Name Bordesley

BORDESLEY is a Large Woolwich butty, built by Harland & Wolff for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company in 1936. She is of steel riveted construction, and her original intended pairing was BIRMINGHAM. As they were both gauged and registered over a similar time period, they are likely to have initially operated as a pair. 

BORDESLEY worked for the GUCCCo for the following 12 years before being nationalised into the British Transport Commission fleet in 1948. During this time BORDESLEY was paired with several different motors and would have been engaged carrying a range of cargos such as raw materials from London docks to Birmingham, coal from the Warwickshire coal fields back to London and imported wheat for inland mills. 

By 1964 she was leased by British Waterways to Willow Wren Canal Transport services where she continued working until 1970. During this time, she carried coal regularly from Gopshill Wharf on the Ashby Canal, Leicestershire, to Croxley Mills, Hertfordshire, one of the last long distances carrying contracts. After 1970, she was used as an accommodation boat at Cassiobury, Hertfordshire, for the boat family that had been running her. 

In 1971 BORDESLEY moved to Birmingham and was used as a rubbish and dredging boat, first leased by Stevens and Kay of Oldbury, West Midlands, then sold to A ‘Caggy’ Stevens in 1979. In 1982, BORDESLEY was sold to D Greaves who restored her back to carrying condition and paired her with OTLEY. In 1996 she was sold to S Clarke of Blisworth, Northamptonshire, and paired with GREENOCK.

In 2019 Bordesley was sold again to J Cook of Jules’ Fuels, Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire, where she returned to work as a fuel boat working on the southern Grand Union paired with BLETCHLEY. In 2021, she was paired with motor TADWORTH, still working in the same area. She received some major hull work in 2023. In 2025, BORDESLEY was sold to the Haysom family, owners of TADWORTH. She still works on the southern Grand Union delivering coal, gas and diesel to boaters and houses between Bulbourne, Hertfordshire, and Bullsbridge, Hayes, Greater London.