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Boats


Gifford  Worcester

Clayton’s horseboat GIFFORD

GIFFORD was built as a horsedrawn tank boat for Thomas Clayton (Oldbury) Limited at Nurser's boatyard in Braunston, Northamptonshire, in 1926.

Fleet number 60
Registered at Daventry No 374
7th December 1926
Watermans Hall number 1279

gifford colours
Gifford as depicted by Edward Paget-Tomlinson in his acclaimed
"Colours of the Cut" series for
"Waterways World" and the subsequent book

The hold is decked over to make a watertight tank for the transport of liquid cargoes. It has a forecabin, which gives more living space than most working narrow boats. There is a bulkhead or ‘stank’ at each end of the hold, giving an air space between it and the living accommodation, which prevents noxious fumes from the cargo polluting the cabins.

In the days when gas was obtained from coal, tar and gas water were valuable by-products. During the 1930s and early 1940s GIFFORD carried gas tar from the gasworks at Oxford to the Midland Tar Distillers works at Banbury and from Leamington gasworks to both Oldbury and Banbury..

entry in BCN register

In January 1930, pictures in the Oxford Mail show GIFFORD being towed under Osney bridge when the river was in flood – certainly causing a lot of interest for the spectators on the bridge. It is steered by William Gardner, brother of the regular steerer Horace.

Two years later, Horace’s wife Phoebe gave birth to their son Joseph Thomas on GIFFORD when it was tied up at Crescent Wharf, Birmingham on 25th April. Like many boatmen, Horace could not write, so marked the Birth Certificate with a cross instead of signing it. The original birth certificate is in the David Owen TWT archive at Ellesmere Port.

gifford at osney bridge
 
 
birth certificate
Grandad G on Gifford      

In the 1940s and 1950s GIFFORD also carried fuel oil from the Shell refinery at Stanlow on the Manchester Ship Canal, through Ellesmere Port to Shell’s depot at Langley Green in the midlands. After 1940 it was sometimes towed by a motor boat, but during 1946 was horse drawn, crewed by Steve Dulson, one of the last horse boatmen on this traffic. The 160 mile round trip would take 6 or 7 days, depending on loading/unloading time.

In 1941 it was back on the Oxford canal, paired with the motor TWEED with Albert Beechey as captain, with his wife Susan and their family. Tragedy struck on 5th April 1941. Albert and Sue’s daughters Susan Agnes and Clara were in the fore cabin at Clayton’s depot at Oldbury. Their parents thought the stove had gone out and closed the hatch and the chimney was covered. Susan suffocated and her younger sister Clara who was eight was found unconscious and survived. Susan was only 13 years old.

 
Grandad Gardner on Gifford

During the rest of the 1940s and 1950s, GIFFORD continued to work on both the Stanlow oil run and the Banbury traffic.

 In May 1942, The Ellesmere Port Canal Boat Inspector’s Journal of Inspections tells us that the GIFFORD was paired with another horse boat, the CHERWELL and was occupied by steerer P.Clowes, his wife and three daughters of 9,11 and 13. They were travelling empty, the boats were in good condition and with a good level of cleanliness.

Another report shows that in December 1949 it was towed by the motor DOVE, crewed  by William Bellingham. According to the Journal of Inspections, 1 man and 1 woman occupied GIFFORD, whilst boys of 12yrs and 4yrs as well as 15 and 7 year old girls were on the motor. It is more likely that at least 2 of the children would sleep in GIFFORD’s fore cabin. Mr Bellingham also worked GIFFORD with the motor SEVERN during September 1949 and May 1950. Horse drawn boats were operating on this traffic until 1953.

The Stanlow traffic ended on 31st August 1955, with GIFFORD carrying its last load of fuel oil on August 17th. It carried  21 tons 15cwt and was towed by STOUR which carried 20 tons fuel oil. Abel Beechey was the captain.

The Oxford gas works closed in 1955 but GIFFORD worked into the 1960s carrying tar from gas works in the Midlands to Oldbury, once more horse drawn. Mr and Mrs Ben Smith and Mrs Smith’s son Jack Taylor were the crew. They had regularly worked the motor boats USK or DON with the ex-horseboat MOLE  on the Stanlow traffic.

