purton boat graveyard (pic heavy)

Visited recently. Decided to post some pictures as I saw a few references to this place in other threads.

The boat graveyard is located between the Sharpness canal and the Severn Estuary between Purton and Sharpness.

Very easy to find and easy to pick out on Google or Flash Earth.

The boats are all Severn barges, some concrete and some wood.

They were dumped there between 1900 and 1960, as there were concerns that the barrier between the canal and the River Severn would be breached. Seems a bit crude!

There's about 30 of them, in various states of disrepair. A number seem to have been adopted by the locals, who obviously view them with some affection.

Sign giving names of all the barges



This barge (Monarch) is still in decent condition. There is a hatch open and you could climb down inside, but it looked a bit nasty down there.



The bow of Monarch



Some pics of the skeletal wooden barges





Rudder



The only bit of this one showing was the cabin (i think)



Very peaceful place, and lovely views across the Severn Estuary towards the Forest of Dean.

Some more pictures here

http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa101/borntobemild/purton/

Nice place...I bet it`s great place to relax in summer... Or does it get a little crowded ?

Like this, not seen a boat graveyard before. Looks peaceful too.

Nice find,

Sal

Its normally very quiet there - just a few dog walkers and so on.
I've been a few times as I live 20 minutes away. Realy nice place to visit and sit around for a while.
i got a few photos too but they are near enough the same so its not worth putting mine up as well.

Saigon Ob said:

Nice place...I bet it`s great place to relax in summer... Or does it get a little crowded ?

Click to expand...

i think it's quite well known and there's a little car park in Purton but i was there midweek recently and had the place to myself. Sharpness Canal is only used by leisure cruisers so is fairly quiet. I think most of the tourists go to Slimbridge.

The remains of the old railway bridge over the Severn are nearby. Took some pics of that which i'll post later.

Purton boat graveyard.

Nice pics, nice part of the country.

Nice artistic photos, particuly like the stern post and rudder,top marks for that

An excellent selection of photos!

Lb:jimlad:

I really like this. When I first started looking at UE websites I came across a boat graveyard somewhere in the U.S, and was immediately besotted.
Absolutely love the wooden skeleton hulks. Excellent stuff.