Nimble and Lively - The Severn Trow

Today the River Severn is often looked upon in a negative way. In recent weeks with the flooding of many homes, flood barriers in places like Bewdley being overwhelmed and the main bridge in Worcester requiring a temporary contraflow, it is not surprising.

However the River Severn has provided Worcestershire and the other Counties it flows through, with great wealth and prosperity over the years. It has been the life blood that has given birth to great towns and Cities, including our County town, the City of Worcester.

The River Severn is a unique waterway, in that it is the longest River in Britain, flowing 220 miles from its source in Plynlimon in Wales to the Bristol Channel or the ‘Severn Sea’ as it was often known. It has the second largest tidal range in the World and was once a tidal river as far north as Worcester and Bewdley. This in turn brought large ships to these areas and even led to the creation of a special craft for navigating these difficult waters - The Severn Trow.

The Severn Trow were very strong cargo boats with a large carrying capacity. They were specifically designed to cope with shallow water with strong currents and even the deep turbulent, open water of the Bristol Channel. They also had folding Mast to allow them to be lowered in order to pass under the numerous bridges as far as the inland ports of Stourport and Bewdley.

Unfortunately they are not seen on the Severn today after slowly fading away into history. In the 1970’s, Diglis Basin, in Worcester was still very much a working dock. However it had suffered from the decline of Industry and the fact that motorway and road traffic in general was now a more popular way of transporting goods.

Moored up in a quiet corner and resting on the heavily silted Basin, sat a rotting, partly submerged Trow called ‘Spry’. A great name which originated from Old Norse, ‘Spraekr’ meaning lively and nimble. This name perfectly describes all Severn Trow that ever existed. The Spry was the last one known to exist.

The Upper Severn Navigation Trust obtained the boat in 1983. Working in partnership with the Severn Trow Preservation Society and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, the Trow was raised from the thick silt and placed on a lorry to be transported to Blist Hill for restoration. used by William Davis for many years. It was mainly used to transport Limestone from Chepstow to Cardiff. She went on to carry Sand for the Bristol Glass Makers and then altered to become a Ketch. Further alterations took place in the years that followed until 1936, when she was converted into a ‘Dumb Barge’. This required a tug boat to pull it along the Severn. By the 1950’s, she was moved to Diglis to act as a floating Workshop.

Sadly she became unused, sold numerous times and soon became a derelict, semisubmerged hulk. An early inspection by the Restoration team showed the Spry was in a really bad way, however the dedication of the Restoration Team had a vision to carry out a complete rebuild, rescuing what they could in the process.

The Spry is a very important craft, the last of the Severn Trows, who ended her working career at Diglis Basin in Worcester. She can now be visited if you go to the fantastic Ironbridge Gorge Museum in Shropshire. The Restoration work was carried out by shipwright Alan Hill and Paul Turner, amongst others and used 83 trees. The work was finally completed in 1992 and the Spry returned to the same waterway where she began her journey in the 19th Century. This unique, 70ft long cargo boat sailed for a short period of time and was then taken out of the water and she now sits safely undercover in an area of the Museum dedicated to River traffic. n

By Paul Harding, Discover History Facebook and YouTube - Discover History Instagram and Twitter -DiscoverHISTPH www.discover-history.co.uk

Discover History is an award winning education and Living History Performance Company based in Worcester. They specialise in the local history of Worcestershire and deliver school workshops and history days, living history performances and talks across Britain.