Featured Books

Towards the late 1950s, horse-drawn narrow boats became a rarer and rarer sight on Britain's canals. Carrying a wide variety of cargoes to such destinations as the Potteries, the textile mills of Lancashire, the papermills of London, the colleges of Oxford, they struggled on against increasing competition from rail and road traffic to maintain their place in the country's economy. Yet little has been written about the families who lived and worked on these boats – in particular the women.

Drawing on recorded interviews with the few boatwomen left who were born and bred on horse-drawn boats, Sheila Stewart recounted their experiences as seen through the eyes of an illiterate boatwoman, travelling mainly on the Oxford Canal through the Great War, the Depression, the Second World War, and the decline of the canals. It is a poignant account of astonishing courage and resilience, capturing a unique way of life during the first sixty years of the twentieth century.

First published 1993; new edition 2023.

On the spur of the moment in 1989, Jim Hutchinson and his wife Sue swapped their new, modern narrow boat forOwl, a dilapidated historic 'josher' built in 1928, and in urgent need of rescue.

This book shows what is involved in project managing a major restoration with all the mistakes, problems and eccentric characters that Jim, Sue and eldest son Tim encountered. They called on experts to do the major steelwork, but fitted out the boat themselves. Jim had to learn how to run and maintain a rare Seffle semi diesel engine, and later a magnificent Kelvin.

The earlier history of Owl has been carefully researched: its carrying days in the 1930s and 1940s; its transfer to British Waterways for maintenance duties; its time as a hire boat and then a camping boat; its sale to a succession of private owners; and finally, its slow decline until bought by the Hutchinsons.

Jim, a classics master, Sue a primary school headteacher,and Tim a children's book illustrator, had no previous experience of restoring an old boat and had to learn as they went along. The result is a much admired and sympathetically revived piece of history. Owl's future is now secure and it has been handed on, after thirty years under the custodianship of the Hutchinsons, to the next generation.

Format : Papaerback

Pages : TBA

Travelling the canals with Bill is sometimes a tiny bit weird, often hilarious, always eventful and inevitably informative. Since discovering the Warwick Ring canal route in the heart of the Midlands, he has a new challenge to conquer, and you will be his companion on this idiosyncratic journey. The Warwick Ring follows five different canals, crossing four counties, connecting two cities, seven towns and many hamlets and villages. It’s around 115 miles long and travelling by narrowboat takes between one and two weeks. Walking it takes a little longer and you will be joining Bill to make the journey, not all in one go, but in bite sized pieces. These days, when walking the towpath, Bill gets more than physical exercise. He has an eye for the derelict and the decaying, and loves to dig up the amazing history that follows the canal. Travelling through beautiful rural countryside and urban city grunge, chatting with interesting, quirky characters along the way and experiencing the highs and lows of this journey-with-a-difference. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s Go.

A book of historical photographs of the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

First published in 1973, this is a new and completely revised edition which has been produced to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the opening of the first canal to arrive in Birmingham.

This book is a wonderful collection of 'recipes' for making useful and attractive items from rope. Expanded for this edition with seven inspiring new items, the 35 projects range from key fobs, belts and napkin rings to binocular straps, bell ropes and fenders.

Each project provides step-by-step instructions with clear diagrams, exact material, size and length, as well as the different knots involved. There is also a 'Tips of the Trade' section presenting some handy tools and helpful advice for working with rope.

Soft back. 112 pages. 13.9cms x 21.6cms approx. Illustrated with black & white drawings.

by Tony Jones.

In this book Tony reveals the pleasures and practicalities of living aboard on Britain's inland waterways.

Uncovering the nuts and bolts of boat life, Tony offers first-hand accessible advice on choosing the best boat for you, finding a suitable mooring, power usage and energy consumption, boating in all seasons, the highs and lows of boat life, the real cost of living aboard, earning an income afloat , rules and red tape.

Soft back. 160 pages. 15.6cms x 23.4cms approx. Colour photographs.

Updated in 2019

A Boating Life : Adventures of a tiller girl is a personal account of one woman's "boating life", shared with family, friends and her dog.

This is also a useful account of starting life in a boat and learning about how to live on the water. There are many anecdotes and journeys down memory lane for existing boaters and even ideas for future cruising.

Tony Lewery is a well known waterways author, a regular contributor to the waterways press and acknowledged expert on canal art and heritage.

For a number of years Tony has been writing these 'Off The Mainline' features for the Canal Junction website on a wide variety of waterway topics and events. Many of those articles are brought together in this book, where he takes a personal and thought provoking view on the subject of canal boats, barges and boat horses. They are usualloy illustrated with his own original photographs or artwork.