Spring 2021 - Issue 61
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Front Cover: Day-boat traffic was the mainstay of boating operations in the BCN and some of its connecting canals. Here a boatman manoeuvres a deeply laden boat of pig iron ingots in front of Fazeley Street Rolling Mills in Birmingham during the 1890s.
The Spring 2021 issue includes the following features.
Last Traffic
Annus Horribilis
Tom Chaplin looks back to 1969, a year when narrowboat carrying suffered serious decline
You can view an excerpt here.
Historical Profiles
Gower Branch Traffic
Chris M. Jones studies traffic passing Brades Hall Toll Stop on the Gower Branch of the BCN in 1946-47
You can view an excerpt here.
Working the Waterways
Life in a BCN canal cottage
Andy Tidy explores the social history of a family of BCN workers, who resided in a canalside cottage at Perry Barr
You can view an excerpt here.
From the Archives
Closure of the Forth & Clyde
Jospeh Boughey examines records showing the decision to close this Scottish waterway in the early 1960s
You can view an excerpt here.
Picturing the Past
Stoppage at Cowley Lock
Chris M. Jones looks at two images recording a stoppage at Cowley Lock in 1896
You can view an excerpt here.
Last Traffic
Twilight of Horse-boating on the BCN
Andy Tidy narrates photos showing the last horse-boat operation on the West Midlands waterways in the 1970s
You can view an excerpt here.
Canals That Never Were
Macclesfield Projects
Richard Dean details early competing schemes for a Potteries-to-Manchester canal
You can view an excerpt here.
Tracing Family History
The Davies family Archive
Chris M. Jones studies images from a family collection deposited at the Waterways Archive
You can view an excerpt here.
A Broader Outlook
Keels at Elland
Chris M. Jones studies three images of West Country keels on the Calder & Hebble
You can view an excerpt here.
Picturing the Past
Trent & Mersey Boating
We explore details of four pictures from the Jack Parkinson Collection showing traffic near Rode Heath in 1964
You can view an excerpt here.