Links
LInks to other Waterways and Historic craft sites:
Ellesmere Port Waterways Museum.
The National Waterways Museum is in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England, at the northern end of the Shropshire Union Canal where it meets the Manchester Ship Canal. The museum's collections and archives focus on Britain's navigable inland waterways, including its rivers and canals, and include canal boats, traditional clothing, painted canal decorative ware and tools. It is one of several museums and attractions operated by the Canal & River Trust.
A group of waterway enthusiasts formed the North Western Museum of Inland Navigation Ltd in 1971 to prevent the working craft and traditions of the waterways from disappearing. This developed into the accredited National Waterways Museum which the Society is committed to supporting, in preserving the museum’s nationally important collection of historic boats, artifacts and archives. It works together with the Canal & River Trust in encouraging the public to appreciate and treasure the canals, their traditional skills and way of life. To find out more about the Society, its history and its aims, click the ABOUT link on the main menu.
The Historic Narrow Boat Club was formed in 1966 and is a not-for-profit club dedicated to preserving the working heritage of UK canals, from the boats themselves to details of the waterways on which they travel.
We are an active pressure group for navigational and waterway heritage interests and we welcome all who support our aims, whether boat owners or not. By supporting the Club, you are helping to ensure that the UK’s canals retain their unique heritage value. We campaign to ensure that the waterways system is navigable for full length, deep-drafted narrow boats - because where they can go, anyone can go!
The Friends of Raymond was formed in October 1996 to recover, restore and exhibit Raymond, the last unpowered wooden commercial carrying craft ever built in the UK: by 2002 restoration was complete.
In 2003 Nutfield, which used to tow Raymond when they were working boats, came on the market, and we managed to buy her. The boats are based at Braunston Marina on the Grand Union Canal.
Raymond (launched in 1958) and Nutfield (launched in 1936) worked as a pair right up to the end of the canal trade in the early 1970s when they carried coal from Atherstone in Warwickshire to Southall in North London.
Commercial Boat Operators Association.
The CBOA is the prime trade organisation involved in the effort to sustain and increase freight carriage on our waterways for economic and environmental reasons.