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The excavation of Three Mersey Flats at Broad Oak Basin, Parr, Merseyside, 1977
The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (1997) 26.3: 236–246
The excavation of Three Mersey Flats at Broad Oak Basin, Parr, Merseyside, 1977
M. K. Stammers
Merseyside Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4AQ, UK
Introduction In 1974, the Sankey, or St Helens, Canal lay derelict, no more than a drainage channel (Fig. 1a). In that year, the St Helens Metropolitan District Council first adopted a bold plan to turn an eyesore into an asset for the community. The Sankey Valley, through which the canal and Sankey Brook (the natural stream from which it took its name), passed was to be converted into a ‘linear park’. A phased plan was worked out starting at the terminus of the Blackbrook branch of the canal to the Old Double Locks and down as far as Penkford Bridge at Newton. Works included not only landscaping and re-planting but the conservation of two major industrial monuments. These were the Old Double Locks, which were probably the earliest of this type in England, and the Broad Oak Basin at Parr. The latter had been inlet off the main cut with a coal chute for loading coal into barges. The basin was connected with the Broad Oak Colliery to the south by a horse-drawn waggon way (Fig. 1b). The plan was accepted by the Merseyside County Council in August 1975 and the major portion of the £400,000 scheme was gained from the Government’s Derelict Land Grant scheme and the Manpower Services Commission. Phase 6a, Broad Oak Basin began, in March 1977[1]. The landscaping was designed and supervised by Miss Zara Pinfold of the 1057–2414/97/030236+11 $25.00/0 na970084
Merseyside County Council’s Planning Department. It included the extensive reshaping of the tipped material around the Basin, the conservation of the stonework of the Basin walls, tree planting and the installation of footpaths and fencing. The work was carried out by a Job Creation team funded by the Manpower Services Commission. On the discovery of the first ‘boat’ the Maritime History department of the Merseyside County Museums was contacted by Mr J. Barry of the County Planning Department. The bow and part of the hold of a flat-bottomed wooden vessel had been uncovered, and it was clear that this was the remains of a Mersey flat, the local type of cargo barge. Although it was not part of the original project, such was the interest in this discovery it was agreed to uncover the rest of the vessel. As a result, the bow of a second flat was discovered and this in turn led to the discovery of a third. Historical background The coalfield around St Helens was an important source of fuel in the early 18th century, especially for the growing town of Liverpool. But land, carriage with turnpike tolls was expensive. By 1753, Liverpool Council decided to improve matters by commissioning their dock engineer, Henry Berry, to assess whether the Sankey Brook, which ran from St Helens into the Mersey at Sankey, could be made navigable. An Act was passed in 1755 and in the event ? 1997 The Nautical Archaeology Society
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
(a)
Waterways of North West England Wide Canals
St Helens Manchester
BROAD OAK BASIN
Liverpool Sankey
Mersey Weaver
Figure 1(a). The waterways of North West England, the Sankey Canal and St. Helens.
Berry determined to build an entirely artificial ‘cut’ rather than enlarge the Sankey Brook. Building was completed by late 1757 (Paget-Tomlinson, 1992: 185–6). Coal was carried in increasing quantities, at a much lower cost particularly from collieries adjacent to the waterway at Parr, to the east of St Helens. By 1771, 89,720 tons of coal was being carried annually, 45,568 for Liverpool, and 44,152 tons for
Warrington, and the saltworks on the banks of the River Weaver, at Northwich and Winsford (Poole, 1854: 26–27). There were ten locks for craft 68 feet long, with a maximum beam of 16 feet 9 inches and a depth of 7 feet. The canal originally joined the Mersey at Sankey Bridge just below Warrington. In 1762 it was extended downstream to Fiddlers’ Ferry to bring it out into deeper water. In 237
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
(b)
Broad Oak Basin Location Based on 1845–47 Ordnance Survey
BASIN
Canal
Old Coal Pit Sandstone quarry
Sankey Brook Waggon Way Broad Oak Colliery
Broad Oak Road
Figure 1(b). The location of the Broad Oak Basin.
