Greenpen

The boat here is Rill and the two people are Di and Pete Downer. Originally built as an open boat for the LMS Railway in 1929. First gauged on January 4th 1929.

I cannot see this discussed before but I've noticed that Rolt refers to Cressy as MB Cressy rather than NB Cressy. I have understood that at the time the working boatmen just called them boats and I wonder why he did this? I suppose with most of the boatmen being illiterate someone else injected the adjective narrowboat into the canal system as a descriptive boat designation.

Yes, the earlier thread is interesting but inconclusive. The distance markers on the Oxford are cast iron triangular shaped pillars with three slightly splayed legs, about a metre tall although I have not measured one accurately. I am told the legs were attached to a triangular frame but I've not seen this for myself. The one on the photograph was the upstream marker for Banbury lock and was removed by the contractors building a new entertainment centre. It was extracted violently and lacks the triangular base and half of one of its legs! Distance markers are missing from many locks now but there is a pair up and downstream of Broadmoor lock, which is five locks above Banbury. I have measured these accurately and the upstream post is 75m (82 yds) from the top gate and the downstream one 273m (299 yds) below the bottom gate. The downstream one is not visible from the lock as there is a curve in the cut. The upstream one is visible. If they were priority, overtaking or stopping markers why would their distances from the lock be so different? The north part of the Oxford was extensively modernised by shortening it is the 1830s but the south part remained unaltered so markers south of Braunston are unlikely to be associated with dredging or unseen engineering of any sort. Nothing about the markers make sense to me. The upstream marker at Banbury lock, the one in the photograph, must have been about 300m from the lock and probably not visible from the top gate as the line of the cut deviates to the left. I have been told the downstream Banbury lock marker is still there but I can't find it! The bank is overgrown and given that it could be anywhere along a 300m stretch, it is not feasible to hack the plants back! When winter comes it may emerge from the dying undergrowth. All ideas gratefully received. The post pictured (twice by mistake) in the first post is at Tooley's Historic Boatyard in Banbury, displayed in a flower barrel!

Up and down stream from each lock on the Oxford Canal are white distance markers. A white post with DIS painted black. Not all remain! I’ve heard two explanations for why they are there: priority given to the first approaching boat that gets to the marker and, secondly, to alert horse drawn vessels with no brakes that a lock was imminent. Neither explanation quite rings true. Priority at the lock would depend on its water state and the markers are sometimes too far apart for approaching crews to see one another. A loaded narrow boat would take about three to four boat lengths to stop but some markers are way further away from a lock than that. Any ideas?

I really have no interest at all in pipes, petrol and war stuff, but that was a fascinating film. Thanks you for posting it. I still cannot imagine a steel pipe, I guess similar to a scaffold pole, curling around a drum, even a large one.

Yes Captain, I think you are right about OCC owning the boatyard and various people leasing it from them. I am not sure but I guess the current Tooley's Boatyard is now leased from Cherwell District Council rather than the CRT who otherwise would have been the modern day inheritors of OCC after nationalisation. There is a modern shopping centre somewhat over-shadowing the Tooley yard today. The Tooley's built wooden boats at their yard and launched them sideways into the canal, there is a fine photograph of NB Savannah being launched in 1913 in the small museum there. Benjamin Roberts may have had an experimental streak as he built Fire Fly, a 24' x 4' 9" steam launch in 1841. This had a steam engine driving a screw and the engine itself is in the Science Museum in London, so presumably is considered important albeit not currently on display. The engine itself was built by a Henry Warriner who went onto work with railway and marine steam engines. I am wondering if Benjamin might have been a iron boat builder too, or whether there was another boat building yard in Banbury?

