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THE
JOURNAL OF THE WILKINSON SOCIETY No. 14 : 1986 NOTES
AND NEWSBy Maurice Hawes
The
Year's Activities (1984-5)
THE
FIRST IRON BOATBy Ralph Pee
SHROPSHIRE
RAILWAYS IN PRINTBy Neil Clarke
by Neil ClarkeAs
we approach the bicentenary of the launching of the world's first iron boat in
July 1787, it is worthwhile to take stock of what has been written about this
famous event. Apart from the few contemporary references and John Randall's
"highly graphic not to say imaginative account of what took place"
(Dickinson, page 26), remarkably little had appeared in print until recently,
when members of this Society began to write up their researches. First, the late
Ralph Pee in 1972 produced an article in the Shropshire Magazine entitled
"The World's First Iron Boat" (the original draft of which appears in
this issue); and then, in 1983, Ray Pringlescott contributed "The Trial
Enigma" to this Journal. In the next issue, which will be published to
coincide with the bicentenary, Richard Barker offers an authoritative account of
"John Wilkinson and the Early Iron Barges". THE WILKINSON SOCIETYThe
Society was formed in 1972 to meet the demand for an organisation to preserve
the material and documentary evidence of Broseley's industrial past. Since an
important part in this industrial past was played by John Wilkinson, who lived
for a time at "The Lawns", it was decided that the organisation should
be known as The Wilkinson Society. The
aims of the Society are: (i)
to act as custodian of any relevant material and information and to make
such material and information available to interested individuals and
organisations; (ii)
to promote any relevant preservation activity and to assist individuals
or organisations in such activity where deemed appropriate; (iii)
to provide a link with the community of Broseley for individuals or
organisations undertaking local historical research. Any
available material will be added to the existing collection of Broseley and
Wilkinson relics, soon to be housed in the Stable Block of "The
Lawns". Administration
of the Society is by an annually elected committee. Membership is open to anyone
interested in the Society's aims and activities. These activities include
illustrated lectures, social evenings, researching and exhibiting the
collection, field trips and coach tours. Members
are kept informed by Newsletters, and this annual Journal presents articles on
the history of the Broseley area, John Wilkinson, and industrial archaeology in
general. NOTES AND NEWSBy Maurice HawesIn
order to bring members more up-to-date with the recent changes regarding the
Museum, these notes cover TWO years (1984-86). The Year's Activities (1984-5)The
Twelfth Annual General Meeting was held at Broseley Church Hall on A
Committee meeting was held in November 1984, principally to discuss the china
bequest. It was decided to sell all but
three pieces of the china for the purpose outlined at the A.G.M.
A report was also taken on the successful completion of the restoration
of the John Wilkinson memorial at Lindale. On
23rd November, 1984 Mr. David de Haan gave a most interesting and informative
talk on "The Portraits of John Wilkinson".
To the surprise and pleasure of his audience, he included in his material
the many different effigies on various issues of J.W. tokens, raising points
which were new to most of those present. On
12th December, 1984 we held our customary Joint meeting with the Friends of the
Ironbridge Gorge Museum, at the Severn Warehouse.
Steam railways in many parts of the world were discussed and illustrated
in profusion. The Friends' Ladies
Group provided the welcome seasonal refreshments. The
next meeting, the annual Social Evening, was blighted by very unpleasant weather
on 15th February, 1985. However, the dozen or so members who did turn out were
rewarded with some very interesting exhibits, the most interesting by general
acclaim being Ron Miles' original Iron Bridge Share Certificate, carrying the
actual signatures of Abraham Darby III, John Wilkinson and Edmund Harries. On
22nd March, 1985, Mr. Ken Jones talked to members on "Oral History in the
Ironbridge Gorge". The tape-recorded reminiscences of retired workers from
various Shropshire industries were extremely well received by a large audience. At
long last a Summer outing took place as planned on 16th May, 1985.
