Gloucester Docks &
the Sharpness Canal

Books

Gloucester Docks - an Historical Guide
     This new book by Hugh Conway-Jones is a guide to the docks for interested visitors. After a short historical introduction, the book features each of the various docks and quays at Gloucester, the major warehouses and the former railways, with many interesting stories of past activities. Then follows descriptions of the work that was done around the docks by corn porters, deal runners, visiting seamen and local boat and barge men. Finally, there is a short account of the huge changes that have taken place in the last 25 years.
     The book has 48 pages with over 70 illustrations, many in colour, and it is available from the National Waterways Museum shop and other outlets, price £5.00.

Other Books 

£9.99 from bookshops and the Heritage Centre at Saul Junction

For a fine collection of pictures of the canal and the docks at each end, see The Gloucester & Sharpness Canal by Hugh Conway-Jones in Tempus Publishing's Images of England series (1999 and reprinted).

For a full history of the canal and docks, see The Gloucester & Sharpness Canal - An Illustrated History by Hugh Conway-Jones (Amberley Publishing 2009). Drawing on contemporary sources, this book sheds new light on the construction, operation and maintenance of the canal, highlighting the people involved, the vessels that used the canal and the facilities that were provided at Gloucester and Sharpness. For the later part of the story, information from written records is supplemented by the memories of those who worked on the waterway, giving a vivid account of a way of life that is no more. Maps and photographs have been carefully chosen to illustrate aspects of the story throughout.

£16.99 from bookshops, the National Waterways Museum and the Heritage Centre at Saul Junction