Braunston History

GameCock
Click for full image (1092x692, 113Kb)

This is a photograph of a boat called `Game Cock' in the arm at Braunston Marina. The boat is in the livery of Chas Nelson. We are told that it was the first motor boat built at Braunston. The picture was given to us by Wally Monk the son (now 72) of Reg Monk, who worked the motor boat `Jason'. The boat is moored along side the old boat building shed, this later had walls built around it, later still it was removed and replaced by a car park. GameCock

Particularly interesting is the stern of this boat, which is longer than the stern of later working motor boats. It appears from the picture to be a compromise between a later motor and a butty. The eliptical stern of a motor is present and it appears to have a normal motor swim. The boat has the flat back deck of a motor but a butty style well deck is built forward of the stern deck. We assume that the motor is at the back end of the cabin as the stove chimney is well forward. There appears to be a a worm and drive attached to the steering arm, one explanation for this may be to control a variable pitch propeller, this would perhaps avoid the need for a gear box to get reverse. We would be happy to hear from anyone who can provide more definate information about the age of this boat and its propulsion system. We assume that the picture is dated somewhere before 1920 as the photo is a sepia print.

Other pictures of this motor and also of Reg Monks motor Jason are available by using the link below.

Pictures of the motor Jason with Reg Monk aboard |

Braunston Marina
Click for full, very large image (1969 x 1501, 433Kb)

This interesting photograph of Braunston Marina dates from around 1960. The upper resevoir still contains a number of working boats. In the lower resevoir, near the mainline, a pair of hotel boats are moored. The rest of the boats are mainly wooden cruisers - interestingly there are no cruising narrowboats as we would recognize them today. It is interesting to note that the resevoirs are not yet connected together, the boat building shop is still in situ and the old tar boiler and steamer are still beside the small dock. Other pictures of the marina, the old railway line, Braunston Station and a local steam train can be accessed by the link below.

Other early pictures of Braunston Marina |

This photograph shows Michael Streat the well known owner of Blue Line discussing one of the recently designed wooden cruiser. The building with the Blue Line sign in the background is now the workshop and office of Merlin Narrowboats. This picture is from Blue Line News and dates from around 1965. The slightly rusty building is the old boat building shop shown in the first photograph on this page. The crane built in 1820 is still in the same location today.