Post-war Shroppie Traffic to the BCN

Historical Profiles: NarrowBoat, Autumn 2021

Christopher M Jones

Chris M. Jones studies a disparate set of documents recording traffic from the Shroppie to the BCN in the late 1940s

During October 1944, traffic from the terminus of the Shropshire Union Canal at Ellesmere Port to the Birmingham Canal Navigations was mainly of a small number of bulk cargoes, namely wheat, flour, spelter and copper. This traffic was carried by Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd in its own boats, except in one instance when Miss Daphne Marsh in her boat Heather Bell carried 20 tons of flour to Wolverhampton, and an S.E. Barlow motor and butty pair, Ark Royal & Ajax, captained by J. Wood, carried spelter to Birmingham. The use of these other two carriers was most likely due to pooling of boats for the war effort. The FMC boats worked either as single boats or mainly as a motor and butty pair. Only in one instance was there three boats working together, namely motors Roach and Clematis with butty Hilda captained by D. Smith Senior, carrying flour to Wolverhampton. Interestingly, entries between 2nd and 11th October were sent from Ellesmere Port to the BCN via the Trent & Merse…