Industry Narrowboats, Stretton Wharf on The Shroppie in The 80's

[cheshire~rose]

I doubt any boater who has cruised past Stretton Wharf over the years has not slowed to have a good look at a lot of the interesting vessels that have been visible on the hardstanding there through the years.

 

What I am interested in is if anyone has any recollections of the boats that have moored there, near the aqueduct, over the decades. Maybe even taken a photo that included them? The approximate period I am looking for information on is the 1980's The boat in question was possibly there for most of that decade as a reliable source has memories of it being there in the early/mid 80's and it has been suggested it was sold in the late 80's. It is also suggested the family that lived there owned the boat from 1969 so it is entirely possible it was moored there for longer, or perhaps moored somewhere else?

 

The boat would have been a 45' called Chariene.

 

The only photo I have seen of Chariene is a tiny thumbnail and I think it was brown? I seem to recall the picture was on HNBC website but it appears to have been removed now.

 

The boat had previously been a BWB Hire boat called Water Viper. It had been converted in 1959 and had a very typical 1950's square cruiser stern:

 

 

 

The bow would have been quite different looking to anyone with an interest in old boats and may have caught the eye of an enthusuast with some rivets:

 

 

We believe the boat was owned by a family with the name "Sheppard" It is thought they lived in the house adjacent to the wharf which is now a boys home. I am told that the boat was not really used at all, it just sat there. The family eventually emigrated to Spain and the boat was sold (late 80's we think) It is very possible the boat was owned by the Sheppard family at Stretton from 1969 as there are records that indicate that to be the case.

 

Prior to that it was briefly owned by a CW Huxley from Willenhall

 

If anyone has any information of photos that may help to flesh a large chunk of the history of this boat out then it would be very useful.

 

The boat started out life as Delhi and around the year 2000 we know Warwickshire Flyboat Co carried out the conversion to what Delhi is now. It was owned by John Sykes before us, he had owned Olive but swapped it with Jason McCabe to get Delhi. We are unsure of the exact year that swap took place. We are unsure of when Jason McCabe's period of ownership started and whether there were any other owners in between The Sheppards and him.

 

While we have some great details of the history of the boat from when it was built in 1930 to 1969 the period between then and the start of this century are very vague and if anyone has any leads I can follow up that may help to flesh it out a bit (no matter how tenuous) I would be very pleased to try and dig out some more information

 

Thank you in anticipation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hudds Lad]

Is Stretton Wharf the one near Watling Street (A5)?

 

If so, there’s always something interesting to look at, or has been every time we went past.

[cheshire~rose]

Yes that is the place. Almost adjacent to the aqueduct there. 

 

I recall we were once passing by just as they were craning a boat in and they had shuffled various boats about to make room. It was the middle of winter and they were probably hoping that there wouldn't be any boats passing. We were more than happy to just hang back and watch. They apologised profusely for delaying us but we were very happy to have an excuse to stop and look. 

 

We took Delhi there to have her hull blasted then two-packed after we bought her. We were very happy indeed with the work we had done. 

[Heartland]

Stretton Wharf is north of the 1832 Telford Aqueduct

 

This is a 1973 view from the towpath

 

 

[cheshire~rose]

Oh my goodness!

 

Thank you!

 

That is a photo of Chariene in 1973!

 

What a fabulous photo. 

 

Did I say Thank you  

[Heartland]

As noted, that image was from the RCHS Edwin Shearing Collection. Edwin was a meticulous canal researcher who travelled the canal network and has photographs of canal boats going back in colour slides to the 1950's. When his collection is fully scanned, they will be placed on the RCHS website. The Shropshire Union Canal history was a speciality of his. Edwin died in 2016.

[cheshire~rose]

Thank you so much for digging that image out for us. We will ensure it is always properly credited when we use it. I sent it to the former owner who is thrilled to see it and has promised to have a dig among his photos to see what he can send me for the last 20 years during his ownership that we can keep as an archive for the future. 

 

Also this weekend this photo was turned up, kindly supplied by Richard Booth and said to have been taken in 2003 at Marsworth. If that date is correct it throws some of the other suggested dates for when the current conversion was done completely out so we need to do a bit of checking to try and fix a few dates in place. Fabulous photo! :