Transhipment between navigations

[Heartland]

Carrying by water involved transhipment of goods at strategic places where there was a change of craft. Most common were the wharves where wide boats interchanged goods with the narrowboats, Such locations includes places like Stourport and Shardlow or in the coastal ports where craft loaded or unloaded alongside sea going vessels. Yet, there cases of transhipment where the different boats never shared the same length of water, In Gas Street Birmingham, Worcester Bar was a point of transfer between the BCN and Worcester & Birmingham before the Bar Lock was made, At Pratts Wharf on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal goods, particularly iron, were taken across the wharf to the Stour for carriage to the Wilden Ironworks, before the lock there was built. A similar situation existed at Willington where there was transfer between the Trent & Mersey and the River Trent. Another case was the Hollingwood Common Tunnel Canal that brought coal to the Chesterfield Canal.

Can members provide other examples?

[David Mack]

Slightly different but there was transhipment via the tramway over the hill at Blisworth that linked the canal either side before the tunnel was completed.

[hughc]

Goods were transhipped into river barges just by Brindleys Bank aqueduct on the Trent and Mersey. These operated downstream to a works where the main road crosses the river. Regards, HughC.

 

[roland elsdon]

Cromford canal ( peak forest junction ) via railway to bugs worth basin peak forest canal. Of course narrow gauge ( thank goodness) , or am I suffering faulty memory..

[furnessvale]

1 hour ago, roland elsdon said:

Cromford canal ( peak forest junction ) via railway to bugs worth basin peak forest canal. Of course narrow gauge ( thank goodness) , or am I suffering faulty memory..

It actually ran from Cromford to Whaley Bridge.  Standard gauge, but with fierce gradients and several rope inclines.

The line to Buggie basin ran from the quarries near Dove Holes and was indeed narrow gauge (4ft or so rings a bell).

George

[X Alan W]

Braunston was a trans shipment point & also "Buttys" were swapped to onward travel with different motors, don't know if all but a good number of "Fly" boat trips terminated at Braunston goods were transferred either way & the "fly's returned to London their loads being shipped to "Brum"in different boats.

[Derek R.]

Coal and ore transshipped from 'extra narrow' boats into tub boats at the foot of the Trench inclined plane, and at the other end of the 'Shropshire' tub canals, transshipment onto Severn barges and trows at Coalport.

[magpie patrick]

If one thinks about it, there is no need for the boats to get to exactly the same place unless "over the side" transhipment is needed. The Monmouth Canal originally ran into Newport Docks but the connection was severed, presumably because it was never used. The Swansea and Tennant Canals did run into their respective docks as did the Glamorgan. 

Transhipment at the Morwelham end of the Tavistock Canal was via a tramway, boats were unloaded at the top and the load transferred - there would have needed to have been a change of vessel here anyway as the tub boats were not suitable for the Tamar, so presumably they saw no need for the tub boats to go down to the harbour at all. (Note - the Bude Canal went totally the other way and tub boats actually went onto the beach in Bude!) 

It's probably fortunate that generally transhipment points were connected -, otherwise I suspect a number of our favourite canals would not connect to the rivers they serve 

[roland elsdon]

My reference was the gauge of the canal both being narrow, rather than transshipment to coastal or wider craft. The Thames and Seven  canal also employed transshipment. Narrow to wide but I believe this was over the side rather than landlocked.

[magpie patrick]

9 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

My reference was the gauge of the canal both being narrow, rather than transshipment to coastal or wider craft. The Thames and Seven  canal also employed transshipment. Narrow to wide but I believe this was over the side rather than landlocked.

Both ends did indeed take narrow boats only, and the way the Cromford and High Peak was laid out was rather canal like, with level (ish) stretches and then inclines where one might have flights of locks