Bristol Channel

CONCRETE CANAL BOATwas one of it is believed three prototype Birmingham Canal day boats built in 1918 by A.H. Guest of Amblecote near Stourbridge, local contract builders who normally built houses and other buildings such at schools. It is the second of the boats built and is called BCN No2. The use of concrete was intended as a means of overcoming the wartime shortages of steel and fabrication skills needed for conventional canal boats. However, with traditional steel bar reinforcement, the concrete had to be almost three inches thick, and the consequence was that the boats weighed almost twice as much as an iron boat. This meant that they could only carry about 24 tons, compared to over 31 tons for an iron boat of the same external dimensions.
The boats did carry some trial loads of timber for Guests, but it was found that the concrete was easily damaged in service and that patching up with cement was not always effective. By 1919, it was acknowledged that the experiment was not a success, and it is believed that the boats were laid up for several years. Then, in the mid 1930s, they were incorporated into bank protection works beside the Stuart Crystal glassworks on the Stourbridge Canal, not far from where they were built. This role continued until the summer of 1988, when British Waterways dug out one of the boats as part of the process to provide a new wharf and moorings for visitors to the glassworks, the other boats had to remain as they were beneath part of a building. The rescued boat was slightly damaged, but it was basically sound and was brought down the River Severn to be displayed at Gloucester.
In 2005 the museum obtained a PRISM grant to repair the narrowboat and a concrete barge, the damage to the gunwales and bows of the boat were repaired by concrete specialists and it remains at the museum as a floating exhibit.

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1. 1918 - Built by A H Guest, Stourbridge to carry cargo on British canals during the First World War.
2. 2011 - Property of The National Waterways Museum Gloucester.

• International Register of Historic Ships - Brouwer, Norman J - 1993
• The National Waterways Museum - McDougall, Marilyn - 1990