BARGES ON THE BLACKWATER Oct 2024

 FOXEARTH AND DISTRICT HISTORY SOCIETY 

BARGES ON THE BLACKWATER Oct 2024

There were barely any parking spaces on Tuesday evening, 8th October.  The hall was filled with an audience eager to hear the talk by Stephen Nunn.

Stephen Nunn and his wife, Christine, have a shared passion for sailing barges and more particularly the sailing barges of Maldon.  Their families have a long association with Maldon and Barges which was plain to see in the meticulously prepared and masterfully presented talk.

Stephen first became interested in the barges of Maldon when he was at school.  His history teacher, knowing that Stephen was not enjoying his traditional history lessons, introduced him to local history and took him to the Essex Record Office.  Stephen’s interest was peaked!  He has immersed himself in Maldon and Maldon Barge history ever since.

Stephen outlined a brief history of Maldon - from its first documented mention in the 10th century, the discovery of neolithic relics, the battle of Maldon in 991 and the rise of important and exclusive products sold with Maldon connections including salt, mud, malt and beer!

In 991 Viking ships appeared along the Blackwater and had to be enticed to leave at a cost of £10,000 (£40 million in today’s money).  In the 11th century Maldon had to provide a ship at a time of war.  The last ship built had Samuel Pepys as notional skipper!

However, the icons of Maldon were the barges which plied their trade on the Blackwater and onto London Water (the Thames) and down to Kent.  There have been many books written about barges, a list of which Stephen showed the audience, with particular attention being paid to Frank Carr’s “Sailing Barges” published in 1931.  The author sailed at Malden and spent his early life as a ‘mate’ before later becoming  the Director of Maritime at Greenwich.  Carr made sure that  these barges were put on the map and were not just cargo carriers.

The barges - not to be confused with the Thames Sailing Barges - were simple flat bottomed vessels designed to carry cargo of many types.  The barge would draw between 3 - 3.5 feet with very little keel (if at all).  This enabled the barge to sit on the mud beds  at low tide.  They were small vessels originally known as a Hoy (a heavy barge used for freight).  These barges were unstable in rough weather.  Lee boards were added which lie amidships and can be raised and lowered to stop the vessel slipping sideways.

From the start of Maldon barge building, the designs have evolved over time including the rounding of the bows, replacement of the tiller with a wheel (1880); Topsail added (1890); Bowsprits (1900).  Sometime later iron replaced wood but was not as successful as the pitch pine on oak frame.

The Thames Sailing barges were cheap to build.  The wherry was also introduced

The barges had many uses in transporting cargo and gained a reputation for transporting certain kinds of cargo.  ‘Brickies’ transported bricks, ‘Haylers’ transported hay; ‘stackies’ transported anything requiring to be transported as a stack (similar to ‘haylers’); ‘Golden dustbin’ the transport of rubbish - particularly from London which was taken by barge and dumped at sea!  (this caused quite a stir in the audience); ‘bulk carriers’.

The ‘haylers’ would take the hay to London stacked with bales and bring back manure!  The saying at the time, when horses were still in common use, was - ‘Hay up and Dung down’.  The stack of hay was so high that the skipper could not see where he was going so the mate had to sit on top of the stack and shout directions to the skipper.

Stephen took us on a short history of his family’s association with barges by introducing us to his maternal grandparents.  His grandfather was Charle Lavender (known as ‘liable’ Lavender) sailed as mate on a cargo barge whereas his grandmother’s family sailed fishing smacks.

Stephen told the audience a lovely story of how his grandfather sailed on the barge ‘Majestic’ which carried beer.  The journey started leaving Maldon for Gravesend to pick up the raw materials and deliver these to the Maltings at Fulbridge where he collected the barrelled and bottled beer for delivery to  a pub in Maldon.  At the time each barge on this run was given a beer allowance for the crew (to prevent pilfering of the cargo) but grandfather’s skipper didn’t drink and grandfather became known as ‘Beery Bill’!

Stephen touched on the more recent history of the use of barges - particularly the use of the barges during the Dunkirk evacuation of allied troops.  One barge was to be left on the French beach to be destroyed by enemy fire but a naval officer who had sailing experience sailed the barge back to England with 200 artillery troops on board.

Today there are several charitable trusts that exist to preserve the barges and provide opportunities for the public to engage with restorations, maintenance or just to go on trips on the barges.

There was so much more to this talk, Stephen was very enthusiastic and informative.  Stephen was heartily applauded for his talk.  

On a show of hands there is much interest from FDHS to organise a trip on a Blackwater barge.

KHS