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A view of the Longboat, Birmingham


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This view appears on the internet, and seems to be an early view of the pub. There used to be warehouses on the site and a basin in the demolished warehouse seems to hold a boat with an Ansells logo on it. The crane is believed to have been left in place and is now listed.

 

Any ideas on the "boat" ?

 

76045cb0361acba98ebf9f001501a405--birmingham-basins.jpg

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The boat was an ex FMC butty. I can't remember its original name, but at that time it carried the name Squirrel, that being the logo of Ansell's Brewery. The conversion was just one large room, and it was used as a function room for the pub. I remember one or two BCN Society gatherings held ther in the mid 1970s.

In later years the arm was infilled and used as additional external seating.

In the 80s I saw the boat on the GU in the Croxley/Rickmansworth area, still with the same conversion and with the squirrel design etched into the windows.

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The listing of the crane I believe was because it was near its original location, but then there was another at the other end of the Longboat, now taken down. So the listing information may not be accurate,

 

The 1982 Listing

KINGSTON ROW 1. 5104 City Centre B1 Two Cranes at east and west ends of Basin at head of Farmers Bridge Locks SP 0686 NW 32/11 II 2. Early C19 canal wharf cranes, reset on James Brindley Walk and outside the Longboat Public House. Pivotting timber gallows with iron brackets. Large cast iron chain drive wheel to side of hub and hand winch at foot.

Listing NGR: SP0614786975

 

The warehouses on this site go back to the early days of canal carrying at the Crescent and were used by Crowley & Co and later the Shropshire Union and then had a variety of other owners.

 

The cranes within the warehouse may have changed with time, but were needed for transfer of goods to and from boats in the basin. It is quite possible that if they are from the former SU warehouse they were a George Jebb improvement. The design appears later than the bulky cranes often found inside warehouses.

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The butty SQUIRREL had some lively roses and castles on the living cabin painted by Dennis Clarke, whose work was featured inside the pub on a series of butty elum’s complete with rope work and used to partition the seating areas.

 
I remember the butty was held in place within the arm by two hefty steel girders running horizontally each side just above the water line.
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The Cambrian Wharf cranes appear to be of the type intended to be installed in buildings, with the upper end of the main vertical being supported from a ceiling beam. They now have angled back stays to hold the top in position. So they must have been removed and re-erected, even if still in the original location.

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From a discussion about the crane at Audlem:

 

“Thirdly, and importantly, I discussed the crane with our good friend Harry Arnold MBE, only months before he died in 2018. Harry was probably the best known professional canal photographer and journalist in Britain, who had travelled round the country taking photos and writing press reports for nearly 60 years. He was adamant that the crane at Audlem was one of the three moved by British Waterways from canal/railway transhipment depots in the West Midlands. That would tie in with the fact that the crane is of LNWR origin. There was a significant number of these depots, roughly half of which were built by the LNWR. British Waterways's chief architect Peter White organised the crane moves. The other two cranes were 'planted' outside the then new "Longboat" pub at Cambrian Wharf in Birmingham, and at Diglis Basin in Worcester. Harry said that he was in Audlem about the time the crane was erected here; I suspect that's true, as he worked on some of the woodwork inside what is now The Shroppie Fly when it was being converted.”

 

https://www.audlem.org/news/mystery-of-canal-crane.html

 

 

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Yes, Harry Arnold was an accurate source. I have been trying for some time now to check the images of the transhipment depots interiors I have, but have yet to find a similar example. As stated before these cranes have the look of being a later design.

 

The LNWR/SU depots in the Midlands are several in number and were either railway interchange or boatage depots. The Cambrian Wharf warehouse was not an interchange depot, but a carriers wharf as was their wharf at the entrance to Gibson's Arm. Early in the days of commercial carrying GR Bird had Three Cranes Wharf at the Crescent, but the cranes there seem to have been of a more substantial design for wharf side transfers. The Cambrian Wharf warehouse had an interior loading facility.

 

 

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On 11/07/2021 at 16:01, Paul H said:

From a discussion about the crane at Audlem:

 

“Thirdly, and importantly, I discussed the crane with our good friend Harry Arnold MBE, only months before he died in 2018. Harry was probably the best known professional canal photographer and journalist in Britain, who had travelled round the country taking photos and writing press reports for nearly 60 years. He was adamant that the crane at Audlem was one of the three moved by British Waterways from canal/railway transhipment depots in the West Midlands. That would tie in with the fact that the crane is of LNWR origin. There was a significant number of these depots, roughly half of which were built by the LNWR. British Waterways's chief architect Peter White organised the crane moves. The other two cranes were 'planted' outside the then new "Longboat" pub at Cambrian Wharf in Birmingham, and at Diglis Basin in Worcester. Harry said that he was in Audlem about the time the crane was erected here; I suspect that's true, as he worked on some of the woodwork inside what is now The Shroppie Fly when it was being converted.”

 

https://www.audlem.org/news/mystery-of-canal-crane.html

 

 

Having carried out more research in Audlem, I can now confirm that the crane erected on Audlem Wharf in the early 1970s is definitely a Great Western Railway crane that came from inside the goods shed at Audlem station (which was on the Wellington to Nantwich double tracked secondary main line).  I have spoken to two people involved in its renoval after their firm bought the site after closure.  I found this out just in time to include the information in my new book "Audlem Locks - A Walk Through History", from www.canalbookshop.co.uk

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1 minute ago, Hastings said:

Having carried out more research in Audlem, I can now confirm that the crane erected on Audlem Wharf in the early 1970s is definitely a Great Western Railway crane that came from inside the goods shed at Audlem station (which was on the Wellington to Nantwich double tracked secondary main line).  I have spoken to two people involved in its renoval after their firm bought the site after closure.  I found this out just in time to include the information in my new book "Audlem Locks - A Walk Through History", from www.canalbookshop.co.uk

Was that not discussed when it was taken away to be rebuilt.

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17 minutes ago, Hastings said:

Not as far as I know - and we live next door to it, and were involved in some discussions with CRT.

Must have been on Facebook then, When it was decided it was unsafe and they took it away there was concern it wouldn't come back. That is when I found out it was ex railway 

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