''Lady of the Lea'' is a

spritsail The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar known as the sprit. The foot of the sail can be stretched by a boom or held loose-footed just by its sheets. A spr ...

Thames sailing barge A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and na ...

, the last such barge to be built in England. She was built in 1931 to carry explosives from

Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills The Royal Gunpowder Mills are a former industrial site in Waltham Abbey, England. It was one of three Royal Gunpowder Mills in the United Kingdom (the others being at Ballincollig and Faversham). Waltham Abbey is the only site to have survive ...

on the River Lea to Woolwich Arsenal on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. The barge was later sold and rebuilt. She currently operates as a private yacht and competes in Thames sailing barge matches.

Description

The barge ''Lady of the Lea'' was built of wood in

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of D ...

in 1931 by boat-builders Hyam & Oliver (who operated well into the 1960s) for the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

, following the original plans of canal barges from a century earlier. She was built small enough to pass under the low bridges of the River Lea and Bow Creek in London and was originally

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

steered and stumpy rigged, without top mast or topsail. The bottom was built of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

(doubled up) and the sides of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

and

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...

with copper fastenings and brass knees. Unusually, the sails were white and not the normal russet colour (of other Thames barges). Her original tonnage and dimensions are not known. After rebuilding in the 1980s she is now long, wide and deep and measures . She now has a wheel and was in the staysail class of sailing barge. Her current sails are a

jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsail ...

foresail A foresail is one of a few different types of sail set on the foremost mast (''foremast'') of a sailing vessel: * A fore-and-aft sail set on the foremast of a schooner or similar vessel. * The lowest square sail on the foremast of a full-rig ...

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot i ...

and

topsail A topsail ("tops'l") is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails. Square rig On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a typically trapezoidal shaped sail rigged above the course sail and ...

on the

mainmast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation lig ...

, and a mizzen sail on the mizzen-mast aft. Initially engined in 1943, she has been powered since 1980 by a

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

diesel. more recently the barge has been fitted with a

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay A bobstay is a part of the rigging of a sailing boat or ship. Its purpose is to counteract the upward tensio ...

War Department service

''Lady of the Lea'' was completed by Hyam & Oliver in 1931 by four men taking six months at a cost of £1,500. Along with her earlier sister ''King Edward VII'', she replaced older barges engaged in the carriage of explosives from the

to Woolwich Arsenal. ''Lady of the Lea'' could carry up to 500 barrels of explosives in the main hold, principally

cordite Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burn ...

and

RDX RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a ...

. The barge travelled from Waltham Abbey, down the River Lea, to Bow Creek and then via the River Thames to the Royal Arsenal. As that involved both canal, narrow river and open river navigation, the barges were equipped for both horse towing and sail operation. The Waltham Abbey vessels had a crew consisting of a master and three men, who wore blue serge uniforms with brass buttons, provided free of charge. A model display can be seen at the Royal Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey showing ''Lady of the Lea'' at work on the canals, and a model of the barge is in the London Canal Museum. All the Waltham Abbey barges were of wood and without mechanical propulsion, to reduce risk of explosion. In 1943 all the production of cordite and RDX was transferred away from Royal Gunpowder Factory, and ''Lady of the Lea'' was fitted with a petrol engine by the Royal Navy. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

she was withdrawn from service and sold in 1946 by the Small Craft Disposal Board.

Civilian life

In 1946, ''Lady of the Lea'' was sold to William Aslett and moored in the Milton Creek at Crown Quay in

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

. In the early 1950s she was sold to Ivor Cantle, moved to

Cow Roast Cow Roast (sometimes written as Cowroast) is a hamlet within the civil parishes of Northchurch and Wigginton in Hertfordshire, England. It is between Tring and Berkhamsted, along the A4251, adjacent to the Grand Union Canal and the West Coast M ...

, near

Tring Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...

and converted to a houseboat. The barge was subsequently sold to Brian Pain and largely rebuilt between 1980 and 1990, including doubling the bottom and lower hull, re-rigging as a Thames sailing barge and fitting a new Ford diesel engine. She is used as a private yacht and for charters, carries the logo of Rochester Independent College, founded as Rochester Tutors by Brian Pain, on her topsail. ''Lady of the Lea'' is now based at Standard Quay in

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

and races regularly in the Thames barge races. In 2009 she featured in Episode 4 of the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

series " Rivers", in which

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...

retold the history of the powder barges of the River Lea.

Thames barge races

Since 2003 ''Lady of the Lea'' has competed in Thames barge races. Her best overall positions in the annual championship matches have been: * 2009 1st place * 2012 2nd behind Edith May * 2013 equal 3rd * 2015 equal 2nd in the Coasting Class

References

External links