A small but very enthusiastic group took Mr. Elcock's coach to Bersham
and the Bersham Heritage Centre, where they were most competently and
rewardingly guided by the Curator, Miss Ann Williams. Miss Williams spent most
of the day looking after our party, including a very refreshing lunch at the
City Arms, Minera, where the beer is home-brewed. On the way home some of the
party enjoyed the Cup Final on the coach radio. A
Committee meeting was held on 13th June 1985. The resignation from the
Committee of Mr. F. Clarke, due to ill-health, was accepted with great regret.
Fred was a tower of strength during the move of the Museum from "The
Lawns" to Broseley Hall, and his wisdom and experience will be sadly
missed. The Committee also took note of the
fact that Mr. & Mrs. Michael Berthoud had moved into "The Lawns".
The main item of the meeting, the calendar of meetings for 1985-6, was
then successfully completed. The
Thirteenth Annual General Meeting took place at Broseley Church Hall on 11th
October 1985. Mr. Ron Miles was
elected Chairman, and two new Committee members, Mrs. K. Ling and M. M.
Berthoud, were also elected, replacing On
8th November 1985, our very own Neil Clarke entertained members with a discourse
on John Wilkinson's involvement with new methods of transport, including
turnpike roads, railways, and boats. This
unusual slant on the great man's achievements made us recall, if we had
forgotten, J.W.'s many-sided talents. During informal discussion after the talk,
Michael Berthoud suggested that the Committee should visit "The Lawns"
as soon as possible to discuss a possible more permanent site for the Museum.
A meeting was therefore arranged for Sunday, 17th November 1985, at 11.00
hours. At
the meeting the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer were shown around "The
Lawns" by Mr. & Mrs. Berthoud, with particular reference to three
possible sites for the Museum. It was
decided that the Museum should occupy two rooms on the ground floor of the
Stable Block, and that the Society should pay for certain repairs to the
ceilings and the necessary electric wiring, to enable the move to be made.
It was also decided to hold a jumble sale at "The Lawns" on
Saturday, 14th December 1985, to start a fund for the work. The jumble sale was held as planned, and raised exactly
£50 for the Society's funds. Meanwhile,
on Friday 6th December, 1985, the annual Joint Meeting with the Friends of the
Ironbridge Gorge Museum was held at The Long Warehouse, Coalbrookdale.
The multi-dimensional show on "The Great Western Railway from
Paddington to Birkenhead" was hugely enjoyed by the capacity audience, and
the Friends' Ladies Group did their stuff unwaveringly with seasonal
refreshments for at least one hundred happy viewers. During
the months of February and March 1986 the repair work in the stable block of
"The Lawns" was completed by Mr. J.R. Yates of Much Wenlock, at a
total cost of £209 12p. Around this time, Committee member Eric Cox carried out a fund-raising
exercise with local business organisations, and raised £50 in donations from W.H. Dixons and System Palletts. We
also purchased our first new piece of Caughley porcelain, a hand-painted blue
and white centre dish from about 1785. The
Formal Dinner was held at "The Cumberland" on Friday, 21st March 1986,
with Mr. Tony Herbert as guest speaker. Thirty-seven members enjoyed a generous meal off Coalport china, and Tony
gave a highly amusing account of his recollections from the early days of the
Society, reminding us that we were now fourteen years old! Towards
the end of March 1986, we were immensely saddened to hear of the tragic death of
our former Chairman, Mrs. Veronica West. Veronica
was our Chairman for only one year, but had been a keen supporter of the Society
for a much longer time. It was largely at
her instigation that, when the future of our Museum was looking very uncertain,
we were invited to use the cellars of Broseley Hall as a temporary home for the
Wilkinson collection. Early
in April 1986 a small but very willing party of members dismantled the exhibits
in the cellars of Broseley Hall, and transported them to the stable block of
"The Lawns", where they were piled up, still dismantled, in the two
rooms allocated for their use. On
Friday, 4th April 1986 we held a joint meeting with the Broseley Society.
