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The New Dawn Project
Working to create a full-sized working boat of the type unique
to the Chesterfield Canal. Supported by the Chesterfield Canal Trust
and the Chesterfield Canal Partnership.
NEW DAWN - HELP HER SET SAIL (Yes, she will have a mast and
sail for use on the Trent).
Please, click here to fill in the
New Dawn Project form.
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New Dawn, update June 16, 2007
Fresh Lincolnshire oak and boat-skin larc
Chesterfield Canal Trust’s project to construct a unique
“Cuckoo” narrowboat took a major step forward on January 25th
when members of the Trust took delivery of the bulk of the
timber to build the boat. Seven and a half tons of fresh Lincolnshire
oak and boat-skin larch was unloaded by hand at a private
location in Chesterfield. The wood was carefully stacked in
a ventilated pile: it will be stored for two years before
construction can begin to give it time to season. Thanks to
all the volunteers who came to help with the heavy work! The
wood was purchased following an appeal in “Cuckoo”, which
raised the £6,000 cost in just a few weeks.
Following the appeal for knees in the last edition of Cuckoo:
I’m pleased to report that we have found some! John Baylis
(IWA Region Chairman) spotted a complete set acting as ballast
in a newly restored wooden narrowboat at Langley Mill. The
owner Hugh Caldwell has agreed to swap them for scrap metal
to the same weight. Fortunately the Erewash Canal Preservation
and Development Association have dug up some old railway rails
whilst restoring their part of the Cromford Canal, and are
going to cut them into pieces as reparations. Terry Berridge
and I collected them on April 10th and David Bownes is preparing
to straighten then up in the forge.
Meanwhile, progress continues on gathering parts. Linings
and floor boards keep arriving at our store, so far we have
200 of the 800 necessary. We have sponsors for caulking materials,
tar and nuts and bolts.
So now we are on the scrounge for a stove. I have been told
that the stove from the last “Cuckoo” to be broken up went to
Clayworth. Ida was sunk at Worksop and was broken up to make
way for the bi-centennial rally in 1977. The stove was allegedly
stored for safety in the RWBC cellar. So does anyone know where
it is now? Or if it went in a skip? Boatie Clark made a sketch
of a stove as he remember it and Richard Allsopp measured the
one on Ida: “It was coffin shaped approx 225mm at the top and
bottom and 300mm at its widest with the length being approx
750mm.”
Construction should begin in 2008, fifty years after the
last commercial wooden narrowboat Raymond was built and more
than seventy years since the last Cuckoo. Further funding
and donations of money or materials are still being sought:
in particular, a further £500 is now being sought to purchase
the remaining oak required to make the deck and fittings.
If you can help, please contact John Lower.
John Lower
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As announced in previous editions of Cuckoo, the aim of the New
Dawn Project is the re-creation and operation of an accurate, full-sized
wooden boat of the unique type that carried cargoes on the Chesterfield
Canal.
Towed by a horse, the boat will promote the canal and its restoration,
be a means of studying the handling of such craft, and act as a
focus for a wider understanding of the past. For school visits the
cargo-hold will be capable of transformation into a floating classroom.
The boat will also play a central role in a research project, based
on the 1840s - finding out the cargoes carried, the sources and
destinations, and the boatmen who formed the usually two-man crews.
To build the boat, money is required. If we can raise the funds
by own methods it will avoid the time delays and uncertainties inherent
in approaching national funding bodies. It would also follow the
lead of past centuries - throughout its history people associated
with the Chesterfield Canal have ascertained what needed to be done,
worked out how to do it, and just got on with it locally.
The building of the vessel will be undertaken by an experienced
boat-builder with personal knowledge of such craft, but assisted
by volunteers who wish to obtain the knowledge and skills involved.
The first priority is to raise £8,000 to purchase the timber, ironwork,
fitments and hull coatings. The timber will then have to season
for two years before it can be used. Extra funding will be necessary
for insurance cover, tools, cargo items and packaging, licences,
educational items, research costs, promotional work, horse hire
and general running costs.
The plan is to raise the money by asking for donations equivalent
to parts of the boat, starting at only £5. Also available will be
"nominal shares" valued at one-twelfth of the timber total,
that is £670 each. We already have takers for two shares, totalling
£1,340. Donations will be via the accounts of the Chesterfield Canal
Trust, which will accrue Gift Aid taxation benefits. A way of displaying
the names of those who contribute to the scheme will be devised,
possibly on a tarpaulin covering the hold, or as addressees on the
various items of cargo.
Please help to launch this project by funding one or more parts
of the boat as listed herein - then come and see how the shutts,
shearings and headleadges all fit together to make a vessel unique
to the Chesterfield Canal. Or take a share of the timber costs.
Please, click here to fill in
the New Dawn Project form.
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