ship canal barges

[Bignickb]

During WW2, metal and wood were in great demand for military use! So some clever git came up with the idea of making Non motorised barges out of concrete!
They could be used for barriers agains sea attack, floating docks for anti aircraft guns and a form of transport for large quantities of raw materials using a small tug boat.
After spotting these on google earth I just had to go and see them for myself! They are tucked away deep in the Cheshire countryside just off their old working route - the Manchester ship canal!
There are 3 concrete and one wooden vessel - the wooden one has deteriorated so just the outline and various metal items are visible.
Chances are - these were left here just after the end of the war and have remained forgotten ever since! None are floating anymore, judging by the water levels equalling those within the holds.
They are hazardous to walk on so if you pay a visit - take care!

Wooden sleepers were bolted on to absorb strikes against other vessels and shore walls.

The bent bar of metal was the tiller. all 3 have these still in place.

Inside the hull! This gives a good idea of what the outside would have looked like when new.

Here, you can just make out the outline of a wooden hull that didn't cope well with age and the one time heavily polluted ship canal!

Foreward!

 

[Foxylady]

These are great! I love the way they're all overgrown now and almost out of sight. Nice find!

 

[goodeavens]

Fantastic find & great pictures, really is very very interesting. Makes you wonder what else is out there just wating to be discovered

 

[LiamCH]

Amazing find. I had no idea you could make boats from concrete - these look very interesting.

 

[and7barton]

Amazing find. I had no idea you could make boats from concrete - these look very interesting.

Many large modern yachts are made of concrete, laid over a dense steel mesh. They call it "Ferrocrete" I believe.

 

[oldscrote]

Great find Dude,are they visible on flash earth?

 

[Bignickb]

Position

Here is the google earth snapshot, at the top right or the mouth of this small bay - you can see the outlines of a further two vessels!
They have deteriorated beyond flotation in a deeper area, clearly made of wood - they were no match for the concrete and conditions!
Thanks for all the compliments!

 

[Bignickb]

whoops!

Lets just try that again!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=53.391105,-2.4954676&z=18&t=h&hl=en-GB

 

[goodeavens]

I`ve never really had a good look at Google maps before, very useful tool. Thanks for pointing it out. Cheers concretegarden

 

[borntobemild]

great pics. They've lasted really well considering their age.

There are some similar barges on the banks of the Severn, near Sharpness

 

[Dirus_Strictus]

Many large modern yachts are made of concrete, laid over a dense steel mesh. They call it "Ferrocrete" I believe.

Correct. It is the cheapest and easiest DIY method of making a very good, shapely hull (steel DIY hulls are always very angular). There have been quite a number 'built' in front or back gardens over recent years. You just make them upside down, and when the mobile crane comes to lift the completed hull out of the garden, the operator rotates the hull upright before loading onto the transport vehicle.

 

[and7barton]

There's a load of these on the Thames too (Sixteen of them, to be precise), at Rainham, near to Rainham Creek. I can remember when I was a kid, seeing an old bloke living on one of them. He'd build a wooden shack on the top, and had built a long shaky bridge out of scrap wood that stretched around 20 feet across a load of mud. Looks like they've been moved since I was last there, around thirty years ago. They used to stretch along the side of the bank for many yards; seems like they all been shepherded into a tight group now. I don't know how they managed that as they all seemed to be holed and sitting on the bottom.They are accessible from Coldharbour Lane.
I'm talking about Rainham, in Essex, by the way.

 

[DigitalNoise]

There's nearly 40 of them lining the waterfront near Hythe (south of southampton).
me and a friend found them on Google Earth, took a drive down there to find most were capsized and flush with the beach, used as sea defences now. The concrete is very, very thin, sometimes falling through under our feet. I wouldnt have liked to be an anti aircraft gunner on one of those in the middle of the english channel! A few are still in fair condition, worth a wander round.
Here's a google view
http://http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=50.883346,-1.411496&spn=0.000765,0.002403&t=h&z=19

 

[waynezbitz1]

awesome find, there used to be 2 of these still flaoting in portland harbour in dorset until the late 80's when the gales blew them ashore and the they were broken up by machinery to clear them as they were too heavy to move.

 

[Mr Sam]

cool stuff wouldnt mind a barge myself

 

[and7barton]

cool stuff wouldnt mind a barge myself

It's easy enough to do - I barged into a door yesterday.