The meeting was arranged as an open forum to discuss the question
"What should be the aims of a museum in Broseley".
After a lengthy and lively session, it was agreed to hold a public
meeting on Friday, 17th April to explore the possibilities of setting up an
independent Broseley Museum Trust.
(This meeting was held as arranged and the Trust was initiated as a
separate body, with members from both Societies). During
the summer of 1986 Michael Berthoud, Chris Whall and Eric Cox negotiated with
the MSC to create a project which involves renovating the whole of the stable
block at "The Lawns", to give accommodation for the proposed Broseley
Museum and other major facilities, including a large meeting room and a study
area. (The work was scheduled to begin on 1st December 1986, and at the
time of writing (28th January 1987) is well under way). Owing
to the intense activity generated by the need to move the Museum, and the
subsequent planning for the new Museum complex, there were no additional
Committee meetings during 1985-6; Committee members found themselves together at
frequent intervals on urgent Museum business, and routine matters such as
planning the 1986-7 programme were sorted out as necessary on these occasions. Programme of Events (1986-7)28th
November 14th
A.G.M., followed by a run-down on the plans for the new Broseley
Museum at "The Lawns". 11th
December Joint Annual Meeting with Friends of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Long
Warehouse, Coalbrookdale, 7.30 p.m. 1987
Social Dinner March
– June (dates to be arranged)
Joint Meeting with Broseley Society
Neil Clarke - "Broseley and the Domesday Book"
Formal opening of new Broseley Museum
Annual Outing : The Black Country Museum MAURICE
HAWES THE FIRST IRON BOATBy Ralph PeeAmong the papers of the late Ralph Pee
which were bequeathed to me for editing and possible publication was the draft
copy of an article which appeared in the Shropshire Magazine in July 1972. It is
reproduced here as written. More recent research has challenged some of Ralph's
conclusions (as will be shown in the next issue of the Journal), but his
pioneering work remains worthy of our attention -
Ed Although
the building of what is regarded as the first iron boat by John Wilkinson was
not one of the great advances of the 18th Century, it was an innovation and a
remarkably bold commercial enterprise. Its
conception and construction was typical of Wilkinson's grasp of essentials and
supreme self-confidence. At
the time of its launching the nation was recovering from the humiliation of the
War of American Independence and by sheer native wit and inventiveness was
forging the first links in the chain of events which led to the great industrial
expansion we know as the Industrial Revolution. These first laborious efforts to
'get the wheels turning' were hampered by a lack of accurate machine tools, and
to some extent by a lack of transport. With his boring machines and use of
slideways, Wilkinson was already leading the way out of one difficulty; his
building or iron boats was a small but, at least as far as his own business was
concerned, effective contribution to the solution of the latter. He
was 59 years old at the time, and, although he now had a mansion at Bradley,
still used Broseley as his address. With
ironworks at Bersham, Bradley and Willey, lead mines in North Wales, interests
in France and other enterprises, his industrial empire was by any standards
considerable. The loss of trade in munitions which had helped so much in the
expansion of this empire was more than offset by the increasing demand for iron
and iron products and his near monopoly in the production of cylinders and parts
for Watt's steam engines. This trade demanded an effective and widespread
distribution system which was provided to a large extent by the use of canals
and navigable rivers. The
first phase of canal building, hampered by the war, was now complete and the
canal system, fed by tramways, served a considerable proportion of the country.
