Gloucester Waterways Museum
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3.4  Narrow Boat Northwich

     Northwich is an unpowered narrow boat which was originally towed by a horse and later became a 'butty' towed by a motor boat. Built at Saltley, Birmingham, in 1898, the hull was of 'composite' construction with riveted iron sides and an elm bottom. The back cabin could accommodate two adults and two children, and a small fore cabin provided space for an adult or two more children.
     Northwich was owned by the well-known carrying firm Fellows Morton & Clayton and is painted in the old company colours before the change to red, green and yellow which occurred in the 1920s. Known as a 'Josher' after Joshua Fellows, one of the company's directors, these boats had more graceful lines and slightly lower sides than other narrow boats. The maximum load was 32 tons, and then there was little 'freeboard', so the old boatmen used to say 'the sparra's could drink off the gunnels'.
     Most of Northwich's working life was spent carrying a wide range of general cargoes on the canals between London and Birmingham, each journey taking a week. When Fellows Morton & Clayton went into liquidation in 1948, Northwich became part of the nationalised fleet working initially from Birmingham. Later Northwich was based at Preston Brook at the northern end of the Trent & Mersey Canal, often carrying chocolate for Cadbury's or aluminium for Rover cars at Wolverhampton. After the carrying fleet was disbanded in 1964, Northwich spent many years at the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum, first in the weighing machine and then as a floating exhibit, and eventually came to Gloucester in time for the opening of the Museum in 1988.
     Northwich's back cabin is fitted out with the typical arrangement of stove, cupboard, side bed and main sleeping area in a space which is comparatively generous. Records show that most narrow boats had these features fitted into a cabin that was around 18 inches (0.5m) shorter in length.
     The cabin sides carry numbers connected with the registration of the boat and with its gauging to determine the weight of cargo carried:
1396 - Waterman’s Hall number, a form of Thames registration.
242 - FMC fleet number.
11316 - Grand Union Canal gauging number.
17319 – Birmingham Canal Navigations gauging number.
1021 – Birmingham health registration number.

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