Winter 2019 - Issue 56

You can purchase this magazine from our online Shop.

You can read the articles in this and all other NarrowBoat issues online by becoming a NarrowBoat subscriber.

Current NarrowBoat subscribers can fully search and read the digital editions of ALL issues of NarrowBoat online. Including those that are no longer available in print. Simply log in

Cover Image

Subscribe to NarrowBoat magazine

Front Cover: In the article "Boating Through Boxmoor" one of the boats shown is Valiant, which was originally paired with Benjamin under ownership of John Franks, for whom Benjamin was built in 1895. The colour scheme shown is guesswork as no information about its actual livery has come to light. After John Franks death in 1904, his boats were worked by his son Benjamin Franks until they were bought by Chance Brothers and then acquired by L.B. Faulkner in the early 1920s.

The Winter 2019 issue includes the following features.

Working the Waterways

The Cost of Carrying

Chris M. Jones looks at the many financial overheads associated with canal carrying

You can view an excerpt here.

A Broader Outlook

Postcards from the Huddersfield Broad Canal

Trevor Ellis explores the details of 20th-century postcards depicting this West Yorkshire waterway

You can view an excerpt here.

Canal Curios

Sutcliffe’s Sounding Gear

Sarah Henshaw investigates a canal precursor of the echo sounder

You can view an excerpt here.

Historical Canal Maps

Manchester Docks

Richard Dean examines maps demonstrating the impact the Manchester Ship Canal had on the city and its waterways

You can view an excerpt here.

Picturing the Past

Carrying at Cassio Bridge

Chris M. Jones studies three images of trade at Cassio Bridge Wharf

You can view an excerpt here.

Working the Waterways

Boating Through Boxmoor

Chris M. Jones reveals the history behind two boats running light through Boxmoor Locks

You can view an excerpt here.

From the Archives

Charles Hadfield and the British Canals Files

Joseph Boughey uncovers many opportunities for further research in the waterways files of well-known canal historian Charles Hadfield

You can view an excerpt here.

Picturing the Past

Post-War Boating on the Grand Union

In the mid-1950s, Julian Thompson took a number of photographs of working boats on the Grand Union. This selection captures the penultimate decade of carrying in the south Midlands

You can view an excerpt here.

Time and Place

Twin Tunnels at Smethwick

Andy Tidy explores Hugh Potter’s 1970s photo of major alterations being made to the BCN through the Galton Valley

You can view an excerpt here.

Last Traffic

On the Grantham Canal

Chris M. Jones studies two images showing the latter days of carrying on this East Midlands waterway

You can view an excerpt here.

Picturing the Past

Tar Boat Epilogue

Another two images taken by Jack Parkinson show Thomas Clayton boats in their final years of operation

You can view an excerpt here.

From the Archives

Trouble in the Tunnel

Nigel C. Jefferies makes a fascinating discovery about a prolonged stand-off between boaters in a canal tunnel in 1851

You can view an excerpt here.