[Victorian Iron Butties]

On 18/11/2019 at 16:51, pete harrison said:

My database actually captures almost four sets of B.C.N. gauge registers and I have already unsuccessfully searched for the boat name ANVIL, and had done before my first post on this thread. Whether the pre1990's history of this ANVIL can be resolved will depend on whether the owner finds a gauge plate, and that will largely depend on whether an 'enthusiast' has got there first and removed it for their collection

I had a look for the gauge plate this weekend, but to no avail! It seems like a bit of a dead end unless I discover it. Thanks for all the comments!

 

[Victorian Iron Butties]

On 09/11/2019 at 16:00, pete harrison said:

So the next step regarding ANVIL's history will be establishing where the date 1896 has come from. As this is a rather specific date can the new owner substantiate this in the form of a B.C.N. gauge plate and gauge number. For the owners benefit this will be a cast iron plate about 12 inches long and about 4 inches deep riveted longditudenally in the fore end or stern end or both of the hull. Cast into the plate(s) will be the letters BCN and below with be a number, and it is this number we need.

 

There were 683 boats gauged by the B.C.N. Company in 1896, and about half of these were re-gaugings of older boats. Of the 683 boats gauged in 1896 65 are described as open iron (cabinless) and no more than 11 are described as cabin iron - with everything else being wooden.

 

I also think it highly unlikely that ANVIL was ever part of a motor / butty pairing, although it is possible that it might have been pulled by a tug as well as a horse / man  

Thanks for this. I'm going down to the boat this weekend so will have a look from it. Where did you get the information about the BCN productions? Sounds like a really interesting source!

[Victorian Iron Butties]

2 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

You're just being awkward aren't you Mike...  ??

 

Anvil_1896, ignore Mike he likes to make mischief! ? whether motorised or not, your boat is NOT a butty! 

Haha thanks magpie patrick! It's good to know either way. Back to the history though, is it fairly common for people to know/be able to find out the history of their boats? I was wondering whether any canal museums might have information worth looking through. 

[Victorian Iron Butties]

12 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Being pedantic, by the way, it is not a "butty".  A butty is an unpowered narrow boat designed to work as a pair with a powered one.  Your boat of course pre-dates the powered boats, so it was a horse boat, not a "butty", and it is doubtful it ever worked as a true butty.

 

Thanks alan_fincher, I think we've jumped in the deep end a bit by getting this boat. It's definitely useful to know the correct terms. Is it just a horse boat then? What would you call it now?

[Victorian Iron Butties]

Thanks all! Yep, it's the one from Apollo Duck - we bought it in September. It's the 1896 one with index number 53599 I'll check out that website for more info, thanks ditchcrawler. 

[Victorian Iron Butties]

Hi all, I'm brand new to this so hope I'm doing it right. We've just bought a narrowboat that is from 1896, at least thats when the two (hand-roller) iron sterns were put together for it to transport coal around Birmingham somewhere. I'm really keen to get some more information about our boat and learn her 123 year old history! Any suggestions for places/sources of this sort of info? Thanks in advance!