Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Wooden canal barge. Removeable rudder.

The popular image of canal boats is romanticised, that of gaily-painted and immaculately decorated craft. But the working boats of South Wales had little or no such charm and were generally painted in sombre colours — like the Ivy May. The boat was built by the staff of the Neath Canal in 1934 and was used for maintenance work and not for the carriage of freight. It lay submerged in the canal for many years but, in 1977, it was raised and was subsequently restored to its original condition. The letters NCN stand for Neath Canal Navigation.

Source: Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum Guidebook, 1984