Polesworth Painting

Reader's Letters & Queries: NarrowBoat, Winter 2010

I thoroughly enjoyed the article the Polesworth painting of Jim & Isaiah Atkins (Autumn 2010 NB). As a dealer of canal artefacts (and a regular at the Crick Boat Show!) I have recently obtained the item shown on the photograph. There is a faded label saying (I think) “Isaiah Atkins, Polesworth Dock, Bedworth, down from Chanty”. There is no doubt about the artist but was there a boat called Chanty or Charity? Philip Doüetil, Pirbright, SurreyRoger Wickson replies: There is no doubt at all that this is a splendid, albeit battered, example of Polesworth painting on a weatherboard. Chanty must be Charity. Charity Dock continued to be active for years after Polesworth so my suspicion is that this weatherboard came from a boat that ended up there to be docked. Perhaps the boat was in private hands with an owner who did not recognise the worth of Polesworth painting. Charity Dock was always pretty chaotic and that weatherboard might have been salvaged and hanging about t…