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Barge Being Lifted By Crane

1980 , Sudbury (Suffolk)

Cat no. 125526

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Restoration of a lighter barge on the River Stour

A large crane hoists the barge carefully while workers underneath steady and turn it. Over the footage, Tony Adams interviews the Vice Chairman of the River Stour Trust, John Marriage. He is part of the organisation that restored the barge. He explains the history of the barge, and how it was used on the river. This particular barge is the front half of a pair of barges, though they have just the one. The barge is slowly lowered into the river while onlookers applaud. The interior of the barge is shown to be waterlogged and containing various bits of flotsam. Workers begin to drain the water. Adams goes on to interview Strawberry Bryant, a former Lighterman. He explains how he used to fill the gaps in the flooding river with clay.

Keywords

Ships; Boats; Barges; History; Transport; Restoration

Background Information

Under the 'Managing A Masterpiece' programme by the Stour Valley Landscape Partnership, the lighter barge underwent restoration for many years until 2014, when it was unveiled as a fully-functioning electric powered barge available as an educational tool for passenger transport along the river. Renamed the 'John Constable', in honour of him living and painting along the River Stour, it was opened by Griff Rhys Jones, Vice President of the River Stour Trust. Lightermen such as Strawberry Bryant would have operated the barges, or 'lighters', along the rivers. These were unpowered and often required great skill to manoeuvre,

Manifestations

Barge Being Lifted By Crane

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