1833, it was extended a second time to Widnes in an effort to compete with the recently opened St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway, which had built a dock at Widnes for the coal trade. The first coal was carried by the railway to Widnes in November 1832, but the canal remained competitive for the railway seems to have been neither well built nor well managed. In 1836, the canal carried 170,000 tons of coal compared with 130,000 on the railway and 9 years later in 1845, the gap was even greater with 440,784 tons going by water and 252,877 by rail (Barker & Harris, 1959: 188–190). The Basin was not part of the original canal scheme, because it does not appear in John Eyes’ and Thomas Gaskell’s survey which was finished in 1763[2]. It is likely 238
that it was built soon after 1763 to cope with the increasing traffic. Mrs Sarah Clayton, who owned the manor of Parr, had been shipping coal from her estate as soon as the Sankey opened. She advertised in November 1757 that ‘the collieries belonging to Mrs Clayton in Parr adjacent to the Sankey Brook Navigation are opened . . . Mrs Clayton proposes to put the new raised coal on board the flats in the navigation at four shillings and tenpence a ton. A waggon road and other conveniences are fixed in such a manner that flats may be laden in a few hours.’ (Barker & Harris, 1959: 188). What ‘the other conveniences’ were can only be guessed at, but it could imply a coal tip for up-ending the coal waggons to discharge their coal to the hold of a flat. The first
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
edition of the 6 inch Ordnance Survey 1845–47 of the St Helens district marked an ‘old coal pit’ close to the Basin and this probably accounts for its siting. There was also a sandstone quarry nearby which could have provided the stone for its walls. It is not clear when the ‘old coal pit’ closed and its exhaustion could be linked to the opening of the Broad Oak Colliery in the 1790s (Barker & Harris, 1959: 188). This was just over a quarter of a mile to the south of the Basin and was linked by a waggon way, which also led to the more distant Parr Stocks Colliery. Given the continuing competitiveness of the canal, it is likely that the Basin continued to be used for coal traffic after the merger of the canal and railway company in 1845. Poole’s statistics of 1852 show that canal-delivered coal to Liverpool had exceeded rail coal from St Helens by 200,000 tons. He also noted that the Liverpool & North Western Railway was about to open a new dock at Garston with a direct rail link to the St Helens coalfield (Poole, 1854: 26–27). Broad Oak Colliery sank a deeper shaft to reach more coal seams in 1845 (Barker & Harris, 1959: 198). It closed about 1873 because it was not mentioned in HM Inspector of Mines’s Annual Reports after that date (Sim & Winstanley, 1990: 8). The first edition of the 25 inch Ordnance Survey for the area (1894) showed that the Colliery was closed and the Basin disused. The canal’s traffic had declined substantially by 1894, and the more recently opened pits near the canal—Havannah and Southport—had their own branch railway. Coal traffic had ceased by 1888. Nevertheless, the canal carried 503,978 tons, and paid tolls for other freight including soap, alkali, silicate, river sand, acid, sugar, oil, fallow, manure, copper ore, silver sand, salt and copper (Hadfield & Biddle, 1970: 397). It is unlikely that any of these was discharged or loaded at Broad Oak Basin. After 1900, the annual tonnage
carried declined rapidly, especially on the upper stretches. By 1919, it was reported that only seven flats had passed through Newton Common lock-up to St Helens. An enquiry into the future of the canal was held in 1930 and as a result five miles, including the Broad Oak section, north of Newton Common Lock were closed, and the waterway became no more than a drainage channel. The lower section continued to serve the Sankey sugar works at Earlestown until 1959 (Hadfield & Biddle, 1970: 398). The abandonment of the flats Flats were strongly built to withstand the strain of carrying dense bulk cargoes. Their flat bottom with its heavy keelson as a main member had to compensate for the weaker upper deck with its large hold openings and to withstand the strain of going aground. Many flats had a long working life and were rebuilt to extend their service. The oldest was probably the Daresbury which was built about 1772 and finally abandoned by British Waterways at Sutton level on the Weaver in 1957, where her remains still survive. Many flats which were too old for further service were abandoned. Flat hulks were either left to rot, burnt or partially broken up (Stammers, 1993: 88). Flat One was clearly abandoned before Flat Two because the latter’s keel was found lying across the stern section of Flat One (Fig. 2). On the other hand, Flat Two may be the older of the two because of its smaller dimensions. Flat One has some evidence of strengthening of frames 8 and 9, which also suggest that it was quite old when it was abandoned. It is possible that Flat One was abandoned shortly after the closure of Broad Oak Colliery, when there was still some water in the Basin, which would have made the breaking up of its bottom structure difficult. There would also have had to be sufficient water in the Basin for Flat Two to be floated over the 239
240
B
Flat 2
A
Profile BB
Profile AA–depth of basin estimated
Flat 1
Excavation on three flats as part of Sankey Valley Linear Park Phase 6A
Broad Oak Basin, Parr location plan
Figure 2. Broad Oak Basin, Parr. Plan and sections to show the relationship of the three flats in the silted basin. (Drawing: M. K. Stammers.)
Waterlogged area
Flat 3
B
Foundation of coal tip
Foundation of "office" linked with coal tip
A
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
Bow of flat 2
Keel profile
Figure 4. Plan of the remains of Flat 2, Broad Oak Basin. (Drawing: M. K. Stammers.)
Flat 1 Cross section at frame 1
Cross section at frame 9 (note knee)
Broad Oak Basin, Parr Flat 2 April–June 1977
Figure 3. Plan and bow profile of Flat 1, Broad Oak Basin. (Drawing: M. K. Stammers.)
Bow profile
Broad Oak Basin, Parr Flat 1 April–June 1977
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
241
242
13
Cross sections at frames 4, 13, 34 and 39
34
Figure 5. Plan, Longitudinal section and cross- sections of Flat 3, Broad Oak Basin. (Drawing: M. K. Stammers.)
