A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



of the river. The chief seats of the industry 

 are at Reading, Windsor, Bray, Maidenhead, 

 Pangbourne, Streatley and other river-side 

 places. It is difficult to discover the builders 

 of the old barges. The names of the owners 

 and of the boats themselves, the King's Arms, 

 the Admiral, the Vine, the Bold Hart, the 

 Orange, the Little Dragon, which plied along 

 the Thames and conveyed malt and other 

 cargoes to London from Abingdon, Reading 

 and other Berkshire towns in the early years of 

 the eighteenth century, 1 are easier to trace. 

 The old Newbury barges were celebrated in 

 the palmy days of inland navigation, and 

 provided a standard of measurement. The 

 Newbury-sized barges were 109 ft. long and 

 17 ft. wide, drawing 3 ft. 10 ins. of water and 

 carrying about 128 tons. 2 These barges were 

 always constructed after the same model, 

 being flat-bottomed with a round head, 

 which was found most convenient, as this 

 form enabled the barge to make nearly as 

 speedy way through the water as any other, 

 and did not prevent it from being shoved 

 sideways off the shoals. These barges re- 

 quired a crew of six men and a boy. 

 The bargemen used long ashen poles from 

 14 to 19 ft. in length in order to keep 

 the barge in the proper navigable channel. 

 When going down stream only one horse 

 was needed, and the boats travelled at the 

 rate of three or three and a half miles per 

 hour ; but against the stream in the upward 

 passage eight to fourteen horses were required 

 according to circumstances. 



Messrs. Quarrington & Son were the 

 chief owners and doubtless builders of these 

 barges which conveyed goods to London once 

 a week. One Horner was another Newbury 

 barge owner in 1830, and Messrs. Euclid 

 Shaw & Co.'s Fly Boats twice a week traversed 

 the whole distance from Bristol to London. 



Reading's chief barge builder was Thomas 

 Simmonds, who had his yards in Blake's 

 Wharf. 



Pangbourne has been for some time a home 

 for the building of Thames boats. At the 

 beginning of the last century Benjamin 

 Briant and William Trumplett made boats 

 and barges, and the traditions have been 

 handed down to the present time, and a 

 considerable industry is carried on in this 

 pleasant riverside village. Mr. L. Franklin 

 turns out a considerable number of motor 

 launches, motor boats, and steam and electric 

 launches. These are clincher-built of pine 

 or mahogany, and have teak or mahogany 



1 MSS. vols. in custody of Berks Co. Council. 

 a Mavor, Agriculture of Berks, p. 431. 



fittings. He designs launches for business 

 purposes as well as for the pursuit of pleasure. 

 Thames punts propelled by motor power are 

 also a speciality of his. Mr. Franklin also 

 produces a large number of the ordinary 

 mahogany punts. The Ashley family and 

 the Thames Valley Electric Launch Com- 

 pany, Limited, help to maintain the reputation 

 of Pangbourne as an important seat of the 

 industry. 



At Windsor there are two firms who build 

 boats : Arthur Jacobs, whose works are in 

 River Street, and the Husted Brothers in 

 Goswell Road, while at Old Windsor, George 

 and William Harris carry on the trade of 

 building boats. 



Maidenhead has several noted boat builders. 

 Amongst these is the firm of Messrs. H. Wilder 

 & Son. They own the Ray Park Boat 

 Houses, and their works are in Bridge Road. 

 Messrs. E. Andrews & Son, builders of steam 

 and electric launches, boats and punts, have a 

 boathouse near Maidenhead Bridge. The senior 

 partner, a winner of the Thames Champion- 

 ship for punting and a well-known angler, 

 started the industry in 1870. The firm has 

 works in Oldfield Road, where they manu- 

 facture boats, punts and canoes, as well as 

 launches. Mr. J. Bond, designer and construc- 

 tor of steam launches and boat builder, has a 

 business founded a century ago, and carried on 

 for many years by his father. Mr. Bond has 

 five large boathouses. Mr. Henry Wood- 

 house in the Bridge Road is a builder of 

 steam launches and has a boathouse at Bray. 

 There also is established the Immisch 

 Launch & Boat Company, Limited, found- 

 ed by Moritz Immisch in 1887, having 

 their headquarters at Hampton-on-Thames. 

 This company was the first to introduce 

 launches electrically propelled. The diffi- 

 culty of re-charging the batteries of their 

 launches was overcome by equipping several 

 floating charging stations, which could be 

 moored at various points on the river, and 

 from which fresh supplies of energy could 

 be obtained. They have now permanent 

 stations and depots for this purpose, the 

 principal one being at Bray. Their premises 

 at Maidenhead are situated near Boulter's 

 Lock. The specialities of their works are the 

 motor, switch propellers and thrust blocks, 

 and the Immisch Scout cycle petrol motor. 



At Reading Arthur Henry East has for 

 many years carried on the business of build- 

 ing and letting boats out on hire. His 

 original boathouse and works were at the 

 mouth of the Kennet ; he has now con- 

 structed large premises near Caversham Lock, 

 and his business has been converted into a 



386 



