Narrow Boat

by L.T.C. Rolt

Book Overview

First published in 1944, and now reissued with new black-and-white illustrations and a foreword by Jo Bell, Canal Laureate, this book has become a classic on its subject, and may be said to have started a revival of interest in the English waterways. It was on a spring day in 1939 that L.T.C. Rolt first stepped aboard Cressy. This engaging book tells the story of how he and his wife adapted and fitted out the boat as a home, and recreates the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0750960612
• ISBN13: 9780750960618
• Release Date: August 2014
• Publisher: History Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

NARROW BOAT

EXCELLENT. PASSED IT ON TO MY MOTHER, WHO'S FAMILY OWNED NARROW BOATS. A WONDERFUL ACCOUNT OF A BYGONE WAY OF LIFE.

Imagine an intimate space...a journey

...and lots of practical work. This volume contains such a story. The narrow boat, a relic of canal days in the U.K. and of my boyhood home near New York State's Erie Canal, has found a new vogue in England. This book, for all that it is a classic from 1944, tells the comprehensive story and tells it well by linking past to present. Of course, this is also "This Old House" on the water--a tale of a "fixer-upper" and of all that it meant in the lives of its owners. This particular boat is the "Cressy" and there are fine (now vintage) photographs of her interior and exterior as well as photos and illustrations from the canal life of the post World War II years in England. This is rich and rewarding reading...and re-reading for anyone with a bit of "gypsy" in their soul, or for a real boatman or for any true mechanic or craftsman who can mix practical reality with a bit of a misty dream of time gone by. It is also a travel book since it is partially a journal of the travels "Cressy" made in the English Canal system over the period of her recreational use. In fact, I have owned this book for two years now and I just took it off the shelf to begin re-reading it (frankly, I was in danger of buying it for the second time until I looked at the shelf) and when I looked it up I saw that no one had reviewed it. This is a shame since the book truly is what its publisher claims and it spawned the restoration of other former work boats, the restoration of England's inland waterway system, holiday rentals and even a couple of hobby magazines. I love this book and I hope that you do, too.