4
Rider Keelson (badly abraded)
Broad Oak Basin, Parr Flat 3 April–June 1977
39
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
residue of Flat One. This implies an abandonment date perhaps before the time when the Basin was recorded as ‘disused’ in 1894. This suggestion is reinforced by the fact that none of the older residents of Broad Oak, including Mr W. Smith, aged 84 in 1977, who visited the excavations, had any knowledge of the existence of the first two flats. On the other hand, they had clear memories of Flat Three which they used as a diving platform to swim in ‘the pool’ at the mouth of the Basin. There was also evidence that the area around the Basin was used for tipping industrial waste. This seemed to have been piled on the quays, with the surplus allowed to run off into the Basin. This accounts for the sharp profile of the fill at the edges of the Basin. That this was introduced material rather than natural siltation was demonstrated by the fact that the material covering Flats One and Two was a black to grey colour speckled with white nodules containing fragments of glass and pottery, whereas the underlying mud around the flats was buff-orange. Flat Three was probably abandoned later than its two companions and it may have been burnt to the waterline rather than dismantled. The stem and a number of the starboard side frames were found to be blackened and charred. Although the sequence of abandonment was clear, there were no datable structural details in the flats, and the timbers were not suitable for dendrochronological analysis. A date range between 1873, the closure of Broad Oak Colliery and the 1894 OS map could be assigned to the first two flats, and 1890–1900 for the third. These dates are supported to an extent by the two datable finds from the Basin’s infill. These are fragments of two glass bottles of Collier and Hart, botanic beer manufacturers at 81 Tontine Street, St Helens, from about 1880 to 1887 and John Kerr, mineral water manufacturer, 44 Barrow Street, St Helens, from about 1880 to 1900[3].
Excavation and description of the flats The excavation of the flats was tackled by the Job Creation work force under the supervision of the County Museum’s staff. It had to be fitted in with their main objective of creating a new landscaping scheme for the Basin. Measurements were made using the centre of the flats’ keelsons as datum lines and these were then tied into the survey carried out for the landscaping works. All three flats were photographed and a sample of timbers recovered for incorporation into the collection of Merseyside County Museums. These were: the stern and port cant frames of Flat One; a top timber from Flat Two and two wooden pump barrels from Flat Three. Apart from the elm pump barrels, all the frame timbers were of oak. The iron spindle of the ‘barrel winch’ of Flat One and clay pipes, pottery and glass fragments from the fill were also saved. Flat One (Fig. 3) lay across the head of the Basin and had the ‘classic proportions’ of a flat, that is a length of about 60 feet and a 15 feet beam. It was difficult to be precise about the length because the volume of fill made it impossible to carry out a full investigation of the stern. It had been broken up about the turn of the bilge. Its bow structure consisted of a stempiece with inscribed draught marks, throughfastened to the keel by iron bolts, cant frames, backed by a floor hook to port and starboard and a breast hook which had become dislodged from the deadwood behind the stempost. All these had been pressed away from the keel and were detached from it, while the stem had pushed to starboard. Behind the bow structure was a deck beam with one hanging knee. The hold bulkhead and the hatch coamings would have been attached to this. The keelson was fastened through the floors to the keel by iron bolts. It was flanked by the planks of the hold ceiling. Two planks were raised on the port side to expose the floors from number Five to 243
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
number Nine. Floors Six and Seven consisted of a floor timber with a curved end at the turn of the bilge, which was clamped to the similarly curved end of the top timber. This was a standard form of flat construction. Frames Five, Eight and Nine had an additional timber which suggested that Flat One had undergone major repairs. The top of the keelson showed signs of wear and abrasion. This was caused presumably by the tipping of heavy cargoes into the hold. The aft hold bulkhead was marked by a beam with a knee attached. A pair of knees were also attached to the keelson and the bottom planking at frame Six. They were probably fitted to help support a towing mast tabernacle. The stern section was obscured partly by the keel and outer planking of Flat Two and partly by large coping stones which had been pushed from the top of the Basin wall. Three embedded upright timbers represented the surviving planking from the transom stern of the vessel and these were associated with two horizontal timbers which seemed to have been the upper part of the transom framing. Flat Two (Fig. 4) lay almost exactly at right angles to Flat One. Its bow had been completely dismantled and there were no cant frames, stem or planking. The keel contained the remains of a large iron bolt which would have been one of the stem fastenings. The surviving frames started with the first square frame and this was clamped between the keel and the keelson. Its ceiling had been completely removed, and there were no top timbers, except for one which was lying detached at the forward end of the keelson. Knees similar to those on Flat One were found butted up to the keelson. The stern section showed that the vessel had a transom stern. Flat Three (Fig. 5) was the most intact as well as being the longest of the three. Like the other two, it had been dismantled to the turn of the bilge. It had the same system of framing and a section of the 244