Thomas Clayton Limited finished their canal operations in 1966 when the M5 motorway was built over the site of their boatyard. Max Sinclair saved GIFFORD from being broken up by paying a £60 deposit to Claytons in 1963. It was then bought by M.H. Bunford of Norbury. In 1970, he sold it to Edward Paget–Tomlinson and extensive repairs were carried out by Ken Keay  at Walsall.

                   
gifford on bcn
Seen here on the BCN, unladen and towed by a horse in the 1960s at the end of her carrying career.

GIFFORD was one of the first boats in the collection at the Boat Museum when it opened in 1976 and was bought from Mr Paget Tomlinson by the North Western Museum of Inland Navigation (later re-named as the Boat Museum Society).

It is the last remaining unconverted horseboat from the Thomas Clayton (Oldbury) fleet.

GIFFORD was rebuilt in the early 1990s by Malcolm Webster at Malkins Bank, on the Trent and Mersey Canal.
She regularly attends waterways events, often horsedrawn.

GIFFORD is part of the collection at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port and is owned, operated and cared for by the Boat Museum Society.

For more details on Claytons see:

Waterways Journal vol 8 - article by Cath Turpin
(published by The Boat Museum Society - to order copies of Waterways Journal print this form and send with cheque)

‘Claytons of Oldbury’ by Alan Faulkner
(published by Robert Wilson, 1978)
NarrowBoat, Spring 2006 (published by Waterways World)
article by Alan Faulkner
BMS newsletter ‘RePort’ – various issues
Sightseen video ‘Towpath Encounter’ features GIFFORD

gifford on the move

           
Gifford horseboating during the filming of the SightSeen video, "Towpath Encounters" which demonstrates horseboating skills with a loaded boat.
(BMS is a founding member of the SightSeen Partnership)
         
gifford working down locks              
                         
A joint boat handling training day was held at the boat Museum on Saturday 31 March 2007. Sue Day and Bonnie joined BMS members to work Gifford through the narrow locks at the Museum. The day was made possible through funding of the Horseboating Society by the Heritage Lottery Fund.  
Gifford winding Sue and Bonnie Gifford winding  
gifford leaving lock Tony Lewery                  
Tony Lewery puts the finishing touches to the ropework on Gifford's newly painted rudder - Easter 2007      
horseboating with Gifford

More Horseboating at Ellesmere Port

Sue Day took a horse to the Museum on Monday 7th May 2007 to give a horseboating demonstration.
Gifford was taken to the winding hole and back.


             
Gifford : Worcester

Worcester

A brief history

Worcester was built in 1912 for use as a tunnel tug on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. She is currently fitted with a 30 hp semi diesel Bolinder engine. She was acquired by the society in the 1972 and considerable restoration work on the hull was carried out.

Recently, further major restoration has been done, mainly to the hull and superstructure requiring considerable skilled rivetting, metalwork and woodwork. The Heritage Lottery Fund grant was awarded to the Boat Museum Society towards this necessary work. The key stages involve cleaning, patching and coating the hull, and removing and replacing the superstructure where necessary. A full process of recording for archive purposes has been carried out and we hope to setup a video recording of Worcester being used to tow a train of boats at some time in the future.

The restoration work is being carried out together by the Museum's boat restoration team and volunteers from the Society. The major skilled work of replacing rusted metalwork and re-rivetting was carried out by the Museum's team, taking care to replace as accurately as possible following careful recording and discussion. After the completion of the restoration, Worcester will continue to be operated at the Museum and to promote the Society by attending rallies and increase public awareness of the importance of historic canal craft.

Worcester has a riveted iron hull, is 45 feet long, a 7 foot wide, with a draught of approximately 3 foot 9 inches. She was originally fitted with a 28HP twin cylinder Kromhout engine but was re-engined in 1929/30 with the current impressive single cylinder 30HP Bolinder semi-diesel. It finished work as a tug in 1956 and was sold by British Waterways into private ownership in 1959.

Waterways Journal: Volume 7 has a more detailed history of Worcester, along with that of its twin tug, Birmingham.
(to order copies of Waterways Journal print this form and send with cheque)


chocking up Worcester
working on worcester
   
Worcester smoking
   
Chocking up Worcester in the yard behind the Island Warehouse.        
         
Needlegunning Worcester's hull early in the most recent restoration

Worcester in the top basin with the engine fired up.
the sound of Worcester's Bolinder engine

 
 
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