Summer 2019 - Issue 54

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The Summer 2019 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: From 1853, regular steam towage started on the River Severn and narrowboats (called ‘long-boats’ on the river) and barges travelled between Gloucester, Worcester and Stourport without the need for horse haulage from the towpath. Navigating the fast-flowing waters of the Severn demanded a higher level of skill and experience than on the canals. Many Severn long-boats were fitted with hefty timber-heads each side of the fore-deck to attach strong towing lines, as shown here.

Boat Building at Braunston 1796 to 1958 featured image

Working the Waterways

Boat Building at Braunston 1796 to 1958

Chris M. Jones looks at the long history of wooden boat building at the famous canal village

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Descending Stoke Locks featured image

Picturing the Past

Descending Stoke Locks

Another selection of images from the Jack Parkinson Collection reveals the carriage of pottery materials at Stoke-on-Trent

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Traffic on the River Severn in the 19th century featured image

Traffic on the River Severn in the 19th century

Chris M. Jones studies the growth of long-boat and wide-boat carrying on the mighty Severn

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The old Thames Waterfront featured image

Time and Place

The old Thames Waterfront

Chris M. Jones investigates images of the old Thames riverside when the Pool of London was a thriving port

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Charles Hadfield’s Jessop and Telford files featured image

From the Archives

Charles Hadfield’s Jessop and Telford files

Joseph Boughey examines the late waterways historian’s research into great canal engineers

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Rebuilding the Warwick Canals featured image

Working the Waterways

Rebuilding the Warwick Canals

Alan Thorpe studies a series of images taken in the early 1930s showing the widening and improving of today’s northern Grand Union Canal

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First Sod from the MSC featured image

Canal Curios

First Sod from the MSC

Sarah Henshaw celebrates the men – and machines – who dug the 36-mile ‘ditch’

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Taking a Break at Tinsley featured image

Time and Place

Taking a Break at Tinsley

The Sheffield & Tinsley Canal celebrates its bicentenary this year. Chris M. Jones looks at a scene from its working heyday

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Oxford Canal Improvements featured image

Historical Canal Maps

Oxford Canal Improvements

Richard Dean describes Charles Vignoles’ 1828 plan to shorten the northern Oxford

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