starboard ceiling was intact. Twenty-five coping stones had been tipped into the hold suggesting that these were intended to anchor the hull. The keelson, which was fitted with a rider keelson (or hog), makes it much deeper and structurally stronger than those of the other two. Its upper surface was heavily worn away with some of its iron bolts standing proud. This implied that it frequently carried heavy bulk cargoes such as stone. The heavy section and the fitting of a rider keelson indicated that this vessel had been a sailing flat. It was hogged which suggested that the bottom of the basin was uneven perhaps as a consequence of silting or tipping as a result of its abandonment for commercial use. The charring of the frame ends at the turn of the bilge showed that its upper structure was burnt to the waterline rather than dismantled. Burning unwanted flats was common practice: the Liverpool Lighterage Co. burned their obsolete wooden flats at Tranmere in the early 1950s and the Bedale was burned at Runcorn in 1971. Pumps bored out of elm trunks were a characteristic feature of a flat and the two found on Flat Three appear to have been fitted at either end of the cargo hold. There was no trace of a forwardbulkhead but the timbers covering the stern pump included a detached lodging knee which probably supported the missing deck beam at the after end of the hold. Conclusions The relatively light construction and the absence of rider keelsons suggest that Flats One and Two were ‘dumb’ flats. These were towed either by teams of men or horses on the Sankey Canal and would have been used for short-haul traffic such as coal to the canalside factories in the town or town refuse and ‘night soil’ to outlying farms. Contemporary engravings such as those of the St Helens Crown Glass Works in about 1830 and Pilkington’s Plate Glass Works in 1879 show both dumb and
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
sailing flats. The St Helens Reporter for 11 July 1952 carried a photograph of the canal about 1890–1900 with a dumb flat in the foreground. So far as it is possible to judge from this blurred image this had a fore deck, a raised after cabin, an open hold and transom stern. it is likely that all three flats were built on the Sankey Canal’s banks. Boatbuilding and repair was carried on in St Helens certainly until the 1850s. The Liverpool Ship Registers record 56 flats, sloops and schooners built there from 1764 until 1854. There are no builders listed in the oldest surviving St Helen’s Daresbury
c. 1772
Earl Sir Robert Peel Mossdale Bedale Eustace Carey
c. 1800 c. 1840 c. 1867 c. 1900 c. 1906
Oakdale
c. 1950
trade directory, Mannex’s of 1876. But Clare and Ridgway at Sankey Bridges, near Warrington continued building flats until 1906. Many flats were only used on inland waterways and did not have to be registered, so that it is impossible to ascertain the total production figure for the Sankey Canal. Such a busy waterway must have sustained a considerable fleet of barges. The Broad Oak Basin flats, though not precisely dated, form a useful link in a dated sequence of flat finds from 1772 onwards:
Surveyed in 1956, abandoned at Sutton Level Lock, Weaver Navigation Stem and stern sections excavated at Chester, 1996 Surveyed at Widnes West Bank Dock, 1971 Preserved at the Boat museum, Ellesmere Port Surveyed 1969, destroyed in fire at Runcorn 1971 A ketch-rigged coastal flat, burnt 1970 at Widnes, surveyed 1987 Preserved by private owner at Merseyside Maritime Museum
Although all have minor differences in construction, they also have many common features especially in their structure. These include the fan-shaped arrangement of cant frames to form the characteristic ‘apple cheeked’ bow of a flat. This was also found in the Lancashire schooners and in
the wreck the British naval transport Betsy built at Whitehaven in 1772 and excavated at Yorktown, 1982–1988 (Broadwater, 1995: 60–62). Perhaps this represents a boatbuilding style particular to the NorthWest Irish Sea, possibly rooted in an older tradition.
Notes
[1] The initial report on the Sankey Linear Park was tabled at the St Helens Metropolitan District Council’s Planning and Development Committee on 15 October 1974; a detailed scheme was submitted to the same Committee in August 1976, followed by a detailed survey of existing historic remains by the Industrial Archaeology department of C. F. Mott College, Prescot in October 1976. The discovery of the flats was reported in the St Helens Reporter on 13 March 1977 and the final landscape scheme for the Basin was dated 25 April 1977 (drawing no. 387/5/EQ25/7). [2] A copy of this plan dated 10 February 1899 was in the London & North Western Railway’s estate office. [3] Information from St Helens entries in Mannex’s Directory 1871, Worrall’s 1876 and Slater’s 1887, 1891, 1895 and 1905, the only editions covering the town at the end of the 19th century; held in the St Helens Local History Library.
References
Barker, T. C. & Harris, J. R., 1959, A Merseyside Town in the Industrial Revolution, St Helens, 1750–1900. London. 245
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
Broadwater, J. D., 1995, In the shadow of the wooden walls: naval transports during the American War of Independence. In Bound, M. (Ed.), The Archaeology of Ships of War. Oswestry. Hadfield, C. & Biddle, G., 1970, The Canals of North West England. Newton Abbot. Paget-Tomlinson, E. W., 1992, The Illustrated History of Canal & River Navigations. Sheffield. Poole, B., 1854, The Commerce of Liverpool. Liverpool. Sim, G. & Winstanley, I., 1990, Mining Memories, an Illustrated Record of St Helens. St Helens. Stammers, M. K., 1993, Mersey Flats & Flatmen. Lavenham.
