Boats awaiting restoration at Norton Canes boatyard, Wyrley & Essington Canal
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Boats awaiting restoration at Norton Canes boatyard, Wyrley & Essington Canal by Martin Tester as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Boats awaiting restoration at Norton Canes boatyard, Wyrley & Essington Canal
Image: © Martin Tester Taken: 11 Jul 1970
There has been a boatyard at Norton Canes at the end of the Cannock Extension of the Wyrley & Essington Canal since 1846. It was acquired in 1965 by Malcolm Braine who quickly established himself as a leading restorer of narrow boats. He later built entirely new boats. He sold the business in 1986; in 2015 the business moved away from Norton Canes to a new boatyard in Glascote Basin on the Coventry Canal near Tamworth. Here 4 narrow boats await Braine's expert attention. 'Prince' was an ex-Samuel Barlow motor-boat. 'Asterope' & 'Alphons' were both built in 1935 by Harland & Wolff of Woolwich for the Grand Union Carrying Co. 'Asterope' was a motor-boat, see: https://hnbc.org.uk/boats/asterope. 'Alphons' was a butty but by the time it left Braine's yard c1972 it has been converted to a motor, see: https://hnbc.org.uk/boats/alphons. A 2017 photo of her is here: Image
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Image Location
Latitude
52.657032
Longitude
-1.971868