Severn Trows, working vessels on the River Severn

I was in Worcester yesterday and came across this little plaque showing a Severn Trow, by  the bridge across the River Severn.

The plaque reads, "Up to the mid-nineteenth century, this River was the main commercial artery of the West Midlands linking to the sea at Bristol. The Severn Trow was one of the vessels used, typified by its open gold, flat bottom and D shaped stern. "

The  Severn Trows  plied their trade on the river many years ago, but are no longer in use. You can see the remains of some of these little vessels, including the Alma and Jonadab  at the ships' graveyard at Purton, Gloucestershire, where many other types of vessels were hulked to shore up the banks of the river.   I came across a scale model of the Severn Trow  Norah,  in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich  and made a stamp collage depicting her in full sail  in her heyday. She was built in 1968 and sadly beached one hundred years later.   A  framed print is currently on show in the exhibition, Stamping Ground 2 in Gloucester Guildhall, Eastgate Street until 31st October .

Severn Trow, Norah, Stamp Collage by Rachel Markwick 

Christmas Open Studio Sale on 7th December 10 - 5 - I Saw Three Ships

Another  opportunity to visit my studio before Christmas will be on Sunday 7th December from 10 - 5 and I will have a variety of Christmas cards on sale, as well as prints and original work both framed and unframed.

The title of my Christmas exhibition is I Saw Three Ships to tie in with the well known carol but it also has a very personal link.

The first stamp collages I made were the three ships featured in the poem Cargoes by John Masefield, the Quinquiremen, the Stately Spanish Galleon and the Dirty British Coaster.   I have prints available of all these three  but for sentimental reasons will never part with the originals!   Ships seem to have become a recurring theme for my stamp collage work over the years and I've produced quite a few!

Inspired by visits to the banks of the River Severn at Purton - known as the Ships' Graveyard, I made The Dispatch and the Severn Trow Norah, just two of the many ships' hulks now resting there. It's a great place to visit.  Britain's last remaining coastal steamer, the S S Robin, now restored and shortly to be opened a s museum and ehibition centre in the Royal London dock was another subject for a stamp collage, and recently I've also made my version of the S S Great Britain. Two clipper ships, the Sower (La Semeuse) and The Blue Lady have been named for the French stamps used in their sails .. there is a whole collecting area dedicated to this little definitive stamp and a book has also been written about it.

"I Saw Three Ships" is a Christmas Carol and each year I make a Christmas card to send to friends and  family. These have included an angel, a Christmas tree, a Christmas wreath, a robin and a dove of peace, and Saint Nicholas, whose own story as Saint Nicholas of Myra, a town in Turkey, included his performing several miracles, one of which featured using the wheat cargoes of three ships to save the starving people of the town.  

Severn Trow Norah stamp collage

We live not far away from the beautiful River Severn and enjoy walking along the banks at various points including Purton, Arlingham and Gloucester.  At one time, the river would have been busy with vessels such as the Severn trows, known as "open moulded" trows, with a hull constructed of planked wooden frame with an open waist and small decks at bow and stern. The two-masted ketch rig allowed easy access to the hold for loading and unloading of cargo.  The overall length of the trow was 56 feet.  
The Severn trows carried various cargoes along the river during the late 19th and early 20th century.

 I came across a scale model of the Severn Trow Norah at Maritime Museum in Greenwich and have just completed a stamp collage based on this.  Built in 1868 at Bridgewater, Norah carried bunker coal from coal ports such as Cardiff, Barry and Newport.  This coal was for domestic users, but also for coastal steamers - vessels such as the SS Robin, also featured in one of my collages, rescued from destruction and now in the Royal London dock.  
When her working days ended, Norah was bought by Captain Leonard Smart in 1932 and he beached her at Weston as a houseboat.  After his death in 1936 she was left there with other wooden hulks until the outbreak of war, when she was stripped of all her metalwork, for the war effort, and then burnt.  

Detail

Severn Trow Norah