246
The excavation of Three Mersey Flats at Broad Oak Basin, Parr, Merseyside, 1977
M. K. Stammers
Merseyside Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4AQ, UK
Introduction In 1974, the Sankey, or St Helens, Canal lay derelict, no more than a drainage channel (Fig. 1a). In that year, the St Helens Metropolitan District Council first adopted a bold plan to turn an eyesore into an asset for the community. The Sankey Valley, through which the canal and Sankey Brook (the natural stream from which it took its name), passed was to be converted into a ‘linear park’. A phased plan was worked out starting at the terminus of the Blackbrook branch of the canal to the Old Double Locks and down as far as Penkford Bridge at Newton. Works included not only landscaping and re-planting but the conservation of two major industrial monuments. These were the Old Double Locks, which were probably the earliest of this type in England, and the Broad Oak Basin at Parr. The latter had been inlet off the main cut with a coal chute for loading coal into barges. The basin was connected with the Broad Oak Colliery to the south by a horse-drawn waggon way (Fig. 1b). The plan was accepted by the Merseyside County Council in August 1975 and the major portion of the £400,000 scheme was gained from the Government’s Derelict Land Grant scheme and the Manpower Services Commission. Phase 6a, Broad Oak Basin began, in March 1977[1]. The landscaping was designed and supervised by Miss Zara Pinfold of the 1057–2414/97/030236+11 $25.00/0 na970084
Merseyside County Council’s Planning Department. It included the extensive reshaping of the tipped material around the Basin, the conservation of the stonework of the Basin walls, tree planting and the installation of footpaths and fencing. The work was carried out by a Job Creation team funded by the Manpower Services Commission. On the discovery of the first ‘boat’ the Maritime History department of the Merseyside County Museums was contacted by Mr J. Barry of the County Planning Department. The bow and part of the hold of a flat-bottomed wooden vessel had been uncovered, and it was clear that this was the remains of a Mersey flat, the local type of cargo barge. Although it was not part of the original project, such was the interest in this discovery it was agreed to uncover the rest of the vessel. As a result, the bow of a second flat was discovered and this in turn led to the discovery of a third. Historical background The coalfield around St Helens was an important source of fuel in the early 18th century, especially for the growing town of Liverpool. But land, carriage with turnpike tolls was expensive. By 1753, Liverpool Council decided to improve matters by commissioning their dock engineer, Henry Berry, to assess whether the Sankey Brook, which ran from St Helens into the Mersey at Sankey, could be made navigable. An Act was passed in 1755 and in the event ? 1997 The Nautical Archaeology Society
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
(a)
Waterways of North West England Wide Canals
St Helens Manchester
BROAD OAK BASIN
Liverpool Sankey
Mersey Weaver
Figure 1(a). The waterways of North West England, the Sankey Canal and St. Helens.
Berry determined to build an entirely artificial ‘cut’ rather than enlarge the Sankey Brook. Building was completed by late 1757 (Paget-Tomlinson, 1992: 185–6). Coal was carried in increasing quantities, at a much lower cost particularly from collieries adjacent to the waterway at Parr, to the east of St Helens. By 1771, 89,720 tons of coal was being carried annually, 45,568 for Liverpool, and 44,152 tons for
Warrington, and the saltworks on the banks of the River Weaver, at Northwich and Winsford (Poole, 1854: 26–27). There were ten locks for craft 68 feet long, with a maximum beam of 16 feet 9 inches and a depth of 7 feet. The canal originally joined the Mersey at Sankey Bridge just below Warrington. In 1762 it was extended downstream to Fiddlers’ Ferry to bring it out into deeper water. In 237
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
(b)
Broad Oak Basin Location Based on 1845–47 Ordnance Survey
BASIN
Canal
Old Coal Pit Sandstone quarry
Sankey Brook Waggon Way Broad Oak Colliery
Broad Oak Road
Figure 1(b). The location of the Broad Oak Basin.
