# purton boat graveyard (pic heavy)



## borntobemild (Jun 26, 2008)

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/


----------



## The Pirate (Jun 26, 2008)

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


----------



## smileysal (Jun 26, 2008)

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

Nice find,

 Sal


----------



## JulesP (Jun 26, 2008)

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.


----------



## borntobemild (Jun 26, 2008)

Saigon Ob said:


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




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.


----------



## Engineer (Jun 26, 2008)

*Purton boat graveyard.*

Nice pics, nice part of the country.


----------



## ricasso (Jun 27, 2008)

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


----------



## Lightbuoy (Jun 27, 2008)

An excellent selection of photos!

Lb:jimlad:


----------



## Foxylady (Jun 28, 2008)

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.


----------

