# WW2 Concrete Barge.



## Engineer (Jun 22, 2008)

Found in Gloucester in 2006, ferro-cement barge, quite a few about but not many still afloat.
Built when steel was in short supply during WW2.
Easy to repair as in pic No5.


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## Andyj23uk (Jun 22, 2008)

hey nice find - the only ones i have seen were sunk to the gunwall , spme very nice pics 

any idea on ownership / use - it seems to be still semi active


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## Engineer (Jun 22, 2008)

*Conrete Barge.*

No idea of the ownership, just appeared about July 2006 and was there for a month or two.
Might have been waiting for British Waterway's to sell it off with a lot of other kit.


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## ricasso (Jun 22, 2008)

*concrete barge*

isnt it somthing to do with the waterways museum on the docks ? [ well worth a visit ]


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## ThenewMendoza (Jun 22, 2008)

There's three of these on the Manchester Ship Canal. Nice one.

TnM


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## Engineer (Jun 22, 2008)

*Concrete Barge.*



ricasso said:


> isnt it somthing to do with the waterways museum on the docks ? [ well worth a visit ]



Yep, certainly worth a visit, specially if they have that Crossley (I think) engine running.
Lucky last visit it was free for some reason.


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## Engineer (Jun 22, 2008)

*Concrete Barge.*



ThenewMendoza said:


> There's three of these on the Manchester Ship Canal. Nice one.
> 
> TnM



Thanks, I've not been up that way for a long time, also a good boat museum at Ellesmere Port.


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## smileysal (Jun 22, 2008)

Excellent find, I like it. 

Cheers,

 Sal


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## Foxylady (Jun 22, 2008)

I hadn't seen or even heard of a concrete barge before. Certainly different!  Very nice find.


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## krela (Jun 22, 2008)

More info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_ship

There's a whole load of them at the junction between the sharpness-gloucester canal and the river severn, they were sunk to reinforce the sea wall.


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## ricasso (Jun 22, 2008)

*concrete barge*



Engineer said:


> Yep, certainly worth a visit, specially if they have that Crossley (I think) engine running.
> Lucky last visit it was free for some reason.



I think the engine is a Fielding, built just over the road from the docks,quite a rare and impressive beast !


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## BigLoada (Jun 22, 2008)

Great to see one of these again. There used to be a wrecked on in the River Blyth in Northumberland. We used to go fishing off it when I was a kid. Super photogrphs.


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## Potter (Jun 22, 2008)

Ooh, I like.

That abandoned one in that Wiki article would make for a great explore.


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## Engineer (Jun 22, 2008)

*Concrete Barge*



krela said:


> More info here:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_ship
> 
> There's a whole load of them at the junction between the sharpness-gloucester canal and the river severn, they were sunk to reinforce the sea wall.



Thanks for the link, I think I saw a few near to the old railway bridge tower, might have been some all steel.


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## Engineer (Jun 22, 2008)

*Concrete Barge.*



ricasso said:


> I think the engine is a Fielding, built just over the road from the docks,quite a rare and impressive beast !



when I was an apprentice (60's) gas & oil engines were being smashed for scrap, new fangled electricity had come to the rural area,s of Wales!

I have heard the name "Fielding" before, on a scrap baler at Ebbw Vale Steelworks, any connection?


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## crickleymal (Jun 23, 2008)

If anyone's interested someone is giving a guided tour of the hulks abandoned on the Severn near Purton. I believe they were put there as protection for the river bank but I could be wrong on this. I saw a poster advertising the walks on the stub of the Thames and Severn Canal at Saul Junction. I could go back and check the times if people are interested.


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## zimbob (Jun 23, 2008)

Nice one, I remember seeing a couple of these someone found on 28DL 

A proper little slice of history, the kind of thing that is so often overlooked...