1833, it was extended a second time to Widnes in an effort to compete with the recently opened St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway, which had built a dock at Widnes for the coal trade. The first coal was carried by the railway to Widnes in November 1832, but the canal remained competitive for the railway seems to have been neither well built nor well managed. In 1836, the canal carried 170,000 tons of coal compared with 130,000 on the railway and 9 years later in 1845, the gap was even greater with 440,784 tons going by water and 252,877 by rail (Barker & Harris, 1959: 188–190). The Basin was not part of the original canal scheme, because it does not appear in John Eyes’ and Thomas Gaskell’s survey which was finished in 1763[2]. It is likely 238
that it was built soon after 1763 to cope with the increasing traffic. Mrs Sarah Clayton, who owned the manor of Parr, had been shipping coal from her estate as soon as the Sankey opened. She advertised in November 1757 that ‘the collieries belonging to Mrs Clayton in Parr adjacent to the Sankey Brook Navigation are opened . . . Mrs Clayton proposes to put the new raised coal on board the flats in the navigation at four shillings and tenpence a ton. A waggon road and other conveniences are fixed in such a manner that flats may be laden in a few hours.’ (Barker & Harris, 1959: 188). What ‘the other conveniences’ were can only be guessed at, but it could imply a coal tip for up-ending the coal waggons to discharge their coal to the hold of a flat. The first
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
edition of the 6 inch Ordnance Survey 1845–47 of the St Helens district marked an ‘old coal pit’ close to the Basin and this probably accounts for its siting. There was also a sandstone quarry nearby which could have provided the stone for its walls. It is not clear when the ‘old coal pit’ closed and its exhaustion could be linked to the opening of the Broad Oak Colliery in the 1790s (Barker & Harris, 1959: 188). This was just over a quarter of a mile to the south of the Basin and was linked by a waggon way, which also led to the more distant Parr Stocks Colliery. Given the continuing competitiveness of the canal, it is likely that the Basin continued to be used for coal traffic after the merger of the canal and railway company in 1845. Poole’s statistics of 1852 show that canal-delivered coal to Liverpool had exceeded rail coal from St Helens by 200,000 tons. He also noted that the Liverpool & North Western Railway was about to open a new dock at Garston with a direct rail link to the St Helens coalfield (Poole, 1854: 26–27). Broad Oak Colliery sank a deeper shaft to reach more coal seams in 1845 (Barker & Harris, 1959: 198). It closed about 1873 because it was not mentioned in HM Inspector of Mines’s Annual Reports after that date (Sim & Winstanley, 1990: 8). The first edition of the 25 inch Ordnance Survey for the area (1894) showed that the Colliery was closed and the Basin disused. The canal’s traffic had declined substantially by 1894, and the more recently opened pits near the canal—Havannah and Southport—had their own branch railway. Coal traffic had ceased by 1888. Nevertheless, the canal carried 503,978 tons, and paid tolls for other freight including soap, alkali, silicate, river sand, acid, sugar, oil, fallow, manure, copper ore, silver sand, salt and copper (Hadfield & Biddle, 1970: 397). It is unlikely that any of these was discharged or loaded at Broad Oak Basin. After 1900, the annual tonnage
carried declined rapidly, especially on the upper stretches. By 1919, it was reported that only seven flats had passed through Newton Common lock-up to St Helens. An enquiry into the future of the canal was held in 1930 and as a result five miles, including the Broad Oak section, north of Newton Common Lock were closed, and the waterway became no more than a drainage channel. The lower section continued to serve the Sankey sugar works at Earlestown until 1959 (Hadfield & Biddle, 1970: 398). The abandonment of the flats Flats were strongly built to withstand the strain of carrying dense bulk cargoes. Their flat bottom with its heavy keelson as a main member had to compensate for the weaker upper deck with its large hold openings and to withstand the strain of going aground. Many flats had a long working life and were rebuilt to extend their service. The oldest was probably the Daresbury which was built about 1772 and finally abandoned by British Waterways at Sutton level on the Weaver in 1957, where her remains still survive. Many flats which were too old for further service were abandoned. Flat hulks were either left to rot, burnt or partially broken up (Stammers, 1993: 88). Flat One was clearly abandoned before Flat Two because the latter’s keel was found lying across the stern section of Flat One (Fig. 2). On the other hand, Flat Two may be the older of the two because of its smaller dimensions. Flat One has some evidence of strengthening of frames 8 and 9, which also suggest that it was quite old when it was abandoned. It is possible that Flat One was abandoned shortly after the closure of Broad Oak Colliery, when there was still some water in the Basin, which would have made the breaking up of its bottom structure difficult. There would also have had to be sufficient water in the Basin for Flat Two to be floated over the 239
240
B
Flat 2
A
Profile BB
Profile AA–depth of basin estimated
Flat 1
Excavation on three flats as part of Sankey Valley Linear Park Phase 6A
Broad Oak Basin, Parr location plan
Figure 2. Broad Oak Basin, Parr. Plan and sections to show the relationship of the three flats in the silted basin. (Drawing: M. K. Stammers.)
Waterlogged area
Flat 3
B
Foundation of coal tip
Foundation of "office" linked with coal tip
A
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
Bow of flat 2
Keel profile
Figure 4. Plan of the remains of Flat 2, Broad Oak Basin. (Drawing: M. K. Stammers.)
Flat 1 Cross section at frame 1
Cross section at frame 9 (note knee)
Broad Oak Basin, Parr Flat 2 April–June 1977
Figure 3. Plan and bow profile of Flat 1, Broad Oak Basin. (Drawing: M. K. Stammers.)
Bow profile
Broad Oak Basin, Parr Flat 1 April–June 1977
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
241
242
13
Cross sections at frames 4, 13, 34 and 39
34
Figure 5. Plan, Longitudinal section and cross- sections of Flat 3, Broad Oak Basin. (Drawing: M. K. Stammers.)
