Keels on the Bank

[Heartland]

This image is from the RCHS Gardiner Negative Collection and is amongst a group credited to the Calder & Hebble Navigation. It shows a group of barges on the bankside. But it is not clear where it is. There is also some damage to one of the craft.

 

[Giant]

Not a lot to go on for location, but the name Ravensthorpe is legible on the leftmost one.

 

[Heartland]

Identifying the type of craft may also be useful as the keel generic family had different types

There are also other buildings in the next shot:

 

[Giant]

At a guess I would say that these are dumb vessels built for towing, rather than sailing keels that have been de-rigged. But I stress that's a guess - I really don't know the wooden era craft well.

I would have thought the lack of the characteristic bulwarks and hawse holes at the bows, or the rather diminuitive feature in place on Ravensthorpe, should be a giveaway for someone who knows their stuff.

The style does look fairly consistent with other barges from the Calder & Hebble, e.g. these pictures of boats built at Mirfield, taken from this website:

Do you know about the humber barges group on facebook? I would try there.

[Pluto]

They were some of the boats used for carrying coal to Ravensthorpe Power Station. The plant was built just after the war, and continued to have coal delivered by boat until 1981. The last wooden boats were the Anglela Jane and the Ethel, the former being burnt out in 1975, raised and taken to Stanley Ferry for breaking up. Stanley Ferry was where many boats which worked in the area were broken up, so the photo could be there, possibly in the 1960s. It would need to be somewhere with a low bank for pulling the boats out. The boats are West-country keels, and probably built at Mirfield, where a number were built post-war. The one on the for right of the first picture seems to have a square transom, a design which made its way into Yorkshire via the L&LC. It is possible that it is a converted keel, where the rounded stern has been cut off because it was in poor condition, and a square stern fitted as a cheap way of keeping the boat in traffic.

[Heartland]

I believe these images are 1967 or 1968. They were 35mm negatives. I next image is the SIRIUS would this be the same place? Another image is a sunken boat at Elsecar c1960- that is 120mm roll film

 

Edited November 7, 2017 by Heartland

[David Mack]

Elsecar is on the Barnsley Canal.

I think that last view is the Calder and Hebble at Elland, taken from Elland Bridge, looking northeast. Here is a present day view from Google Streetview.

The Station Hotel is now the Barge and Barrel.

Edited November 7, 2017 by David Mack

[Heartland]

Yes sorry, Elland, is what I meant to say. The warehouse now restored was on the site of one of the connections with the river. The Calder & Hebble canal sections were gradually added over time, with at first, the canal sections being short lengths around weirs. Eventually the whole length from Sowerby Bridge to Brighouse became a canal.