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## ricasso (Jun 23, 2008)

Engineer said:


> when I was an apprentice (60's) gas & oil engines were being smashed for scrap, new fangled electricity had come to the rural area,s of Wales!
> 
> I have heard the name "Fielding" before, on a scrap baler at Ebbw Vale Steelworks, any connection?



Very likely, I think they later became Fielding & Platt then later on I think they moved to manchester and became Mather & Platt , apparently they were last heard of in Australia , my brother has a water pump built by them.
It pisses me of when i think of all the gorgeous engineering that was trashed in the name of "progress"
but, saying that, I think even I would prefer to flick a switch rather than crank up a temperamental 
engine on a cold, wet night !

just out of interest, can you remember if the scrap baler was blue ? I think this was fieldings company colours


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## stesh (Jun 24, 2008)

BigLoada said:


> Great to see one of these again. There used to be a wrecked on in the River Blyth in Northumberland. We used to go fishing off it when I was a kid. Super photogrphs.



I remember this one that was at the entrance to Seaton Sluice habour:-


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## King Al (Jun 24, 2008)

Cool find Engineer, I think its interestingness makes up for its uglyness  Like the spring onion looking things growing inside it


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## Richard Davies (Jun 24, 2008)

They are apparently very heavy for their size. I remember going to a talk given by a salvage diver who had to refloat one on the Manchester Ship Canal which was over 100 tons.


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## Engineer (Jun 25, 2008)

ricasso said:


> Very likely, I think they later became Fielding & Platt then later on I think they moved to manchester and became Mather & Platt , apparently they were last heard of in Australia , my brother has a water pump built by them.
> It pisses me of when i think of all the gorgeous engineering that was trashed in the name of "progress"
> but, saying that, I think even I would prefer to flick a switch rather than crank up a temperamental
> engine on a cold, wet night !
> ...



It may have been blue under the grime, there were only two colours at Ebbw Vale, Rust red and coke grey.
There were a lot of brass bits on it and it ran on a soluble oil/water mixture rather than hydraulic oil, real traditional engineering, (ram pumps, air accumulators etc)..
The paper mill I worked at which was built in the 50's was full of M & P pumps.


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## Engineer (Jun 25, 2008)

*Concrete barge.*



King Al said:


> Cool find Engineer, I think its interestingness makes up for its uglyness  Like the spring onion looking things growing inside it



Bull rushes, I think.


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## smiffy (Jun 26, 2008)

*concrete boats*

Strange this concrete barge should crop up cos a week or so ago I took a walk around the old Lydney Docks (not far from Glouecster as the crow flies ...straight across the River Severn and down a bit !) and what should be moored up in there but a medium sized concrete yacht....yep you read that correctly... a concrete yacht......
I had to laugh at her name too cos she was called "Concrete Evidence "....
Dunno if she's gonna be moored there permanently or is maybe just in the dock to have some work done on her ....................


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## Engineer (Jun 26, 2008)

*Concrete barge.*



smiffy said:


> Strange this concrete barge should crop up cos a week or so ago I took a walk around the old Lydney Docks (not far from Glouecster as the crow flies ...straight across the River Severn and down a bit !) and what should be moored up in there but a medium sized concrete yacht....yep you read that correctly... a concrete yacht......
> I had to laugh at her name too cos she was called "Concrete Evidence "....
> Dunno if she's gonna be moored there permanently or is maybe just in the dock to have some work done on her ....................



That's interesting, I'll have to have a look at that.


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## Rob (Jun 27, 2008)

smiffy said:


> Strange this concrete barge should crop up cos a week or so ago I took a walk around the old Lydney Docks (not far from Glouecster as the crow flies ...straight across the River Severn and down a bit !) and what should be moored up in there but a medium sized concrete yacht....yep you read that correctly... a concrete yacht......
> I had to laugh at her name too cos she was called "Concrete Evidence "....
> Dunno if she's gonna be moored there permanently or is maybe just in the dock to have some work done on her ....................



found this:

http://www.lydneyyachtclub.co.uk/page14.html


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## Lacelotte (Jun 27, 2008)

stesh said:


> I remember this one that was at the entrance to Seaton Sluice habour:-



I remember her being there! I love seaton sluice, such a pretty little place.

