Gloucester Waterways Museum
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2.8  Level Three

Roses & Castles Gallery
     The 'roses & castles' style of painting became very popular on narrow boats over a long period. The style probably grew out of the cheap commercial art of the early 19th century, and as those living on the boats became more isolated from the wider community, it became more distinctive and stylised. As most company boats just had simple designs on the outside, the 'roses & castles' style was mainly used on cabin interiors and on equipment such as water cans, hand bowls and nose cans for feeding horses. Owner boatmen also had 'roses & castles' on outside of boat. The display includes historic items from working boats and fine examples of more modern work in five distinct groups - Painted Pride, Personal Property, All in a Day's Work, Home Comforts, History & Mystery and Boatyards. The History & Mystery group includes examples of work from the nineteenth century, including the earliest known illustration of 'roses & castles' and some non-boat related items that may have helped to inspire the fashion. Although all painters followed the general style, each developed his own technique, and an experienced eye can recognize the work of well known artists.

Wide Boats to Wherries
      The decoration on barges was very different from the 'roses & castles' style popular on narrow boats and was usually restricted to simple patterns. The display includes a wooden water barrel from the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and a winch from a Sabrina barge used on local waterways. Norfolk wherries often had a decorative wind vane, and the image of a Welsh girl was particularly popular. The model of a wherry includes such a wind vane.
     A wall panel features photographs of vessels associated with Gloucester and the waterways link to the Midlands.

Water Management
     Canals need both a supply of water at the summit level and a means of controlling lower levels as water flows down the system when the locks are operated to allow the passage of boats. Many canals have a reservoir that collects local streams and feeds the summit pound. In some cases, a steam engine was needed to pump up water from a lower level or water was extracted from a river via an adjustable weir. The beam and paddle gear on display came from the weir which controlled the flow in the River Frome at Whitminster and ensured that the level was high enough to feed the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal.
     To avoid excess water flooding over a canal bank and possibly causing a breach, each pound was provided with an overflow weir into a channel leading to the pound below the next lock or sometimes into a convenient stream. Pictures on display illustrate different designs of such weirs that are one of the delights of the canal system today. Other pictures show what happens when something goes wrong and a pound looses all its water.
     Canal companies had a responsibility to maintain the natural drainage of the area, particularly ensuring that any culverts laid under the canal during construction were kept free from blockage. The display includes two culverts from the Coventry Canal, one being a bored-out tree trunk and the other being a wooden box structure.

Maintenance Yards
     Each canal company had at least one maintenance yard where carpenters and blacksmiths were available to carry out repairs on locks and bridges and to construct new lock gates and maintenance craft. The display includes wood-working and engineer's tools, a three-legged lewis for lifting a heavy stone block, a slide rule for calculating engine horsepower, branding irons and die stamps for marking company property and a drawing office desk from Ellesmere Yard. 

Temporary Exhibition
     A large area is available for temporary exhibitions.

Tunnels
     Many canals have one or more tunnels on the summit level. Although they were expensive to build, they allowed a lower summit level which could more easily be supplied by natural streams and they reduced the number of locks needed. The longest in Britain is Standedge Tunnel through the Pennines (3.24 miles) - recently reopened. The main local tunnels are Sapperton on the T&S Canal (2.17 miles) and Oxenhall on the H&G Canal (1.24 miles) - both currently unusable.
     Early tunnels did not have a towpath, and so it was necessary for men to lie on a plank and move the boat forward by walking along the tunnel walls - known as legging.

Dredging
      A canal tends to accumulate silt washed down from the banks or carried in by feeder streams. The display shows a typical spoon dredger used on narrow canals to maintain a good depth of channel. The spoon was suspended over the side of the boat from a simple crane and was dug into the silt by being pulled forward by a winch. The spoon was then lifted from the water and the silt deposited in the boat.

Bridges
     The characteristic canal bridge is a simple arch over the water and the towpath, but there are many other types around the canal network. The display includes a model of a lifting bridge with a counterbalance, and a nearby notice warns the user not to let the bridge drop down with a bump, which evidently caused problems with this type of bridge.

Education Department
     This area is used by visiting school groups and for weekend workshops, introducing young people to the world of waterways.

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