4
Rider Keelson (badly abraded)
Broad Oak Basin, Parr Flat 3 April–June 1977
39
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
residue of Flat One. This implies an abandonment date perhaps before the time when the Basin was recorded as ‘disused’ in 1894. This suggestion is reinforced by the fact that none of the older residents of Broad Oak, including Mr W. Smith, aged 84 in 1977, who visited the excavations, had any knowledge of the existence of the first two flats. On the other hand, they had clear memories of Flat Three which they used as a diving platform to swim in ‘the pool’ at the mouth of the Basin. There was also evidence that the area around the Basin was used for tipping industrial waste. This seemed to have been piled on the quays, with the surplus allowed to run off into the Basin. This accounts for the sharp profile of the fill at the edges of the Basin. That this was introduced material rather than natural siltation was demonstrated by the fact that the material covering Flats One and Two was a black to grey colour speckled with white nodules containing fragments of glass and pottery, whereas the underlying mud around the flats was buff-orange. Flat Three was probably abandoned later than its two companions and it may have been burnt to the waterline rather than dismantled. The stem and a number of the starboard side frames were found to be blackened and charred. Although the sequence of abandonment was clear, there were no datable structural details in the flats, and the timbers were not suitable for dendrochronological analysis. A date range between 1873, the closure of Broad Oak Colliery and the 1894 OS map could be assigned to the first two flats, and 1890–1900 for the third. These dates are supported to an extent by the two datable finds from the Basin’s infill. These are fragments of two glass bottles of Collier and Hart, botanic beer manufacturers at 81 Tontine Street, St Helens, from about 1880 to 1887 and John Kerr, mineral water manufacturer, 44 Barrow Street, St Helens, from about 1880 to 1900[3].
Excavation and description of the flats The excavation of the flats was tackled by the Job Creation work force under the supervision of the County Museum’s staff. It had to be fitted in with their main objective of creating a new landscaping scheme for the Basin. Measurements were made using the centre of the flats’ keelsons as datum lines and these were then tied into the survey carried out for the landscaping works. All three flats were photographed and a sample of timbers recovered for incorporation into the collection of Merseyside County Museums. These were: the stern and port cant frames of Flat One; a top timber from Flat Two and two wooden pump barrels from Flat Three. Apart from the elm pump barrels, all the frame timbers were of oak. The iron spindle of the ‘barrel winch’ of Flat One and clay pipes, pottery and glass fragments from the fill were also saved. Flat One (Fig. 3) lay across the head of the Basin and had the ‘classic proportions’ of a flat, that is a length of about 60 feet and a 15 feet beam. It was difficult to be precise about the length because the volume of fill made it impossible to carry out a full investigation of the stern. It had been broken up about the turn of the bilge. Its bow structure consisted of a stempiece with inscribed draught marks, throughfastened to the keel by iron bolts, cant frames, backed by a floor hook to port and starboard and a breast hook which had become dislodged from the deadwood behind the stempost. All these had been pressed away from the keel and were detached from it, while the stem had pushed to starboard. Behind the bow structure was a deck beam with one hanging knee. The hold bulkhead and the hatch coamings would have been attached to this. The keelson was fastened through the floors to the keel by iron bolts. It was flanked by the planks of the hold ceiling. Two planks were raised on the port side to expose the floors from number Five to 243
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 26.3
number Nine. Floors Six and Seven consisted of a floor timber with a curved end at the turn of the bilge, which was clamped to the similarly curved end of the top timber. This was a standard form of flat construction. Frames Five, Eight and Nine had an additional timber which suggested that Flat One had undergone major repairs. The top of the keelson showed signs of wear and abrasion. This was caused presumably by the tipping of heavy cargoes into the hold. The aft hold bulkhead was marked by a beam with a knee attached. A pair of knees were also attached to the keelson and the bottom planking at frame Six. They were probably fitted to help support a towing mast tabernacle. The stern section was obscured partly by the keel and outer planking of Flat Two and partly by large coping stones which had been pushed from the top of the Basin wall. Three embedded upright timbers represented the surviving planking from the transom stern of the vessel and these were associated with two horizontal timbers which seemed to have been the upper part of the transom framing. Flat Two (Fig. 4) lay almost exactly at right angles to Flat One. Its bow had been completely dismantled and there were no cant frames, stem or planking. The keel contained the remains of a large iron bolt which would have been one of the stem fastenings. The surviving frames started with the first square frame and this was clamped between the keel and the keelson. Its ceiling had been completely removed, and there were no top timbers, except for one which was lying detached at the forward end of the keelson. Knees similar to those on Flat One were found butted up to the keelson. The stern section showed that the vessel had a transom stern. Flat Three (Fig. 5) was the most intact as well as being the longest of the three. Like the other two, it had been dismantled to the turn of the bilge. It had the same system of framing and a section of the 244
