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Herefordshire builds a new River Wye trow for Queen's Jubilee

13 January 2012

The folks of Herefordshire are building a new Wye trow to represent the county during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June 2012.

The new boat will make great company at the Queen's rowing event for the St Ayles skiff Uffa, which is also taking part.

When Herefordshire was asked if it would like to take part, Deputy Lord Lieutenant Bob Tabor recruited four retired naval personnel living in the county together with the rowing director of Ross Rowing Club to work with him and embarked on the project to build a new Wye Trow.  It's believed to be the first such vessel to be built for more than a century, if not a century and a half.

The building work, which is being paid for by private sponsorship, is being carried out by boat builders T Nielsen & Co.

Following lofting, the new boat began to take shape during December 2011.  Some 36ft long and with a 9ft beam, it will have eight oars.  Following the Jubilee, it will be fitted with a mast for sailing.

Trows were used to transport freight on the Rivers Wye and Severn in the 18th and 19th centuries; they were flat bottomed barges with shallow draught, and were powered by sail, or drawn by horses or men.  The River Wye trows were built at Hereford and at other places along the river used to move general cargoes including coal, wood, cider and wool up river as far as Leominster on the River Lugg.  Their heyday ended with the coming of the railway.

Only one complete trow still exists, a River Severn trow that is kept at the Ironbridge Museum in Shropshire.

_{This news item was taken from intheboatshed.net, 13 Jan 2012.}

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