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Sunken sweethearts.


Bigtinasoup

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How doo all. 

 

I'm new to the forum but not to boats. I have grown up on them. And now after a savage medical discharge from the military me and my wife are living aboard. 

 

Any who, i was hoping someone could tell me about the hulks scuttled in the collapsed salt mines Middlewich way. I have always admired them and just curious if anyone has some solid gen and even pictures?

Screenshot_20180901-091048.png

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6 minutes ago, Bigtinasoup said:

How doo all. 

 

I'm new to the forum but not to boats. I have grown up on them. And now after a savage medical discharge from the military me and my wife are living aboard. 

 

Any who, i was hoping someone could tell me about the hulks scuttled in the collapsed salt mines Middlewich way. I have always admired them and just curious if anyone has some solid gen and even pictures?

Screenshot_20180901-091048.png

Well the top flash in your photo is now a marina and the only hulks I know of in the area are down on the River Weaver

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http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2714415

Croxton Flash north-west of Middlewich, Cheshire
 
Croxton Flash north-west of Middlewich, Cheshire
Many shallow "lagoons" in this area, locally called flashes, have been caused by subsidence due to salt mining in the ground below. Here, Croxton Flash was beside the Trent and Mersey Canal, but has now merged with it from the right. The wide pool opposite the tow path is privately owned, and should not be crossed in a narrowboat. It will go aground on submerged remains of the canal bank.
 
The sunken boat was in Billinge Green Flash, I think it was called Bream. It has been removed after years of slowly rotting.
2718581_4f9baaf2.jpg
 
 
Narrowboat graveyard, Northwich, Cheshire
 
Narrowboat graveyard, Northwich, Cheshire
Shortly after nationalisation, many redundant or abandoned narrowboats were burned and/or sunk here by British Waterways, in an attempt to prevent their re-use or restoration. The grisly remains were still visible in 1979, but, remarkably, some boats were actually recovered and restored.
Edited by Ray T
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7 hours ago, Bigtinasoup said:

I won't be taking the narrowboat in there. We have a wee tender. However, my dad has told me that a chap from Runcorn had a load out few years back. So it may just be a pleasure paddle. 

These boats were raised in the summer of 1983, so more than 'a few years back' :captain:

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4 hours ago, Ray T said:

The sunken boat was in Billinge Green Flash, I think it was called Bream. It has been removed after years of slowly rotting.

2718581_4f9baaf2.jpg

This is in fact the exFellows, Morton and Clayton Ltd. wooden motor BRILL (completed August 1933), well the stern end anyway :captain: 

2 hours ago, billh said:

There's  a wooden motor at Alvecote that came from Billinge Green , recovered in the 80's. She's looking for a sympathetic owner, having reached the last chance saloon.

This is the exFellows, Morton and Clayton Ltd. wooden motor CLEE (completed July 1947) :captain:

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3 hours ago, billh said:

There's  a wooden motor at Alvecote that came from Billinge Green , recovered in the 80's. She's looking for a sympathetic owner, having reached the last chance saloon.

 

9 minutes ago, Bigtinasoup said:

Do tell me more.....

 

1 hour ago, pete harrison said:

This is the exFellows, Morton and Clayton Ltd. wooden motor CLEE (completed July 1947) :captain:

Tadah :captain:

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2 hours ago, rivergate said:

Clee and Clent have always had something 'right ' about them to my eye anyway.... any recent pictures out there..?  :) 

I have no recent photographs of CLENT but I am aware that it is currently on the bank at Braunston undergoing its second restoration (first restored by Malcolm Braine, Norton Canes, launched July 1980).

 

I have not seen CLEE for a while but the last time I did it looked ready for some renovations, and this appears to be supported in post 12 of this thread.

 

The great thing about old Joshers is that you can ignore them and buy a Grand Union Canal Carrying Company Ltd. boat instead :captain:

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1 hour ago, pete harrison said:

I have no recent photographs of CLENT but I am aware that it is currently on the bank at Braunston undergoing its second restoration (first restored by Malcolm Braine, Norton Canes, launched July 1980).

 

I have not seen CLEE for a while but the last time I did it looked ready for some renovations, and this appears to be supported in post 12 of this thread.

 

The great thing about old Joshers is that you can ignore them and buy a Grand Union Canal Carrying Company Ltd. boat instead :captain:

Old Josher?

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27 minutes ago, Bigtinasoup said:

Old Josher?

'Josher' is a nickname for a narrow boat built by or for Fellows, Morton and Clayton Ltd., Birmingham who were a large independent canal carrier that operated from July 1889 to December 1948. They were still commissioning new narrow boats right up to the end of trading, but the method of construction and overall dimensions limited their carrying capacity especially when compared to the more modern Grand Union Canal Carrying Company Ltd. narrow boats that were undoubtedly the 'Rolls Royce' of narrow boats. Most of the 'Joshers' that continued to carry with 'British Waterways' were soon upgraded to the modern standards of the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company Ltd. narrow boats, being fitted with such basics as electrics and a cabin porthole.

 

Some misguided enthusiasts prefer the proportions of a 'Josher' and consider their lines to be elegant, and when combined with a period Bolinder engine (basically a large diameter pipe with a bucket going up and down within it) are considered to have character.

 

I can't help feeling you already know this :captain:

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On 01/09/2018 at 18:15, billh said:

There's  a wooden motor at Alvecote that came from Billinge Green , recovered in the 80's. She's looking for a sympathetic owner, having reached the last chance saloon.

For the sake of clarity, I was NOT referring to the fine inn across the cut at Alvecote as "the last chance saloon". ?

The boat that Pete correctly identifies is in a fragile, parlous state but  was floating ok earlier in the year.The  biggest problem is moving it to somewhere to work on , craning out/move by road/ moving  through locks to anywhere in one piece  is fraught with difficulty.

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