A long way from the sea: the Wey at Milton Keynes Museum

Image: © Chris Taken: 28 May 2015

Built at Hayes Boatyard, Stony Stratford. It must have been an amazing sight to see large vessels being towed by steam engines along Stony Stratford High Street from the Watling Works on the London Road through to 'Hayes Wharf' at Old Stratford. At the wharf, the boats were launched sideways down a slipway into the Grand Union Canal (called the Grand Junction Canal up until 1928). The boats were then dismantled and towed along the waterways to London for refitting and would then sail to their destination elsewhere in the world. The boat pictured One of the last orders to the Hayes firm had come in December 1923. Destined for a working life on the Thames, this boat was named the Pat (after one of Hayes' daughters). In the period after the Second World War, the Pat became the flagship of the Thames Water Conservancy Board. The boat was renamed the Wey - following the Board's policy on naming its boats after local rivers. See: http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/mkm/stonystratford/docs/hayes.html

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