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Images of the Bridgewater dewatered at Boothstown in 1990


frangar

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1 hour ago, Victor Vectis said:

Whats that 16T mineral doing there?

 

:unsure:

The story I was told was  this:

a rake of wagons were let go  down the Manchester Collieries railway by vandals  in the 1960s, the railway was still in use though the boat  coal loading facility may not have been. The wagons fell into the basin and one of them (pictured) was not recovered at the time. Strange to relate, that wagon WAS recovered at the time these pictures were taken and it now resides at the Astley Green Colliery Museum, the only "vehicle" to have been rescued, none of the boats survived. I remember seeing boats 3 deep on a visit there. Box boats,complete with containers on top of others and a topping off of L & L short boats,all rather dramatic. Also at Astley Green are the remains of the NCB motor tug "Fred" , this was a box boat motorised with a Gardner 2L2(?),that engine went into NB Monarch when Fred was sold  in early 70s.

  • Greenie 3
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I did a fairly extensive photographic record, with Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit also surveying the site and producing a report. A couple of boat sections were removed to Ellesmere Port.  I have a copy of the initial list of 23 boats which GMAU produced, though the list was refined subsequently. I wrote the following shortly after the excavation:

 

Booths Hall Basin was built towards the end of the last century and was subject to subsidence so became deeper over the years. Besides pit shale, the basin became a dumping ground for old boats which were costly to dismantle. It has been suggested that there are four layers of boats sunk here which would mean that the canal has subsided about twenty five feet, a not impossible amount. Certainly two layers of boat are visible, any more are  covered by pit shale.

Among the lower layer can be seen several box boats, an early form of containerisation and used to carry coal on the Bridgewater. One at least is  complete with its boxes which it is hoped will be removed for preservation. There is also one of the Anderton narrow boats together with several wide boats. An iron boat, possibly one of the Bridgewater steam tugs is also reputed to be here. The upper layer consists of the two unsold NCB box boats and ten wide boats. These are both round and square sterned, three being similar to the GEORGE at Ellesmere Port. Most probably date from early this century, though the KITTY could be earlier. Her fine lines and sloping stern post would reduce carrying capacity but make it easier for towing by horse. The wide boats are a typical cross section of the various types used for coal carrying on the Bridgewater and Leeds and Liverpool, comprising horse boats, dumb boats (towed by tugs) and two motor boats, the TOM built in the 1920s and FRANK built in 1948.

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