Spring 2020 - Issue 57

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Cover Image

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Front Cover: The cover image shows Alexander John Harmsworth's narrowboat Basingstoke underway, carrying small coal loaded in London. It highlights the boat’s unusual lines, compared with the more conventional narrowboats on the Basingstoke Canal and elsewhere.

The Spring 2020 issue includes the following features.

Famous Fleets

Alexander John Harmsworth & Sons

Chris M. Jones studies the canal-carrying history of a private carrier and canal-owner in the South East

You can view an excerpt here.

Time and Place

Boating at Barrow

Chris M. Jones looks at traffic on the Leicester Line in the early 1900s.

You can view an excerpt here.

Picturing the Past

Carrying in ’50s London

Another delve into Julian Thompson’s photo archive reveals details of boat and barge traffic in and around the capital in the 1950s

You can view an excerpt here.

Canals That Never Were

Somerset Shortcut

Richard Dean explores the ambitious proposals for a ship canal connecting the English and Bristol channels

You can view an excerpt here.

From the Archives

Angelsey Wharf Controversy

Joseph Boughey uncovers documents giving an insight into the decline of carrying on the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the mid-1960s

You can view an excerpt here.

Canal Curios

IW Badge

Sarah Henshaw considers how women can still wear the waterways with pride

You can view an excerpt here.

Canal Postcards

Barnsley Aqueduct Burst

Trevor Ellis examines how historic postcards capture the scene of a serious breach on the Barnsley Canal in 1911

You can view an excerpt here.

Time and Place

Deadly Cargo at Braunston

Kerry Dainty looks back on a severe cholera outbreak at the canal village in 1834

You can view an excerpt here.

Working the Waterways

We Are Not All Rogues, Sir!

Chris M. Jones explores the origins of boaters in the Canal Age and why they were often unfairly maligned by wider society

You can view an excerpt here.

Time and Place

Traffic at Rumps Lock

Through a sequence of images in the Jack Parkinson collection, we study commercial carrying activity on the Trent & Mersey at Middlewich in 1965

You can view an excerpt here.

Canal Postcards

The Lock House

Trevor Ellis looks at how historic postcards document the changing face of a much photographed part of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal

You can view an excerpt here.

Unearthing History

Telegraph Poles

Ray Thorp examines the history of these once ubiquitous towpath structures

You can view an excerpt here.