Summer 2022 - Issue 66

The Summer 2022 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: On a hot summer’s day, wide boat Irene, owned by Henry Boyer of Terminus Wharf, 14 South Wharf, Paddington Basin, has started to take a bend in the cut as the boatwoman pushes the tiller hard over. Many of the wide boats plying the southern Grand Junction Canal were involved in the building trades, whether it be carrying raw materials or finished products, such as bricks and cement

A Broader Outlook

Wide Boats on the Grand Junction

Chris M. Jones looks at a series of images that detail the traffics carried in these distinctive craft

View an excerpt.

Historical Profiles

Looking into the Distance

Chris M. Jones studies an 18th-century document containing several distance tables

View an excerpt.

Unearthing History

The Last Mile

Andy Tidy explores the history of the railway interchange basins that were once prevalent on the Birmingham Canal Navigations

View an excerpt.

Canal Postcards

Willow Wren at Brownhills

Chris M. Jones reveals the background details of a picture postcard of the BCN at Brownhills

This is our free-access sample article from the Summer 2022 NarrowBoat.

View an excerpt.

Historical Canal Maps

Wigan 1847

Historical canal maps Richard Dean explores the canalside industry of Wigan

View an excerpt.

Traditional Techniques

Carrying around Cut End

Chris M. Jones studies nine images illustrating boat-handling at Marston Junction

View an excerpt.

Preserving the Past

Refuelling at Ricky

Chris M. Jones studies a magic lantern slide of Batchworth Lock at Rickmansworth

View an excerpt.

From the Archives

Acquiring a Carrier

Joseph Boughey examines documents relating to the sale of canal-carrier John Parke & Son, based on the western Leeds & Liverpool

View an excerpt.

Art of the Waterways

Frank Jones Illustrated

Chris M. Jones studies a post-war article about boat decoration

View an excerpt.

Picturing the Past

Trent & Mersey Miscellany

Another delve into the Jack Parkinson collection reveals boats at work, mostly in the early 1960s

View an excerpt.

From the Archives

Early Canal Classics

Gordon Biddle examines three classic canal books from the 18th and 19th centuries

View an excerpt.

Canal Postcards

Barton Swing Aqueduct

 Trevor Ellis looks at how postcard publishers captured this wonder of the waterways

View an excerpt.