Here is an eBay ad for a 1850 ice breaker built in Banbury. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265879132374?hash=item3de7a198d6:g:jssAAOSwoNRjHK4C&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoH41MRqIkTMu54Yt3Z5Sb6mrriL4S09pgfw1nCcRqBHHhW4o3SiRAGMej3aNn1Ss8OPWoA1qxUoZCyQojED386SGlO6gsDkThyKIFboqqSSyMNDn6qGOFFtLtnNlsCkXKLWoLXdoJnD29%2BAXeRFzR6OL%2BEbe3J6fN5rTBZ3VYWCJhenTna%2Bc2K8zcYNNSS4x4N1Mw87Ytm4z4%2FISWXvXBiU%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR-b0h_b0YA The Oxford Canal Company did have a horse drawn ice breaker with the name Oxford 1 which was replaced presumably in the 19-teens with a motor one, also confusingly called Oxford 1. This one for sale would be the conversion of the horse drawn Oxford 1. What I am interested in is the built in Banbury part. Was this the Banbury Boatyard (now called Tooley's), owned at the time by Benjamin Roberts, or was there another boat building yard in the town?

What was the maximum carrying capacity of a narrowboat carrying a dense cargo rather than feathers? I've always gone for 30 tons in a butty or monkey boat, 25 in a diesel powered boat and 20 tons in a steam driven one. But I see different figures quoted in books so wondering what it really was. I appreciate it will vary depending on the draught of the vessel and exactly where it operated so I am primarily thinking of a narrowboat that could carry such a load across both wide canals like the Grand Junction and narrow like the Oxford during the time they were well maintained.

My thoughts about the professional conflict between Brindley and Smeaton are based on the alleged comments made by an engineer consulted by the Duke of Bridgewater about Brindley's plans for the Bridgewater Canal. The consultant engineer was believed to be Smeaton and his report was dismissive, describing the Barton aqueduct along the lines of: "I have heard of castles in the air but never seen any built". The duke stayed with Brindley. Okay, too many alleges and believes but it's a good story! Just bought your book. It has seemed interesting to me that the French, and other, engineers had solved many problems that the likes of Brindley then had to do again in England as if from scratch. Whilst the relationship between the two countries may not have been cordial there was certainly travel going on, witness the duke himself. Look forward to reading more about the poor flow of information

James Brindley's alleged illiteracy has always seemed to me to be something carried forward from one author to the next without questioning the background, in this case the non-standardisation of spelling by many people. I feel that in order to impress all those he did, he must have possessed more than a silver tongue and an idea! I also wonder whether there was a pronounced professional jealousy amongst the early civil engineers that spread rumours of his illiteracy; John Smeaton was certainly hostile to Brindley (and visa versa).

Two Girls on a Barge by V Cecil Cotes, published by D Appleton, New York in 1891 is an account of a voyage in a boat converted to residential use (sort of) by two rather upper class girls (barge furnished with Liberty fabric for example). I don't know whether it is fictional or factual, or somewhere or other on the scale between! The text is written in the first person by one of the girls, by which I mean the author uses "I", but I don't know if it really happened something as the book describes. Cecil is an unusual girl's name so it may be autobiographical. The book is available on Amazon as a reprint. My reprint is from an edition originally held by Boston Public Library.

Is there more information as to exactly what these items are? Can they be viewed online or actual?

The use of a dog to help with lines is interesting. Both Portuguese (larger) and Spanish (smaller) water dogs were used by fishermen to swim with ropes between boats so nets could be pulled around shoals of fish. A dog handling lines would be helpful to a crew of a canal or river boat. But the lack of references to dog use suggests that any examples were one-offs involving a dog that got the idea quickly rather than being specifically bred and trained for the job. (I have never forgiven Shackleton for shooting the ship’s cat Mr Chips!)

Were dogs ever used to pull boats of any sort? Teams of huskies pull sledges well and are extremely enthusiastic participants. The noise made by about 100 huskies when they realised another sledge was needed to pull the tourists at a centre in Norway was huge; all yelping Me, Me, Me! They also seem to be able to pull over long distances although somewhat quicker than boat speed. I realise that narrow boats were never dog hauled (?) but were there situations, in mines perhaps, where they were used?