It was especially comprehensive in the Midland area. Traffic was growing and the
canals were paying, an indication that they were filling a pressing need. That
there was a shortage of canal boats due, we are told, to a shortage of timber is
not surprising. A traditional and highly specialised industry such as boat
building is not readily expandable and there may well have been a craft jealousy
and conservatism actively opposing expansion. It is not difficult to imagine the
boat builders of the Severn, with more orders than they could cope with,
becoming off-handish. Whatever the circumstances, they were such as to give the
impatient Wilkinson a reason, or excuse, to build his own boats using his own
beloved iron. Wilkinson
believed, and he has since been proved correct, that uses for iron were
practically unlimited. He did not however indulge in boat building merely to
prove that an iron boat would float or to use iron for the sake of using it. He
was no abstract scientist, and in any case, had already built and
used a small iron boat in his youth at Wilson House. He had also introduced
boiler making into the Black Country, so would be quite conversant with the
techniques of shaping and riveting iron plates.
The construction of a boat built completely of iron would not therefore
have presented any great difficulty. These boats, however, were to be purpose
built to fill a specific requirement, i.e. to distribute his iron and iron
products. It
may be for reasons of weight, expense or even pure expediency that the first
iron boat was made from iron plates mounted on an elm framework. Although it is
pure conjecture, its weight and carrying capacity indicate that Wilkinson
approached the problem quite objectively and that the design was for the most
efficient boat that could be made using iron as a major material and; within the
capacity of his work force. It must be
remembered that he had had a good academic education and that his long
association with Watt and the development of the steam engine would have taught
him the value of a scientific approach. It
was reported at the time that his first iron boat, 'The Trial', was of nearly
equal dimensions to other canal boats in use in the Birmingham area, being 70ft
long and 6ft. 8 ins wide. The size of these boats was dictated by the size of
the locks on Brindley's narrow gauge canals which were around 74ft. long, 7ft.
wide and 4ft. deep. There was no waste of lock space. We are also told that the
iron plates for 'The Trial' were made from 5/16 inch thick cast bars forged
together. These were probably made under a trip hammer at Willey, The
precise reporting of the width, 6ft 8ins, is noticeable and looks much more like
a dimension from the drawing board than a physical measurement. It could well be
made up of 6ft of cargo space, two 4ins ribs and two 1/4 inch plates. The
plates would quite probably come down to 1/4 inch after forging. Elm 4ins x 4ins
would be a very reasonable size for the framework. The depth of 'The Trial' is
not recorded but we do know it weighed around 8 tons unladen and drew about 8ins
of water. This indicates that it was flat bottomed. If it was built to carry the
same load as the normal canal barge of the time, 25 tons, the depth, allowing
9ins of free board, must have been around
aft Gins. By making a few reasonable
assumptions, it can be easily calculated that the plating on such a boat would
weigh about 6 tons and a substantial elm frame around 1 ton, leaving a bare ton
for extras, such as brackets, cabin, floorboards, etc. These figures suggest
either that 'The Trial' did not include much more iron
than was required for the
plating or that it was shallower
and carried slightly less cargo
than its all wood counterpart.
