BCN Gauging Plate

Reader's Letters & Queries: NarrowBoat, Spring 2013

Having recently re-read ‘Getting the Gauge’ (Summer 2010 NB) which included details of gauging plates, I wonder whether you or Christopher Jones could tell me the age and which boat this plate (right) was attached to. It was unearthed while we were reinstating the old graving dock at the boatyard in Barlaston a few years ago. I have an old plan from British Waterways at Norbury showing that the dock must date from around 1772 when the Stone to Stoke section was opened. Looking at the 1881 census it shows the boatyard was run by Samuel Turner & Son, aged 70 at that time and registered as a timber merchant and boat builder. I have since found him as early as 1834 although in 1872 he was also at 49 Renshaw Street, Liverpool, and again in 1892. There is more research to do yet, but we are boaters and love the canals and their history, so any light your readers can shine on the Turners or the dock would be gratefully received. Neil Ecclestone, The Boatyard, BarlastonCh…