Name Orianne

ORIANNE is a narrow boat of iron construction, with a steel bottom, believed to have been built in 1884 by Thomas Bantock of Wolverhampton. She was originally a horse drawn boat but now has a Petter PJ4 diesel engine. ORIANNE was probably used as a 'railway boat' by the Great Western Railway on the Birmingham Canal Navigations system. Around the turn of the century ORIANNE was sold to the T & S Elements fleet and renamed EILEEN. Some time in the early to mid 20th century, ORIANNE was motorised and renamed but as yet no information is avaialable on when or how. In 1972 she had ceased commercial carrying and was discovered in a poor state at Fradley Junction. She was then purchased by Tony Higgins and shortly afterwards taken to Ken Keays boatyard in Walsall where a new steel bottom was fitted. In 2009, ORIANNE was out of the water and in the workshps of Roger Fuller at Limekiln Basin for extensive restoration to how she may have been as a working horse boat that had been motorised in the early part of the 20th Century.

We are currently lacking information on this particular vessel. If you have any information on this vessel past or present, please contact us.