If this is true, it seems
probable that Wilkinson would choose
the extra capacity rather than
use iron for the sake of
using it. The
model to a scale of 1/2
inch to a foot has been
made in accordance with this
evidence and contemporary prints of
canal boats. It has been made
as simply as possible with
vertical stem and stern posts
both because Wilkinson's workmen were
not professional boat builders and
because the barges of the
time were very plain. The original
may well have had a curved
stem. The frame of 4ins x
4ins timber with ribs aft
and strakes lft 8ins apart
gives a regular lattice to
take 3ft x lft 8ins plates,
a reasonable size for working
under a trip hammer. It is
not known if the plates were
riveted together into a continuous
sheet or merely pinned to
the frame. As riveting into a
continuous sheet would have meant
more work, and, as they were
to be mounted on an elm
frame, would have been rather
pointless, they have been shown
on the model riveted end on
end into 'planks'. This would at
least have given the boat
extra longitudinal strength. The crew
have been given a very small
cabin as it was not the
practice at the time for families
to live aboard. The raised afterdeck
is to allow the helmsman to
see forward over the cabin
roof. Wilkinson may well have used
some iron brackets
and even iron bulkheads, but he could not have used much more iron without
running into weight problems. No embellishments have been added, as any such
would have been quite out of character. Even his fireplace in the house where
this model was built is one of Thomas Pritchard's simpler and cheaper
productions. 'The
Trial' was launched and probably built at Willey Wharf under the supervision of
John Jones, commonly known as John O'Lincoln, who seems to have lived at the
Round House, one of the few remaining buildings which formed part of the Willey
Ironworks. This house was occupied until fairly recently, but is now falling
into disrepair. The exact location of the Wharf is not known, but Tarbatch
Dingle is mentioned in this connection and it was probably near the bottom of
this dingle, about a mile downstream from Coalport bridge. This is by no means
the nearest point on the river to the site of the ironworks, but by following
the dingle the 2-mile route does not involve any serious gradients as would
other routes over the intervening river terrace. It may be more than pure
coincidence that the present overhead electric cables from Buildwas Power
Station take a left turn near the site of the ironworks to follow the same route
to the river and so on to the industrial areas of Staffordshire. There are local
stories of rails having been dug up in the fields on the route indicating that
the works were connected to the Wharf by a tramway. The
actual launching, probably sideways, on July 9th 1787, to a salute of 32 pounder
guns and was given considerable publicity possibly fostered by Wilkinson as a
score over the recalcitrant boat builders. It is difficult to believe him when
he wrote that unbelievers were nine hundred and ninety nine in a thousand, but
he was quite right in thinking that it would be a nine days wonder, and after
that a ‘Columbus Egg’. Tradition in the use of materials is very strong, but
once a change is made it is very quickly accepted. Few thinking people of the
time could have doubted that 'The Trial' would float, but there may well have
been many doubts as to its feasibility as a commercial proposition and as to its
structural qualities. On the waterfront and in the boat yards there would also
be some professional jealousy. Wilkinson himself appears to have had no doubts
whatever, but the unknown quantities would be water tightness and longitudinal
rigidity. After
its launching at Willey Wharf 'The Trial' appeared in Birmingham some fourteen
days later laden with 22 tons 15 cwt. of bar iron, having presumably travelled
by way of Stourport and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal. Its skipper,
at least on this voyage, was Edward Palmer who lived near The Woodbridge Inn at
the end of the Coalport Bridge, then a wooden bridge. There appears to have been
some speculation as to who would be skipper. This may have been because this
historic task was much sought after or possibly because of misgivings as to the
boats performance. Prudence would surely dictate that it was not sent down river
on its maiden voyage fully loaded, but it would be unlike Wilkinson to send it
completely empty, so perhaps some of the bar iron it took to Birmingham
travelled direct from Willey, a rare economy. Having
entered the canal system at Stourport, it is extremely unlikely that 'The Trial'
was ever seen on the Severn again. Because of its deep banks often covered with
bushes, and because the deep water channel could be in mid stream or even on the
far side, Severn barges were towed by a rope attached to a sizeable mast mounted
about a third of the boat's length from the stern. Such an arrangement would be
quite impracticable with a boat 70ft long and only 6ft 8ins wide. This made
transhipment on entry to the canal system at places like Stourport quite
