A Stroudwater barge was a type of

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

developed for use on the

Stroudwater Navigation The Stroudwater Navigation is a canal in Gloucestershire, England which linked Stroud to the River Severn. It was authorised in 1776, although part had already been built, as the proprietors believed that an Act of Parliament ( 3 Geo. 2. c. 1 ...

, a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

Origins

As for most specialised British canal barge designs, their size was chosen to be the largest that could fit through the

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

s and bridges of the area in which they worked. The locks of the Stroudwater Navigation are . This gave typical dimensions for the barges of length and a beam of . They could carry between 70 and 75 tons. As usual for barges they were carvel built, with bluff bows and rounded

bilge The bilge of a ship or boat is the part of the hull that would rest on the ground if the vessel were unsupported by water. The "turn of the bilge" is the transition from the bottom of a hull to the sides of a hull. Internally, the bilges (us ...

s. The stem post is high with a towing bitt behind, and with a canoe stern. Both stem and stern had a small decked area. The bow carried a large iron

windlass The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder (barrel), which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt. A winch is affixed to one or both ends, and a cable or rope is wound arou ...

and the stern provided a small living cabin beneath the deck. There was no sailing mast or propulsion, as they were bank-hauled by horses. These barges were used on the Stroudwater canal and onto the

Gloucester and Sharpness Canal The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal (also known as the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal) is a ship canal in the west of England, between Gloucester and Sharpness, completed in 1827. For much of its length the canal runs close to the tidal River S ...

, via

Saul Junction Saul is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Fretherne with Saul, in the Stroud district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. In 1881 the parish had a population of 597. On 24 March 1884 the parish was abolished to form ...

, and thence to either Gloucester or for transhipment from seagoing ships at Sharpness docks. The design changed very little in over 100 years. As for so many designs, they were replaced by motor vessels after World War 2, as those were cheaper to operate. The last to operate were as dumb barges on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal in the 1940s.

Survivors

No examples survive. Some remain as wrecks. The largest collection are six barges forming part of the Purton Hulks, a collection of boats beached on the banks of the

Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

. The best surviving of these is the ''Rockby''. Others are the ''Envoy'', ''Glenby'', ''Priory'', ''Society'' and ''Tirley''. A seventh of the Purton barges, the barge ''Abbey'', has also been described as a Stroudwater barge by some sources. As the ''Abbey'' is 84ft 4in by 19ft 4in it is oversize for the Stroudwater locks. During the demolition of the

Severn Railway Bridge The Severn Railway Bridge (historically called the Severn Bridge) was a bridge carrying the railway across the River Severn between Sharpness and Lydney in Gloucestershire, England. It was built in the 1870s by the Severn Bridge Railway C ...

in the 1960s, the ''Halfren'', a motorised barge of 1913, was used for collecting small pieces of wreckage. Worn out by this work and the frequent groundings, it was abandoned on the shore at

Aust Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, about north of Bristol and about south west of Gloucester. It is located on the eastern side of the Severn estuary, close to the eastern end of the Severn Bridge which carries the M48 ...

. ''Finis'', visible at

Arlingham Arlingham is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, England. The 2021 Census recorded a parish population of 533 (271 males, 262 females (129 in the age range 0-17, 289 18-64year olds an ...

, ''Severn Bridge'', ''Perseverance'', ''Lavender'' are also mentioned as wrecks by Fred Rowbotham.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=35em, refs= {{Cite web , title=Wide Beam Working Boats , author=Jim Shead , website= , url=http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/boats.php?wpage=BC2 {{Cite web , title=Some Vessels in the Purton Boat Graveyard Associated with the Stroudwater Canal , author=Paul Barnett , date=April 2007 , publisher=Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology , url=http://www.gsia.org.uk/canals/projects/s10_lpb_boats.pdf , ref={{harvid, Barnett {{Cite web , title=Rockby , website=Friends of Purton , url=http://www.friendsofpurton.org.uk/Vessels/Rockby.html {{Cite web , title=Barge Abbbey , website=Friends of Purton , url=http://www.friendsofpurton.org.uk/Vessels/Barge_Abbey.html {{Cite web , title=Some details of a number of the ships beached along the River Severn at Purton , website=Cotswold Canals Heritage , url=http://www.cotswoldcanalsheritage.org.uk/page_id__59_img__149.aspx , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609234454/http://www.cotswoldcanalsheritage.org.uk/page_id__59_img__149.aspx , url-status=usurped , archive-date=June 9, 2016 {{Cite journal , title=The Steamboat Builders of Brimscombe , journal=Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology , year=1988 , pages=3–20 , url=http://www.gsia.org.uk/reprints/1988/gi198803.pdf {{Cite book , title=Severn Enterprise , last=Jordan , first=Christopher , year=1977 , publisher=Arthur H. Stockwell , location=Ilfracombe , isbn=0-7223-0967-8 , chapter=16: A Demolition Job , page=96 Boat types Barges

Origins

Survivors

See also

References