage THREE local politicians recently visited Foxton Locks to see for themselves what the staircase locks and a restored inclined plane can offer now and in the future. Edward Garnier, MP for Harborough, and Andrew Robathan, MP for South Leices- tershire, were joined by Emma McClarkin MEP on a tour of the site, to learn about progress on the restoration of a major piece of our industrial heritage. The Foxton Inclined Plane Trust (FIPT), continues to work towards reinstating the In- clined Plane Boat Lift. About 25% of the complete restoration has already been completed, partly with the aid of Heritage Lottery funding. The Chairman of the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust, Steve Bowyer, says: “In broad terms there is a two year window to get the final phase of restoration under way or risk losing the opportunity forever. We do need more active volunteers to support our current initiative to work with English Heritage and local stakeholders and make a formal application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.” The politicians were impressed by the potential for increased visitor numbers which would bring increased commercial benefits to the local area. They praised the work already done by all those involved in making the site as attractive at it currently is.

35 Number 210 RE:PORT

Have you joined the Boat Museum Society 200 Club yet? Members of the club ensure a significant and steady income for boat restoration projects. Each month 50% of the total subscribed is paid goes into restoration and 50% goes into the Worcester fund. By joining the 200 Club, members who live too far away from the Museum to be able to come and help, or those who have other commitments, have the opportunity to make a regular contribution to the Society. You can buy as many numbers as you like at £1 each, the only proviso being that you are a member of the Society. The more numbers that go into the draw each month, the bigger the prizes. The 200 Club draw is usually made at the monthly Society meetings. You can join at a meeting, or by completing the form below and sending it with your membership fee to Graham Adshead, whose address is at the bottom of the page. Winners May Ann Purslow (24), Lewis Phillips (59), Cynthia Green (49) June Ann Gardiner (9), Celia Webber (35), Dave Cleverley (23) July Judy Jones (30), Nick Dilley( 69), D Skilbeck (75) August Bob Derricott (39), Nick Dilley (77), Liz Osborn (86) Many thanks to those who have so generously donated their winnings back to the Society, this is much appreciated. Application Form - The Boat Museum Society 200 Club

Name: ......

Address: ......

...... Office Use

Post Code: …………………………….. Telephone: ......

I apply for membership of the Boat Museum Society 200 Club and agree to pay the sum of £1.00 per month per number. Subscriptions are payable in advance for the months up to and including June or December. I am over 18 years of age and a paid-up member of the Boat Museum Society.

Signed:.….…….………….…….….…….………………. Date: .…….….…….……………. Please send the completed form with your payment to: Graham Adshead, 44 Seymour Drive, Overpool, South Wirral, CH66 1LU. Cheques should be made payable to the ‘Boat Museum Society’. 36 RE:PORT Number 210 THE LATEST SIGHT SEEN PARTNERSHIPS DVD

We are pleased to announce the recent release of Sight Seen Partnerships’ sixth DVD: GUNNELS UNDER! Re-floating a sunken narrow boat Running time: 36 minutes

Narrow boats used on British canals from the 1800s to recent times regularly carried loads of up to 25 and 30 tons. It was not uncommon for boats to hit underwater obstacles and to be holed below the water line. With the load completely filling the boat’s hold, it was impos- sible to locate or fix the leak, and the boat could quite quickly sink. If a boat sank between locks, the canal level could be lowered sufficiently to allow the boat to be pumped out and moved out of the channel. Boats blocking the channel would delay other boats and cause the Canal Company to lose revenue from tolls. On canals or rivers with few or no locks (for instance, the Birmingham Canal Navigation is lock-free for some 40 miles) it was not practical to lower water levels. This is where boat raising tackle would be brought into use.

In June 1996, during the making of the filmWarehouse at Work at Wolverhampton’s Broad Street Warehouse, boat raising tackle was discovered in store, and may well have ended up on a tip as the building was about to undergo alterations to make it into a night club. Sight Seen Partnership’s chairman and ex BW manager Glyn Phillips arranged for the equipment to be taken to The National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port for safe keep- ing, and vowed that someday a film would be made to illustrate how to use it.

37 Number 210 RE:PORT

In May 2007, The Black Country Living Museum kindly allowed the Sight Seen team to sink their wooden Joey boat Birchills in a place where she would lie with her gunnels below the surface.

Here was a chance to make use of the equipment, and with permission from the Waterways Museum’s curatorial staff, the tackle was once more brought into use. Glyn was able to oversee the project and direct the film, as it is believed that he was the last person to use such equipment when he supervised the raising of a boat that sank in Netherton Tunnel during the major reconstruction work in the early 1980s.

So, here is an opportunity to watch and observe a technique that has disappeared from our waterways scene, but has been recorded for all to appreciate.

Why not buy a DVD from Sight Seen Partnerships at £12.95 + p&p, just in case your boat ever goes “Gunnels Under”!

The current Partners are The Canal & River Trust (Encompassing the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port, Gloucester and Stoke Bruerne), The Boat Museum Society, The Black Country Living Museum and The Historic Narrow Boat Club.

For enquiries and sales, please contact volunteer Ian Goodier on telephone no. 07752429739, or email [email protected] who will dispatch your choice of DVD with all haste.

Tony Gregory

38 RE:PORT Number 210

A boat crossing the Avon Aqueduct on the Union Canal in Scotland, making its way back from a weekend gathering of boats at Edinburgh to its home mooring at Falkirk. [Photo: © Anne Burgess Creative Commons]

A working narrowboat on the Trent and Mersey Canal near Barlaston, Staffordshire.. This boat offers coal to boaters and remote canalside properties. [Photo © Roger Kidd Creative Commons]

39 On page 13 of this issue Jeff Fairweather looks back to the establishment of the Boat Museum in the 1970s. Next year sees the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Toll House, which was marked by a boat rally. Here Mikron Theatre Company are performing on the decks of Gifford and Spey at that event, with the derelict Island Warehouse in the background. photo: Chris Griffiths