Spring 2025 - Issue 77
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Front Cover: Richard Crump of Bewdley was a farmer, timber dealer and estate agent for a local landowner also owned several boats including Ladas, registered in August 1894 with Thomas Crump as captain. Ladas main route was on the Staffs & Worcs Canal between Bewdley and the Potteries, where the timber was used for making pottery crates. Ladas is shown as a deep-draughted Severn longboat, typical of craft owned at Bewdley with livery representative of boats photographed at Bewdley with colours interpreted from black-and-white.
The Spring 2025 issue includes the following features.
Historical Profiles
Going Underground
Andy Tidy explores boats built specifically for subterranean waterways
You can view an excerpt here.
Historical Profiles
Staffs & Worcs Traffics
Chris M. Jones looks at several aspects of canal carrying on the Staffs & Worcs Canal
You can view an excerpt here.
A Broader Outlook
Power to the People
With Britain’s last coal-fired power station closing last autumn, Andy Tidy looks back at the canals’ connections with the UK’s power industry
You can view an excerpt here.
Historical Profiles
Preston’s Lost Canal Basin
Daniel Crowther follows the rise and fall of the Lancaster Canal’s lost transhipment basin
You can view an excerpt here.
A Broader Outlook
Barging on the Aire & Calder
Chris M. Jones explores photos from the Jack Parkinson collection showing barges at work in Goole docks on the Aire & Calder Canal taken on a viist in September 1966 when the canal was still full of commercial activity.
You can view an excerpt here.
Picturing the Past
Traffic at Market Drayton
Chris M. Jones looks at four images that illustrate traffic around this small Shropshire town
This is our free-access sample article from the Spring 2025 NarrowBoat
You can view an excerpt here.
From the Archives
Who was William Mansell?
Using various family history resources, Joseph Boughey attempts to uncover the details of a boatman encountered on the Trench Inclined Plane in the late 19th century
You can view an excerpt here.
Canals That Never Were
Penrhyn Canal
Richard Dean describes an interesting Welsh proposal
You can view an excerpt here.
Picturing the Past
Bluetop Boats
We look at photos showing an unusual class of narrowboat built for British Transport Waterways in the 1950s and ’60s
You can view an excerpt here.
Picturing the Past
Coal for the Sugar Works
Chris M. Jones investigates an image showing coal traffic passing through Maghull
You can view an excerpt here.
