Spring 2026 - Issue 81
The Spring 2026 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: Fellows, Morton & Clayton butty Dorset on yet another trip between major destinations, which may include London, Birmingham or Coventry. The boat was built in March 1926 by Sephton Brothers at Tusses Bridge Dock, Foleshill, for £245.
Historical Profiles
A Fellows, Morton & Clayton Miscellany
Chris M. Jones studies images of FMC’s boats, including several previously unpublished. Many appear to have come from family collections and, while most aren’t captioned, subsequent research has helped identify the boats and, in some cases, the families connected with them
View an excerpt.
Early Campaigning
The Lost Toll End Communication Canal
Andy Tidy explores restoration efforts on the BCN and the east-west route campaigners couldn’t save
View an excerpt.
Working the Waterways
Transporting Tar in Brum
In 1952 a newspaper journalist stepped aboard a family-run narrowboat to record life on Birmingham’s canals
This is our free-access sample article from the Spring 2026 NarrowBoat
View an excerpt.
Canals That Never Were
Langleybury Tunnel
Richard Dean looks at how the Grand Junction Canal could have taken a very different route
View an excerpt.
Historical Profiles
In and around the Pool of London
Chris M. Jones studies a series of images showing the type of vessels and traffic in the vicinity of the Pool of London
View an excerpt.
Historical Profiles
Mon & Brec
Andy Tidy explores the history of this isolated Welsh waterway, which is actually formed of two canals
View an excerpt.
Working the Waterways
Memories of the Weaver Viaduct
Tom Chaplin shares recollections of working on the Weaver in 1971, including narrowboat traffic
View an excerpt.
Last Traffic
Last Loads to Liverpool
Chris M. Jones examines Jack Parkinson’s photos of the last coal traffic into Liverpool in the early 1960s
View an excerpt.
Tracing Family History
My Wartime Boating Ancestors
Daniel Agee looks at how two branches of his family kept canal traffic moving during WWII
View an excerpt.
