Owners: Clare and Pete Brady
Alice Griffin continues her series on historic boats.
WORKED hard in early life as part of a fleet carrying tubular steel, enjoyed as a leisure boat following conversion in middle age and then abandoned and left to sink on the River Soar at Mountsorrel, nb Billy – an 1892 Thomas Bantock or Harris, iron day boat – has landed lucky since being brought back to life as Clare and Pete Brady’s liveaboard home.
Out of a selection of six boats for viewing, Clare tells me Billy was the last. “A historic boat with vintage engine was never on the cards. I had no DIY or mechanic skills, I just about knew which end of a screwdriver to hold! Her hull could best be described as a brutalist style of boat building, but as I stepped down the stern steps and glanced into the engine room – wow!
“The ash carpentry was gorgeous and then the cratch caught my eye. I could see she had so much potential so that was it: love at first sight.” Clare knew there was plenty of work to do but, along with husband Pete, was prepared to learn.
Embracing Billy’s history has been an extremely important aspect of becoming custodians and much information has been garnered while lock wheeling during their annual spring, summer and autumn cruising pattern.
Clare told me: “Uncovering Billy’s history has been much more organic than I could ever have envisaged. It’s about the people on the cut that still remember these old boats.”
Initially, Clare and Pete booked an appointment with the archivist at the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port where they saw pages from the gauging books showing that Billy had two gauging numbers, BCN 13353 from August 1892 and BCN 19242 from May 1904. The gauging books also stated that she was gauged at Tipton for W E Pearson and hired out to W Roberts Tipton Ltd with the next owner being Kite Bros.
Other than these documents, Billy’s history has been pieced together by talking to boaters on the towpath, as well as conversations over email with various enthusiasts.
On the Oxford canal in 2019, Clare and Pete met Ian and his partner Alison. “Ian was a tall guy, thin as a mooring pin with dreadlocks to his waist. He recognised the BCN number and distinctive Tooley’s steelwork on the bow and stern and told us the boats were bought from Stewarts & Lloyds when they sold off their entire fleet of Joeys (another name for day boats) in the early 1970s.”
Apparently Tooleys bought 20 of these, adding wooden tops and turning them into leisure boats. At some point, Billy’s stern end was cut off and converted into a 45ft narrowboat called Rachel.
“Billy and Rachel are one of few dayboats where both ends still exist. We’d love to bring them together again,” Clare told me. but Clare and Pete discovered another part of Billy’s story when they shared the staircase lock in Chester with a couple, John Devine and Rene McGirr.
“Both recognised Billy as the boat they had walked past on the River Soar with their dog for 10 years. They had always felt it was so sad to see a lovely old wooden cabin top boat deteriorate and eventually sink.”
With some more investigation, Clare discovered that the cutting where Billy had succumbed was owned by a scrapyard. A little more delving – including talking to older employees of the yard – revealed the land had been sold to them by a farmer with a son named Billy.
Clare met this son driving a tractor into a field in Mountsorrel in June of 2019. “He recognised Billy the boat and told me his father had named it after him as he used to play on her after she was abandoned!”
While buying a historic vessel was unexpected, Clare and Pete have so far enjoyed every minute of being her custodians. “We have enjoyed learning all the skills needed to maintain Billy, and piecing together the jigsaw of her 128 years.”
They also love exploring the waterways, absorbing more about each new river or canal as they go. “Our narrow canals, bridges, aqueducts, locks and other structures are unique to British history and unlike roads, rail or air, you gain an intimacy with the landscape travelling this way.”
It’s captivating to imagine how much more of Billy’s jigsaw might be pieced together as Clare and Pete continue wandering the waterways!
Sources: hnbc.org.uk canalworld.net
Ellesmere Port Museum Pinterest (for historic photos)
Alice Griffin is a writer and intermittent boat-dweller with a passion for preserving history. She’s currently spending time exploring the coastline of Portugal. Instagram: alice_is_in_wanderland www.alicegriffin.co.uk