Boats

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

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..

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.

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.

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 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.

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.