starboard ceiling was intact. Twenty-five coping stones had been tipped into the hold suggesting that these were intended to anchor the hull. The keelson, which was fitted with a rider keelson (or hog), makes it much deeper and structurally stronger than those of the other two. Its upper surface was heavily worn away with some of its iron bolts standing proud. This implied that it frequently carried heavy bulk cargoes such as stone. The heavy section and the fitting of a rider keelson indicated that this vessel had been a sailing flat. It was hogged which suggested that the bottom of the basin was uneven perhaps as a consequence of silting or tipping as a result of its abandonment for commercial use. The charring of the frame ends at the turn of the bilge showed that its upper structure was burnt to the waterline rather than dismantled. Burning unwanted flats was common practice: the Liverpool Lighterage Co. burned their obsolete wooden flats at Tranmere in the early 1950s and the Bedale was burned at Runcorn in 1971. Pumps bored out of elm trunks were a characteristic feature of a flat and the two found on Flat Three appear to have been fitted at either end of the cargo hold. There was no trace of a forwardbulkhead but the timbers covering the stern pump included a detached lodging knee which probably supported the missing deck beam at the after end of the hold. Conclusions The relatively light construction and the absence of rider keelsons suggest that Flats One and Two were ‘dumb’ flats. These were towed either by teams of men or horses on the Sankey Canal and would have been used for short-haul traffic such as coal to the canalside factories in the town or town refuse and ‘night soil’ to outlying farms. Contemporary engravings such as those of the St Helens Crown Glass Works in about 1830 and Pilkington’s Plate Glass Works in 1879 show both dumb and
M. K. STAMMERS: EXCAVATION OF THREE MERSEY FLATS
sailing flats. The St Helens Reporter for 11 July 1952 carried a photograph of the canal about 1890–1900 with a dumb flat in the foreground. So far as it is possible to judge from this blurred image this had a fore deck, a raised after cabin, an open hold and transom stern. it is likely that all three flats were built on the Sankey Canal’s banks. Boatbuilding and repair was carried on in St Helens certainly until the 1850s. The Liverpool Ship Registers record 56 flats, sloops and schooners built there from 1764 until 1854. There are no builders listed in the oldest surviving St Helen’s Daresbury
c. 1772
Earl Sir Robert Peel Mossdale Bedale Eustace Carey
c. 1800 c. 1840 c. 1867 c. 1900 c. 1906
Oakdale
c. 1950
trade directory, Mannex’s of 1876. But Clare and Ridgway at Sankey Bridges, near Warrington continued building flats until 1906. Many flats were only used on inland waterways and did not have to be registered, so that it is impossible to ascertain the total production figure for the Sankey Canal. Such a busy waterway must have sustained a considerable fleet of barges. The Broad Oak Basin flats, though not precisely dated, form a useful link in a dated sequence of flat finds from 1772 onwards:
Surveyed in 1956, abandoned at Sutton Level Lock, Weaver Navigation Stem and stern sections excavated at Chester, 1996 Surveyed at Widnes West Bank Dock, 1971 Preserved at the Boat museum, Ellesmere Port Surveyed 1969, destroyed in fire at Runcorn 1971 A ketch-rigged coastal flat, burnt 1970 at Widnes, surveyed 1987 Preserved by private owner at Merseyside Maritime Museum
Although all have minor differences in construction, they also have many common features especially in their structure. These include the fan-shaped arrangement of cant frames to form the characteristic ‘apple cheeked’ bow of a flat. This was also found in the Lancashire schooners and in
the wreck the British naval transport Betsy built at Whitehaven in 1772 and excavated at Yorktown, 1982–1988 (Broadwater, 1995: 60–62). Perhaps this represents a boatbuilding style particular to the NorthWest Irish Sea, possibly rooted in an older tradition.
Notes
[1] The initial report on the Sankey Linear Park was tabled at the St Helens Metropolitan District Council’s Planning and Development Committee on 15 October 1974; a detailed scheme was submitted to the same Committee in August 1976, followed by a detailed survey of existing historic remains by the Industrial Archaeology department of C. F. Mott College, Prescot in October 1976. The discovery of the flats was reported in the St Helens Reporter on 13 March 1977 and the final landscape scheme for the Basin was dated 25 April 1977 (drawing no. 387/5/EQ25/7). [2] A copy of this plan dated 10 February 1899 was in the London & North Western Railway’s estate office. [3] Information from St Helens entries in Mannex’s Directory 1871, Worrall’s 1876 and Slater’s 1887, 1891, 1895 and 1905, the only editions covering the town at the end of the 19th century; held in the St Helens Local History Library.
References
Barker, T. C. & Harris, J. R., 1959, A Merseyside Town in the Industrial Revolution, St Helens, 1750–1900. London. 245
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Broadwater, J. D., 1995, In the shadow of the wooden walls: naval transports during the American War of Independence. In Bound, M. (Ed.), The Archaeology of Ships of War. Oswestry. Hadfield, C. & Biddle, G., 1970, The Canals of North West England. Newton Abbot. Paget-Tomlinson, E. W., 1992, The Illustrated History of Canal & River Navigations. Sheffield. Poole, B., 1854, The Commerce of Liverpool. Liverpool. Sim, G. & Winstanley, I., 1990, Mining Memories, an Illustrated Record of St Helens. St Helens. Stammers, M. K., 1993, Mersey Flats & Flatmen. Lavenham.
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