A tub boat was a type of unpowered cargo boat used on a number of the early English and German canals. The English boats were typically long and wide and generally carried to of cargo, though some extra deep ones could carry up to . They are also called compartment boats or container boats. The main virtue of tub boats was their flexibility. They could be drawn in trains of 3-10 or more boats using horse power, or later steam tugs, where the number of boats was varied according to the type of cargo. Tubs could be lifted more easily than larger boats and

tub boat lift A tub boat lift is a type of boat lift designed to lift tub boats between different elevations of a canal. Tub boats are small boats used to transport coal and other minerals, sometimes working singly, sometimes in long trains. A tub boat lift (g ...

s and

inclined plane An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

s were developed as an alternative to canal locks, particularly in or near a colliery or similar industrial works. At a lift the train could easily be divided, the boats lifted individually, and the train reassembled afterwards. Sometimes the boats used snug-fitting non-waterproof inner containers which could be more easily lifted out. Because of their small size, the canals that were built for tub boats could also be smaller, saving considerable construction cost. Tub_boat_at_Blist_Hill

The first use of tub boats in England was on the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Wor ...

. Other notable uses were on the Shropshire Union Canal and the

Bude Canal The Bude Canal was a canal built to serve the hilly hinterland in the Cornwall and Devon border territory in the United Kingdom, chiefly to bring lime-bearing sand for agricultural fertiliser. The Bude Canal system was one of the most unusual ...

. One tub-boat is preserved in the

Blists Hill Victorian Town Blists Hill Victorian Town is an open-air museum built on a former industrial complex located in the Madeley area of Telford, Shropshire, England. The museum attempts to recreate the sights, sounds and smells of a Victorian Shropshire town ...

museum. It was rescued from a farm in 1972, where it was in use as a water tank. Before its discovery, it was thought that all tub boats on the Shropshire Canal were made of wood. In later years, larger versions of tub boats included the

Tom Pudding Tom Pudding was the name given to the tub boats on the Aire and Calder Navigation, introduced in 1863 and used until 1985, which were a very efficient means of transferring and transporting coal from the open cast collieries of the South Yorkshi ...

on the Aire and Calder Canal and the Hargreave barge used on the same waterway.

List of tub boat canals

, Cornwall * Chard Canal, Somerset * Cyfarthfa Canal, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales * Donnington Wood Canal, East Shropshire * Dukart's Canal, Tyrone, Northern Ireland *

Grand Western Canal The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands ...

, Devon *

Ketley Canal The Ketley Canal was a tub boat canal that ran for about from Oakengates to Ketley works in Shropshire, England. The canal was built about 1788 and featured the first Canal inclined plane, inclined plane in Britain. The main cargo of the canal ...

, East Shropshire * Lydney Canal, Gloucestershire *

Shropshire Canal The Shropshire Canal was a tub boat canal built to supply coal, ore and limestone to the industrial region of east Shropshire, England, that adjoined the River Severn at Coalbrookdale. It ran from a junction with the Donnington Wood Canal ascend ...

, East Shropshire * Torrington Canal, Devon * Wombridge Canal, East Shropshire

References

{{reflist Boat types Canals in the United Kingdom

List of tub boat canals

See also

References