The carriage of goods in river barges was
for centuries one of the principal forms
of commercial transport in Britain. This
book is the result of 40 years’ research into river
navigations that have left few paper records. The
author focuses on the River Severn between the
Worcestershire
ports of Bewdley and Stourport,
and the medieval weir near Welshpool that marks
the uppermost limit of boating, a stretch where
the river
remained ‘in a state of nature’. Dr Trinder
traces
the fascinating history of river trade from
1660, through its heyday during the Industrial
Revolution, when such key commodities as
Manchester textiles, Coalbrookdale iron castings,
Birmingham hardware, and Hanley and Burslem
pottery were all transported via the Severn, to its
gentle decline in the late 19th century as other
modes of transport took over.
A wide range of documentary, archaeological
and pictorial sources combine to create an
absorbing picture of the colourful lives of barge
owners and watermen, in addition
to illustrating
how the navigation was devised and operated.
Complemented by superb illustrations, this
book makes essential reading for both transport
historians and those interested in the social and
economic history of the West Midlands and the Borderland. Family historians, too, will be delighted
by the author’s ground-breaking analysis of the linear riverside community that extended from
Gloucestershire, through Worcestershire and Shropshire, into mid-Wales.
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