Narrowboat
A narrowboat is a particular type of barge, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commercial canal traffic gradually diminished and the last regular long-distance transportation of goods by canal had virtually disappeared by 1970. However, some commercial traffic continued. From the 1970s onward narrowboats were gradually being converted into permanent residences or as holiday lettings. Currently, about 8,580 narrowboats are registered as 'permanent homes' on Britain's waterway system and represent a growing alternative community living on semi-permanent moorings or continuously cruising.
For any boat to enter a narrow lock, it must be under wide, so most narrowboats are nominally wide. A narrowboat's maximum length is generally, as anything longer will be unable to navigate much of the British canal network, because the nominal maximum length of locks is. Some locks are shorter than, so to access the entire canal network the maximum length is. Exterior height is usually 6 foot 10 inch. Possibly 2 foot to 2 foot 10 below the waterline, so you generally have 4 to 4 foot 10 above the water line.
The first narrow boats played a key role in the economic changes of the British Industrial Revolution. They were wooden boats drawn by a horse walking on the canal towpath led by a crew member. Horses were gradually replaced by steam and then diesel engines. By the end of the 19th century, it was common practice to paint roses and castles on narrowboats and their fixtures and fittings. This tradition has continued into the 21st century, but not all narrowboats have such decorations.
Modern narrowboats are used for holidays, weekend breaks, touring, or as permanent or part-time residences. Usually, they have steel hulls and a steel superstructure. The hull's flat base is usually 10 mm thick, the hull sides 6 mm or 8 mm, the cabin sides 6 mm, and the roof 4 mm or 6 mm. The numbers of boats have been rising, with the number of licensed boats on canals and rivers managed by the Canal & River Trust estimated at 27,000 in 2006; by 2019, this had risen to 34,367. Although a small number of steel narrowboats dispense with the need for a rear steering deck entirely, by imitating some river cruisers in providing wheel steering from a central cockpit, most narrowboats' steering is by a tiller on the stern. There are three major configurations for the stern: [|traditional stern], [|cruiser stern] and [|semi-traditional stern].
Terminology
The narrowboat definition in the Oxford English Dictionary is:Earlier quotations listed use the term narrow boat, with the most recent, a quotation from an advertisement in Canal Boat & Inland Waterways in 1998, using narrowboat.
The single word narrowboat has been adopted by authorities such as the Canal and River Trust, Scottish Canals and the authoritative magazine Waterways World to refer to all boats built in the style and tradition of commercial boats that were able to fit in the narrow canal locks.
Although some narrowboats are built to a design based on river barges and many conform to the strict definition of the term, conventional usage does not refer to a narrowboat as a widebeam or as a barge, both of which are definable by their greater width. In the context of British inland waterways, a barge is usually a much wider, cargo-carrying boat or a modern boat modelled on one, certainly more than wide.
Another historic term for a narrow boat is long boat, which has been noted in the Midlands and especially on the River Severn and connecting waterways to Birmingham.
Usage has not quite settled as regards boats based on narrowboat design, but too wide for narrow canals; or boats the same width as narrowboats but based on other types of boat.
Narrowboats may have ship prefix NB.
Size
The key distinguishing feature of a narrowboat is its width, which must be less than to navigate British narrow canals. Some old boats are very close to this limit, and can have trouble using certain narrow locks whose width has been reduced over time because of subsidence. Modern boats are usually produced to a maximum of wide to guarantee easy passage throughout the complete system.Because of their slenderness, some narrowboats seem very long. The maximum length is about, which matches the length of the longest locks on the system. Modern narrowboats tend to be shorter, to permit cruising anywhere on the connected network of British canalsincluding on canals built for wider, but shorter, boats.The shortest lock on the main network is Salterhebble Middle Lock on the Calder and Hebble Navigation, at about long. However, the C&H is a wide canal, so the lock is about wide. This makes the largest narrowboat that can go anywhere on the network slightly longer than the straight length of the lock, because it can lie diagonally. Some locks on isolated waterways are as short as. Where it was possible to avoid going through locks, narrow boats were sometimes built a little larger. Wharf boats or more usually 'Amptons, operated on the Wolverhampton level of the Birmingham Canal Navigations and were up to 89 feet in length and 7 foot 10.5 inches wide.
Hire fleets on British canals usually consist of narrow boats in varied lengths from upwards, to allow parties of different numbers or varying budgets to be able to hire a boat and get afloat.