unavoidable under normal circumstances. 'The
Trial' was launched in July; a second canal boat of similar construction was
launched early in the September and a barge of forty tons for use on the Severn
around the middle of October. The building of this barge, something like 50-60ft
long and 16-20ft wide must have been quite an undertaking, but such was
Wilkinson's confidence that he was not even present at the launching. Within a
week it was at Stourport with a load of bar iron. The rapidity with which these
launchings followed each other, the nature of the boats and their cargoes,
suggest that in spite of its name and the publicity given to its launching, 'The
Trial' was as far as Wilkinson was concerned, much more in the nature of a
prototype than an experimental model. The object of his excursion into boat
building seems to have been the speedy acquisition of a balanced fleet designed
to transport his 'good iron' from Willey to the smiths and founders of
Birmingham. Although
'The Trial' was certainly the first boat of any consequence to be made largely
of. iron, a fact quite legitimately exploited by Wilkinson at the time of its
launching, the use of iron for this purpose is only one facet of a remarkable
enterprise by a truly remarkable man. In
spite of Wilkinson's success, iron boats did not become popular. Canal boats of
similar construction were built by John Onions and Son to serve their Brierley
Foundry some time later, but even to this day boats of this size are quite
usually built of wood. The use of iron offered no advantage, but to the Iron
Masters who built them, these iron boats were an effective substitute when
normal boats were not readily obtainable. The iron boats and ships we know today
are the result of a quite different line of development. RALPH
PEE BRADLEY IRONWORKS PLAQUEThree
members of the Committee (Audrey Morton, Maurice Hawes and Neil Clarke) were
recently invited to a rather special occasion. The
John Wilkinson Primary School at Bradley is actually built on the site of
Wilkinson's "pioneer furnace of the Black Country", and a plaque
commemorating this was unveiled on Tuesday, 15th July. Following
the unveiling ceremony and a splendid buffet tea, the Headmaster of the school,
Mr. P. Staley, showed a group of the guests the famous cast-iron pulpit in the
local chapel. Incidentally,
a greetings card depicting Robert Noyes watercolour 'Bradley ironworks 1836' is
available from the Black Country Society, 15 Claydon Road, Wall Heath,
Kingswinford. SHROPSHIRE RAILWAYS IN PRINTBy Neil ClarkeThe
railways of Shropshire have certainly received a fair amount of attention from a
variety of people during the past few years. Individual
lines within the county have been well researched, in some cases more than once;
for example, the Cleobury Mortimer & Ditton Priors Light Railway - by M.R.C.
Price in 1963 (Oakwood Press) and by W. Smith & K. Beddoes in 1980 (Oxford
Publishing Company). In addition, there have been several photographic albums
which include sections on local railways; e.g. West Midlands Branch Line
Album, by Anthony J. Lambert (Ian Allan Ltd., 1978) and Branch Line
Byways, Vol. 1 The West Midlands, by G.F. Bannister (Atlantic Transport
Publishers, 1986). But I want here to note publications covering the development
of railways within Shropshire as a region. Following
the two volumes which gave some coverage of this county in the definitive A
Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain (volume 7, The West Midlands,
by Rex Christianson, and volume 11, North & Mid Wales, by Peter E. Baughan -
David & Charles, 1973 and 1980), the most recent works have been: Shropshire
Railways Revisited
(Shropshire Libraries, 1982) - a selection of photographs edited by members of
the Shropshire Railway Society, with an introductory portrait by Barrie Trinder; Railways
of Shropshire : a brief
history, by Richard K. Morriss (Shropshire Libraries, 1983) - surveying railway
development in the county right up to the present, with a final chapter which
looks at future prospects; Rail
Centres: Shrewsbury, by
Richard K. Morriss (Ian Allan Ltd., 1986) - examining not only the development
of an important regional railway centre but also the history of the many lines
which served it; The
Great Western North of Wolverhampton,
by Keith M. Beck (Ian Allan Ltd., 1986) - tracing, inter alia, the history of
the Paddington-Birkenhead main line through Shropshire and its branches. Most
of the above works deal mainly with the operational side of the railways. There
is still much serious research to be done on their social and economic effects
in Shropshire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One recent contribution is the chapter Shropshire Navvies : the
builders of the Severn Valley Railway, by Iris L. Harris in Victorian
Shrewsbury, Studies in the history of a county town, by the Victorian
Shrewsbury Research Group, edited by Barrie Trinder (Shropshire Libraries,
1984). (This
review originally appeared in the Newsletter of the Telford Historical and
Archaeological Society, June 1986) NEIL
CLARKE |