My Ex girlfriend's grandparents live just to the right of the picture and her grandfather was the guy in charge of the coastgurad station there up untill it's closure. Owned a fishing boat there byt he name of ginger lass untill he sadly passed away recently.


Good to see pictures of Gloucester. Been a long time since I was there last!


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## Engineer (Jun 27, 2008)

*Concrete barge.*

That looks a lot better than the one in Gloucester.


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## Engineer (Jun 27, 2008)

Rob said:


> found this:
> 
> http://www.lydneyyachtclub.co.uk/page14.html



That looks a lot better than the boat in Gloucester.


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## mr_bones (Jun 27, 2008)

That thing is ace! Nice unusual find.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jun 28, 2008)

In the 70's there were numerous DIY plans for producing concrete pleasure craft hulls. Although the hull forms were somewhat basic, it allowed one to produce quite large displacement hulls at a fraction of the cost of a steel or wooden construction. The skills required were also less demanding - one of the reasons why fibre- glass was not used in large scale DIY projects.


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## kernowexpeditionary (Jun 28, 2008)

i think i may well of found two more of these down my way..... need to get a bit closer to look!


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## Engineer (Jun 28, 2008)

*Concrete barge.*



kernowexpeditionary said:


> i think i may well of found two more of these down my way..... need to get a bit closer to look!



They appear to be everywhere,lol.


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## Sabtr (Jun 28, 2008)

stesh said:


> I remember this one that was at the entrance to Seaton Sluice habour:-



I remember that one as a kid. I was always told that it was placed there and sunk to prevent enemy (German) boats entering Seaton Sluice harbour. Looking at it now I think it was probably placed there to stop erosion and sand depositing within the harbour mouth. I could be wrong though!


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## crickleymal (Jul 8, 2008)

Rob said:


> found this:
> 
> http://www.lydneyyachtclub.co.uk/page14.html



There used to be a load of hulks on the banks of the Severn by the yacht club, just downstream of the harbour entrance. We used to scramble over them when I was a kid. Sadly they've all vansihed now.


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## smiffy (Jul 8, 2008)

_"There used to be a load of hulks on the banks of the Severn by the yacht club, just downstream of the harbour entrance. We used to scramble over them when I was a kid. Sadly they've all vansihed now. "_

Yeah I remember them well too. We used to go down there for a picnic on a sunday with the family and play pirates on 'em....there were loads in those days but the tides eventually broke them all up bar a few bit and pieces left in the mud along the bank there....I also recall that in those days the 'new' severn bridge was being built as the old railway bridge was being demolished....on each sunday it seemed the gap in the new bridge got smaller and smaller whilst the gap in the old one got bigger til one day it had all gone and we were taken over the 'new' road bridge for a treat in our dads car........Ah...Nostalgia!!!


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## Bounty_Bam (Sep 13, 2008)

Amazing. But, how the hell does that float?!


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## Engineer (Sep 13, 2008)

*Concrete Barge.*



Bounty_Bam said:


> Amazing. But, how the hell does that float?!



See link.

http://boatsafe.com/kids/021598kidsques.htm


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## smiffy (Sep 15, 2008)

Bounty_Bam said:


> Amazing. But, how the hell does that float?!



well..........I dunno who the smart arse 'thinker' was that came up with the theory (was it ol' wassisname Archimedes ???? ) but .....as long as the 'item to be floated' displaces more water than it weighs (summat like that ...i think ????duh!!!!) it'll float..........hence a boat made of concrete will float as long as the hull shape displaces enough water but a solid plain ' block' of concrete the same wieght would sink like a stone cos it isn't gonna 'displace' enough water..............simple ain't it ????????????speak to me someone.simple ain't it??????????????????????????


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