Developmenttraditional working boats
The first narrow boats played a key part in the economic changes of the British Industrial Revolution. They were wooden boats drawn by a horse walking on the canal towpath led by a crew member, often a child. Narrow boats were chiefly designed for carrying cargo, though some packet boats carried passengers, luggage, mail and parcels.The first canals to feature locks in the now standard size were the canals designed by James Brindley and approved by Parliament in 1766, including the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and Trent and Mersey Canal. Although construction took many years, the lock size became standard for many canal building projects.
Boatmen's families originally lived ashore, but in the 1830s as canals started to suffer competition from the burgeoning railway system, families began to live on board, partly because they could no longer afford rents, partly to provide extra hands to work the boats harder, faster and further, partly to keep families together. As late as 1858, a Household Words article states that "the Grand Junction Canal company did not allow the boatmen's families on board." The crew of the non-stopping boat in the article is said to be typical.
File:Working canal boats.jpg|thumb|left|Historic working narrow boats on the Macclesfield Canal in Cheshire, England. The leading boat, Forget Me Not, is hauling the un-powered butty Lilith. This became a familiar operating pattern once motors began to replace horses.
The rear portion of the boat became the boatman's cabin, familiar from picture postcards and museums, famous for its space-saving ingenuity and interior made attractive by a warm stove, a steaming kettle, gleaming brass, fancy lace, painted housewares and decorated plates. Such descriptions rarely consider the actual comfort of a family, working brutally hard and long days, sleeping in one tiny cabin. However many shore-bound workers endured harder indoor trades in less healthy conditions and in worse accommodation, where the family was separated for long hours rather than being together all day. The lifestyle afloat, by definition itinerant, made it impossible for children to attend school. Most boat people were effectively illiterate and ostracised by those living "on the bank", who considered themselves superior.
As steam and diesel progressively replaced the tow-horse in the early years of the 20th century, it became possible to move even more cargo with fewer hands by towing a second, un-powered boat, referred to as a butty, buttyboat or butty boat. Although there was no longer a horse to maintain, the butty had to be steered while being towed. So that the butty boatman could lengthen or shorten towline as needed, the towline wasn't tied-off on the bow, instead travelled over the buttyboat through permanent running blocks on stands or retractable middle masts and managed in the stern. On a wide canal, such as the Grand Union Canal, the pair could be roped side-to-side and handled as a unit through working locks.
Cargo-carrying by narrow boat diminished from 1945 and the last regular long-distance traffic disappeared in 1970. However, some traffic continued into the 1980s and beyond. Two million tonnes of aggregate were carried on the Grand Union between 1976 and 1996, latterly using wide-beam barges. Aggregate continues to be carried between Denham and West Drayton on the Grand Union Canal and on the tidal estuary of Bow Creek.
A few people are doing their best in the 21st century to keep the tradition of canal-borne cargo-carrying alive, mostly by one-off deliveries rather than regular runs, or by selling goods such as coal to other boaters. Enthusiasts remain dedicated to restoring the remaining old narrow boats, often as members of the Historic Narrow Boat Owners Club. There are many replicas, such as Hadar, ornately painted with traditional designs, usually of roses and castles. Boats not horse-drawn may have a refurbished, slow-revving, vintage semi-diesel engine. There are some steam-driven narrow boats such as the ex-Fellows Morton & Clayton steamer President.
Painted decoration
By the end of the 19th century, it was common practice to paint roses and castles on narrow boats and their fixtures and fittings. Common sites include the doors to the cabin, the water can or barrel and the side of the boat along with ornate lettering giving the boat's name and owner. This tradition did not happen in all regions, the Chesterfield Canal being one waterway where narrow boats never bore such decorations.The origin of the roses and castles found on canal boats is unclear. The first written reference to them appears to be in an 1858 edition of the magazine Household Words in one of a series of articles titled "On the Canal", showing that the art form must have existed by this date. For some time, a popular suggestion was that it had some form of Romani origin; however, there does not appear to be a significant link between the Romani and boating communities. Other suggestions include transfer of styles from the clock-making industry, the japanning industry or the pottery industry. There is certainly a similarity in style and a geographical overlap, but no solid proof of a link. There are similar styles of folk art in Scandinavia, Germany, Turkey and Bangladesh.
In the 18th century, similar Dutch Hindeloopen paintwork would only have been a sailing barge journey away from the Thames. There is also an article in the Midland Daily Telegraph of 22 July 1914 that credits the practice of painting of water cans, at least, to a Mr Arthur Atkins.
While the practice declined as commercial use of the canals dwindled, it has seen something of a revival in recent times with the emergence of leisure boating. Narrowboat decoration with roses and castle themes is a common sight on today's canals, although these may utilise cheaper printed vinyl transfers in place of the traditional craft of hand-painted designs.