Sunken boats below lock 55 Worcs Bham canal - identities?

[Laurence Hogg]

When working up Tardibigge noticed two wrecks on the offside below lock 55. Inner one is a iron hull, very badly corroded, possible a Hickmans boat. The outer is the remains of a wooden boat, probably a day boat with normal iron knees at the stern then curious flat ones further along. Not been aware of these previously and suspect they have languished there for a very long time. Anyone any ideas on their identities?

I didnt have my camera on board but will try to extract a frame from the video camera in due course.

Edited July 7, 2011 by Laurence Hogg

[pete harrison]

When working up Tardibigge noticed two wrecks on the offside below lock 55. Inner one is a iron hull, very badly corroded, possible a Hickmans boat. The outer is the remains of a wooden boat, probably a day boat with normal iron knees at the stern then curious flat ones further along. Not been aware of these previously and suspect they have languished there for a very long time. Anyone any ideas on their identities?

I didnt have my camera on board but will try to extract a frame from the video camera in due course.

 

They were certainly both there in the early 1980's, and in pretty much the same condition as they are now (last seen by me in 2006).

 

I have always wondered about the row of sunken boats in the reservoir, adjacent to the lock at Kingswood Junction. I have no idea if they are still there but they were a collection of exposed knees and stem / stern posts in the early 1980's.

[Laurence Hogg]

I have always wondered about the row of sunken boats in the reservoir, adjacent to the lock at Kingswood Junction. I have no idea if they are still there but they were a collection of exposed knees and stem / stern posts in the early 1980's.

 

Yes, those were of real interest but i believe all gone now. However I photographed one in the 1970's which has always had me mystified as to what she was. An iron boat but with barrel sides and a superb fine lined fore end, all I have is three poor photos, the best of which is below. The boat was not a Bantock and was a much finer lined craft, sadly when I went back to looka few years later it had been removed.

 

Edited July 7, 2011 by Laurence Hogg

[Skeggy]

 

When working up Tardibigge noticed two wrecks on the offside below lock 55. Inner one is a iron hull, very badly corroded, possible a Hickmans boat. The outer is the remains of a wooden boat, probably a day boat with normal iron knees at the stern then curious flat ones further along. Not been aware of these previously and suspect they have languished there for a very long time. Anyone any ideas on their identities?
I didnt have my camera on board but will try to extract a frame from the video camera in due course.

A mate of mine who lives up that flight tells me one is an iron joey and the other he thinks is a wooden ballinger.
Regards

[Steve Priest]

I've no idea about the boats on the Worcs & Bham, but I can shed some light on the ones at Kingswood.The Stratford canal workshops were based at Kingswood, and were closed down I think in 1953/54, when the work was tranferred to Tardebigge. My Grandad had been the carpenter on the Stratford canal since 1927, having moved there from the Kennet and Avon. He retired shortly after the depot closed. He told me they had three full length boats on maintenance, one assigned to the carpenter, one to the bricklayer, and one to the blacksmith. When the depot closed the boats were of no further use and were sunk behind the lock in the bottom reservoir. I think they had been long distance boats, and at least one had a cabin. My Grandad's mate was Jack Edwards, who became lock keeper when the depot closed, and lived in the cottage by the split bridge at the top of the thick. Jack told me that before the boats were abandoned he had all the loose timber out of them for his chicken coups, and that there were also several shorter boats sunk over to the far side of the reservoir that had previously been used for dredging work. One of these he said was called the Dundee.

 

As to the iron boat, I can't remember that particular one, but I do remember that when Brian Duvall rented space at the depot from the National Trust he had several boats there. One of these was a wooden flyboat which was left for a long while in about the position of Laurence's photo, and eventually broken up, another was a Bantock which he converted into a tug which he named Emerald.