 Perhaps
it’s the time of year or the time of my life but this end of year column
is a touch melancholic. As so often before my subject is our
disappearing waterway heritage, the seemingly inexorable decay of the
boats and barges that gave the canals and rivers their spiritual
vitality, their historic purpose and interest. The first three pictures
were taken in September 1970 and show a barge hulk on the East bank of
the river Adur in Sussex, just downriver of the old wooden toll bridge
at Shoreham. She’s a bit rough to say the least, but was probably still
floatable at the time with a bit more patching. In fact there was
another one just above the bridge which was later recovered and taken
down below the Norfolk Bridge just visible in the distance in the third
picture to become a houseboat in Shoreham Harbour. She’s probably the
one now called Mary on riverbank mooring number 5. Both barges were part
of a fleet operated by the Sussex Portland Cement Co. for carrying clay
and coal to the cement works at Beeding but most of the traffic had
finished before the Second World War. I personally have a childhood
memory of a similar barge being hand-loaded with ‘silversand’ directly
from the riverbed just inside the harbour entrance at low tide about
1952 or ’53. It was then lightered up the river on the next tide,
presumably to a builder’s yard somewhere. Thus the fate of this boat
does hold a particular personal poignancy for me quite regardless of its
historical significance. |
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Is it important or significant then? Ah yes, a
good question, but by what criteria are we to make a judgement? Is it a
beautiful craft, a graceful example of the shipbuilder’s art for
example? Hardly-- it’s a slab sided square wooden box with pointed ends,
although it does have a drift of sheerline towards either end. But it
gains very few points for aesthetics I’m afraid-- perhaps a couple for
chunky practicality. Is it important as a type then? Well, yes, judging
by a skim through the available photographs it seems to be a
representative of a type common to the south coast rivers Adur, Arun and
Ouse, and further research might find similar craft using the Itchen and
Southampton Water rivers in the past, so regionally it certainly is an
important type. Nationally however it’s a bit insignificant. How rare is
it as a survivor of its type? Well, that depends on how many there were
in the first place. If it were the only survivor of a fleet of hundreds
then it would be extra important, but as one of several existing
examples from a small fleet its value would be relatively small. The
Adur barges were never numerous and as there is at least one and some
wrecks further down the river our Toll bridge barge cannot be counted
too high. There is also a complete though increasingly fragile example
of a similar River Arun barge at the Ellesmere Port museum so this one
can only be counted as medium-rare in that category. What about
economically then, was it a vital part of the local economy? Not
recently certainly. They just served the one works and lightened ships
in Shoreham Harbour although they might have been an important transport
route for the inland hamlets on the river in the distant past. But no
towns or industries grew up because of them, no Stourports or Shardlows
developed because of the barge traffic so very few extra points can be
granted for economic importance alone alas. My old barge is not scoring
well I’m afraid. Perhaps it is extra special in the way it is built
then, the way it is constructed? Not really, it is just a simple hard
chine carvel barge, a humbler version of all the Thames sailing barges
of the whole South East corner of England, of which there are many
preserved in sailing condition all over the place. So have I got to let
it go into history, into decay and destruction despite my emotional and
romantic ties to this piece of waterway history? Yes son, grow up!
Which, of course, is what is happening. The
lower two pictures show the remains of that same barge thirty five years
later, taken in September 2005 at the very top of the sort of spring
tide that floated her there originally. There is still dignity in these
old timbers, and romance too for the poetic mind, especially in
conjunction with the sun bleached piles of the ancient wooden toll
bridge nearby. But it is a passing picture, not a performance, and there
is little chance of restoration or any sort of meaningful future for
this one, little chance of remembering or re-creating a piece of
important local history. Does it matter? Now that remains with the
locals I think. Having established that these barges were of regional
importance it is surely up to some regional people to look after their
local culture, if they feel strongly enough about it. If they don’t they
will just become another brief footnote in a history book. All these
thoughts are subliminally focussed on the future of that Arun barge
mentioned before moored, or sunk, in the top basin at Ellesmere Port in
Cheshire. She was saved from destruction many years ago and taken there
to become part of an ambitious national collection of inland waterway
craft. Unfortunately the museum has never managed to achieve
commensurate national funding and a backlog of maintenance and
restoration costs has built up to an alarming and perhaps insurmountable
level. Meanwhile the barge gets inexorably older and more fragile, and
the problem gets bigger. What is to be done? Is there anyone out there
who can help? It seems to me that the only hope is to find a local South
country team of people who care about their regional history, people who
can drive the project forward with a blend of personal knowledge and
emotional involvement as well as a commitment to waterway history.
Without such a team I fear this now unique boat’s fate is doomed. |
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