Winter 2021 - Issue 64
The Winter 2021 issue includes the following features. 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.
Front Cover: An independent boatman contractor’s boat loaded with house coal and stranded far from habitation after a heavy overnight frost looks idyllic, but for the working boaters struggling to keep going and make an income it was far from that. A long trek might have been necessary just to acquire food. At least there is the coal to keep warm - although not too much could be used or the owner of the consignment would complain of short-weight when the cargo was eventually unloaded at the destination.
Picturing the Past
Picture Post Canals
Chris M. Jones continues his study of canal coverage in 1940s issues of Picture Post magazine
View an excerpt.
Historical Profiles
The Derby Canal
Bobby Cowling studies the history of a once-busy East Midlands route, and its failure to survive into the leisure-boating era
View an excerpt.
Canal Postcards
The Halifax Arm
Trevor Ellis looks at postcard publishers’ images of a now largely lost branch of the Calder & Hebble Navigation
View an excerpt.
Historical Canal Maps
Route to Halifax
Richard Dean explores details of a branch of the Calder & Hebble Navigation.
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Historical Profiles
Rank’s Mill of Hull
Chris M. Jones studies a 1900s panoramic image of Clarence Mills on the River Hull
View an excerpt.
Working the Waterways
Winter Chill
Chris M. Jones looks at an image of a freezing winter that reveals a story of local traffic on the Oxford Canal
This is our free-access sample article from the Winter 2021 NarrowBoat.
View an excerpt.
From the Archives
Canal Campaigners on Film
Joseph Boughey explores archive footage of canal characters and restoration pioneers, including Robert Aickman and David Hutchings
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Picturing the Past
Blue & Yellow Miscellany
Another delve into the Patrick Rawlinson collection shows two images of British waterways craft in the latter years of carrying on the Grand Union canal near Buckby and Cosgrove
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Canal Curios
Chimney Chains
Ray Thorp provides an insight into traditional working boat decoration
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Historical Profiles
A Lost Wonder of the Waterways?
Trevor Ellis explores the history of a unique but short-lived lift-bridge on the Barnsley Canal
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Picturing the Past
Wharves on the Birmingham Canal Navigations
The BCN had a multitude of wharves and Jack Parkinson photographed three types when they were still in use in the 1960s
View an excerpt.
Working the Waterways
Boaters' Working Rules
Chris M. Jones explores several documents that set out working rules for employed boatmen
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