John Brightley

That's Runcorn. I've seen that image published a few times over the years. Which photo collection does it come from?

According to Geoff Pursglove in his article about the Ashby Canal in Narrow Boat magazine summer 2012, "the Ashby Canal structures were all built to the 14ft standard, including the stop lock at Marston Jabbett", but the stop lock was reduced to narrow beam in 1819.

On most of the system CRT own a strip of land on the offside of the canal which is one to two metres in width. I know this as at one point a few years ago I had access to legal plans which showed the extent of their ownership.

In terms of definitions for different types of boats, the following may be useful. It is an extract from a letter from William Venables of the Transport & General Workers Union to his colleague Miss EM Forcey, dated 18th August 1936. The letter is in the archive of the Modern Records Centre, Warwick University. "With reference to your query as to the difference between 'boats' and 'barges' and 'horse boats' and 'horse barges', I will try and explain. The terms 'boats' and 'barges' are used in a different manner on different canals in different parts of the country. The term 'barge' is generally used for craft with a carrying capacity of over 50 tons and are usually engaged on canal and river trade. The term 'boat' either horse or motor is usually used for craft with a carrying capacity of under 50 tons and also to boats using the smaller Inland Canals. This particularly refers to the boats trading between London, Birmingham, Manchester etc. In this part of the country the type of craft similar to the last mentioned is usually termed a 'Narrow Boat'. The difference between 'horse' and 'motor' boats is that these days with the awakening interest on the part of the Canal Carrying Companies they have realised the value of the internal combustion engine for use on the canals. The 'motor' boat is the one with a motor installed in the boat. The policy of most canal companies is not to install motors in all their boats but to have roughly half of their boats without motors which can proceed either by horse or being towed with a motor boat. Some firms work the boats in pairs that is a motor boat and a boat without a motor. The term generally used in this case is motor boat and butty. With regard to your reference to horse barges, it is not very common to use this expression in connection with barges which are horse drawn, they are usually called 'dumb barges'. You will notice on page one of the Manchester Ship Canal (Bridgewater Department) rates the heading 'Flatmen'. You may wonder why this term, so I shall explain beforehand. These men are actually employed on dumb barges which use the Bridgewater Canal, Manchester Ship Canal and Rochdale Canal and the River Mersey and the term 'Flatmen' is a local term peculiar to the district. Men similarly employed in Liverpool are termed 'bargemen'."

We have a copy of this photo in the RCHS collection. The original photo is in the Oxfordshire County Libraries Taunt Collection and a note on our print says that the boat was first registered to William Ward on 5/3/1879 and passed to Lewis Grantham on 7/9/1898, so the photo must date from sometime between those two dates.

Thanks everyone for the responses to this, especially Jon Pegg. The railway origins of the number 212A have been confirmed by others on the RCHS forum.

This query comes from the RCHS groups.io forum, and I wonder if any of you know the answer. As shown by the photos below, bridge 49 at Blisworth has an additional number 212A painted on the wing wall. What does this refer to ?

They are the metal cappings to the steps alongside the locks on the northern Grand Union. Interestingly the company of Bowes, Scott & Western still exists.

Thanks Patrick. Very interesting.

Off topic, but yes, Ike was a lovely man and unlike many working boatmen embraced the new generation of leisure boaters as his friends. I feel honoured to have met him and indeed shared an evening or two down the pub with him whilst we were both part of the volunteer set-up crew for the Titford IWA national rally in I think 1982.

This article says that it was built in 2012 and that "keeping it on the Wye was difficult" : https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/19023559.queens-pageant-trow-return/

I'm certainly interested in Alan's work. He was very talented. I would love to have one of his original paintings, but have never seen one for sale. There are many prints and postcards of his work around though, and Wedgewood plates featuring his paintings are surprisingly cheap on eBay. Tim Coghlan has written an article about Alan which is available to download from the Braunston Marina website here: https://braunstonmarina.co.uk/waters-under-the-bridge/

Thanks Adrian (and Patrick). Happy to help. Can I suggest that an appropriate home for the non-canal and railway images would be www.geograph.org.uk - they would be welcomed there. If you need help with uploading them I can advise (many of my photos are archived there).

Alfred Matty & Sons Ltd is still technically an active company, with its directors being two members of the Proud family who are also directors of the crane hire firm Dewsbury and Proud.

Bantam 67 according to Canalplan index.

I'm afraid I agree with Leo here - the content of your videos is great Steve, and you have obviously put a lot of effort into them, but they are completely spoilt by the fact it is difficult to understand what you are saying. Please, please, please can you talk slower and more clearly. You might find it easier if you had a script to follow instead of making it up on the spot. Maybe Paul Whitewick can help you? His videos are much easier to listen to.

Yes, you can. There is also a good bus service from Nantwich to Audlem.

Torksey lock house: https://bidx1.com/en/en-gb/auction/property/91539

The critical differences are that a) the pub is a listed building and b) it is in a conservation area, whereas the modern flats aren't.

FMC Tasmania, 60ft, £74,950. https://www.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/yarwoods-60-traditional-for-sale/740106

Actually, planning permission may be needed to create a mooring, even if you are not living on the boat, as the planning authority may consider it a change of use, eg from agricultural to boat moorings. If it is a field which stays in agricultural use, it may be possible to argue that the mooring is incidental to the main use and therefore does not need consent.

Yes, you're correct, some are French, and at least one has its manufacturers plate still in place (I noticed it when we came up the Avon the day before we met you last week). Unfortunately I didn't take a photo but I think it is on one of the locks between Welford and Stratford. I think from memory there was a date on the plate which was about 1993. I was surprised about the late date as it was well after the lock was originally restored.

Well, that was an interesting couple of hours going through the photos! I've managed to identify quite a few of the locations - I've left my comments on the website on each photo page. There are some really good views of working boats from the 1960's including many wide boats on the L&L and other northern waterways. Well done for uploading them. It's worth noting that there are many waterways views in the 'unknown' sub-folder as well as in the 'waterways' sub-folder that Adrian has linked above. There are many photos of Ellesmere Port and the Manchester Ship Canal - I haven't noted them all as they will be obvious when you start going through them.

We're now in Stratford and the river is back to normal- well in the green.

We're at Cleeve Prior at the moment, heading upstream. In the orange here at the moment but I think the levels are going down.