Registration number 1160
Status Registered
a12admin

Previous names

  • 1901 No 9

Details

Function Cargo Vessel
Subfunction Barge
Location Ashton-under-Lyne
Current use Museum based
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No

Construction

Built in 1901
Hull material Wood
Rig None
Number of decks 1
Propulsion Motor
Number of engines 1
Primary engine type Inboard
Boiler type None
Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
6.98 feet (2.13m)
Depth
0.98 feet (0.30m)
Length: Overall
71.44 feet (21.79m)

History

LILITH is a Birmingham canal navigations 'joey'. These vessels were the 'black barrows' of Birmingham. Compared to the fine lines of a 'josher' they were bulldozers, made by the thousand to haul millions of tons of coal. Once the bottom was worn out, they were cut up and burnt for domestic fuel. They tended to be used in groups, towed by a tug and loaded to within inches of the gunwales. LILITH’s builder is unknown but she was commissioned by Lloyds & Lloyds Ironworks at Coombeswood near Halesown in the Black Country. She has oak sides and an elm bottom, which originally had oak knees that have now been replaced with iroko and fastened with steel bolts. She has a pointed bow and stern, and a towing mast. LILITH worked as number nine in the large fleet of Birmingham day boats that serviced the ironworks. They brought coal from local pits and took away some of the finished products. The joeys had a very simple shape and irons for hanging the rudder on both ends to avoid the need to wind (turn) the boat. There was a very small cabin for the boatman to shelter in and brew tea. At one time, these boats were horse-drawn, but later steam or diesel tugs were used, towing the boats in trains of up to five. In 1922, LILITH was altered to allow her to carry long steel tubes. The Coombeswood works had become part of the large Stewart & Lloyds Group and iron making had ceased. Coombeswood became a processing plant turning raw metal into tubes. The plant was one of the last Black Country companies to regularly use the canal system as it was the easiest access for them. LILITH was sold out of the fleet circa 1970. It is thought that she was owned by Matty's for a while. After a few years, she was bought by the present owner for £100 from an itinerant boat dealer. She was renamed LILITH at that time and work began to re-plank her. She has since gained a back cabin, a fore cabin and cloths over the hold and the hull is almost completely re-planked. From 1987, LILITH was used as part of the project known as 'Boating for a Better Planet'. She transported volunteers, as well as staging musicals and theatrical events along the waterways to promote environmentally valuable organisations. This project has since been discontinued and she is now part of a re-cycling scheme on the Ashton Canal; collecting unwanted materials from canal-side houses and transporting them away to be re-used. On August 21 2000, LILITH left Portland Basin carrying four tons of scrap and was towed the two and a half miles to Fairfield Junction by FORGET ME NOT, then bow hauled down seventeen locks to Vesta Street canal maintenance yard in Ancoats. She was unloaded the following day, having delivered what was probably the first real load to be carried entirely on the Ashton Canal for over forty years. On Friday 23 November 2006, FORGET ME NOT and LILITH participated in the Bugsworth protest rally against British Waterways funding cuts held over the weekend of 24 - 25 November. The job of renewing part of LILITH'S gunwales was completed in 2006 and a new brass bilge pump was fitted. The holey top bends on the stern end have been covered with metal pending replacement. New cloths have been made from Jute tarpaulin and the roof has also been temporarily covered with a tarpaulin. A spell of dry weather in October 2006 enabled another patching session to be carried out.

Sources

Billingham, Nick, Canal & Riverboat: 3 Old Joeys, pp52-3, February 1991  
Smith, Peter, Canal & Riverboat:The Ghosts of Gosty Hill Tunnel, pp30-31, September, 1991
Old Glory: Full steam ahead for Canal Boat Society Yard, pp26, April 2000   
Old Glory: Wooden canal boat group welcomes boost to status, October 1998

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk