Upper Trent Boats  The Trent Navigation Company gauging tables show Upper Trent Boats owned by the Shardlow Boat Company from 1774, and at the time of measurement 1799 the 2 early boats had jury mast and line (for hauling or towing), and the boats built 1785 and 1795 had mast and sails. The tables show that Sutton & Co was  operating Upper Trent Boats with large mast and sail between Shardlow and Gainsborough from 1808, salt from  Shardlow to Gainsborough being a principal cargo. Corn and malt to Shardlow is also listed , as is 'Trade' between the two ports.  These boats were approximately 72 feet long by 14 feet wide, with considerable individual variation - the largest was 76' 5'' by 14' 1''  and was built by Wood and Tingle at Shardlow. The tables do not give names for the boats.  (We have not yet reviewed the Trent Navigation Tables for 1816 - 1854, but we know that Sutton boats are plentiful in these)  The tables for 1855 onwards indicate that by then Sutton's  may have finished trading, only being listed as previous owners of several boats.

Sutton Employees  
Names of boat masters on Trent boats were: Thos Crane, Joseph Woolley, Josh. Woolley, James White, and John Tomlinson. There will be more names in the portion of Trent Navigation Tables that we have yet to review.  
We know of more than 40 names of narrowboat captains working for James Sutton from the 1830's to 50's of whom just a handful have been identified in the Shardlow census records. The family of whom we know most is that of Samuel Till senior and junior:  
  

Till, Samuel junior   [died 14 Nov 1872 aged 51, buried in Shardlow churchyard with his wife and daughter Diana]   Schedule76   1851 census   Shardlow Lock      NAME AGE OCCUPATION BORN Samuel Till 29 Canal Carriers Boatman Middlewich Catherine 26   Shardlow Edward 5   Shardlow Joseph 3   Shardlow Diana 10 months   Shardlow Samuel Till is listed in the 1852 Poor Rate Survey living at plot 179 owned by Holden [no. 7 on our 1852 plan]            We think built by Thomas Sutton (photo much enlarged background of small snapshot from 1930's)    Canalside - Plot 179 on 1852 plan

1861 census -  Boats on the Canal - 'Swift'   Edward Till 15 captains son Shardlow Joseph Till 13 captains son Shardlow from Cargo records   Samuel Till senior Feb 12 1844 1 truss hosiery Leicester to Middlewich Samuel Till junior July 29 1850 40 loads malt in 48 sacks Shardlow to Middlewich Samuel Till junior Aug 3 1850 1 box starch,   1 hogshead sugar,   1 chest tea,   1 bag coffee,   1 tin molasses Liverpool to Middlewich

Sutton's cargo  
Entries in the 1827 and 1850 Directories show the extent of the trading network:   

It is natural to assume that the company name refers to the Broughton after which  Broughton House was named, the house  which had been built by Thomas Sutton who died in 1814.  We do not have any records of Broughton residing in Shardlow, and this connection needs further investigation. Maybe he came from the Cheshire end of the salt trade? The boat master John Sutton was not descended from Thomas Sutton, but may have been related.  

The earliest reference is in the Derby Mercury 5th July 1771: 
"Yesterday pm, accident in Derby - John Wright waggoner to Mr Soresby of Cavendish Bridge - in loading some red lead near St Marys Bridge, a barrel rolled back out of the wagon  and falling upon his breast killed him on the spot." 
 

The family moved to Shardlow on the news of the proposal for the canal, buying a large plot of land given to Richard Attenborough  at the Enclosure award in 1760. The canal bisected the land providing the Soresby's with two areas for wharfs and warehouses, (marked 21 and 29 on the 1852 plan). In the 1770's they built  the family home, now the Lady in Grey (30) and raised two children, James (1766 - 1837) who took  over the business on his father's death in 1790 and Elizabeth (1771 - 1806) who married James' partner, William Charles Flack in 1799. On their marriage Elizabeth and William lived in the Firs (20)

. 
James and Elizabeth (nee Stevenson) had six children, two of whom died in their teens. The two remaining sons inherited the business (W C Flack had died in 1831) which runs from 1837 as J[ames Stevenson] and W[illiam Charles] Soresby. The daughters Elizabeth (1807 - 1886) and Jeannette (1815 - 1886) lived with James (1804 - 1870) who never married, at the family home until their deaths. William (1811 - 1868) married Rebecca Holbrook and moved to Nunsfield House, Alvaston, Derby. 

In the declining years of the carrying business, the family was also involved  in the cotton mill at Great Wilne and built a steam corn mill in 1860 on Millfield (26 on the 1852 plan) which was burnt down in the 1890's. The granary, office, stable block remain, all very much altered.  .

The last entry we have found for the carrying company is 1860, and in the same year Joshua Fellows bought 10 of James Soresby's boats according to Soresby family records.  

Charles Holbrook Soresby, (William's son) returned to live in the Firs c. 1910 and his grand-daughter still lives in the village. 
 
Soresby Property 
In addition to the two wharf and warehouse plots already mentioned as owned by the Soresbys, in the early years they tenanted the areas numbered 7 and 35 on the 1852 plan and possibly built the 1780? warehouse. They were also tenants of the Liversage Trust  and had  land and property in Derby on the Morledge beside the Markeaton Brook. 

Lease on plot of land, part of old bowling green, in the Morledge - Derby April 1806 for 60 years.  
between Mssrs Soresby and Flack and the Liversage charity trustees. The land "is now in the occupation of the said James Soresby and W C Flack and upon which they have lately and at their own expense erected and built, or are now erecting and building, a dwelling house and other buildings (576 sq yds) by the Morledge Brook the surface or soil of which for a depth of 6 1/2 feet has lately been cut and taken away for the purposes of widening and making the said brook navigable. Year rent £13 - 10s -. And before the end of three years cause to be erected such other good and useful buildings as will make the same premises with those now erected to be always of the yearly value of £20 - 5s - and finding ropes for the capstan and supporting and keeping in repair the capstan" ........"the capstan is at the mouth of the Morledge Brook for assisting navigation of boats and other vessels passing out of the river Derwent into the Morledge brook to and from the Holmes Mills"  

Soresby Boats  
In 1702 a document listing charges for building the new ferry (Wilden Ferry) shows:  
'paid to Ed Soreby for building her £24 - 10s -  
 paid to Ed Soreby for 2 days more £- - 2s -  
We have not established that there is a connection between this Soreby and the later Soresby family.  

The Trent Navigation Company gauging tables show three wide boats belonging to Soresby and Co c. 1780 - 1800 having small jury mast and lines, built by Benjamin Clifford at Shardlow. One ('boat no. 4') is recorded as carrying coal to Shardlow but the others had already been sold on, yielding no information on their use by Soresby.  

Between 1796 and 1838 boats appear under Soresby and Flack ownership, fleet number 7 onwards, their highest fleet number being 24.  

Like the Sutton boats, they are about 72 ft by 14 ft but with considerable variation, plus two at about 60 ft 6 ins by 12 ft 6 ins (trading Shardlow to Leicester) and one at 51 ft 6 ins by 11 ft (trading Shardlow to Nottingham).  

The larger boats traded Shardlow to Gainsborough, with large mast and sail, as did one of the 60 ft boats. The 50 ft boat had a jury mast and line. The largest of their boats was No 22, built by Soresby and Flack in Shardlow, being 76 ft 3 ins by 14 ft 3 ins.  

There are two Soresby and Flack narrowboats in the above table, and being only 6 ft 6 ins and 6 ft 8 1/2 ins beam, they may have been part of their flyboat fleet  

When James the younger died in 1838 the Company name changed to J and W Soresby - the last two recorded weighings being in that name (1838 and 1841)  

We do not yet have any records of their narrowboats being gauged on the canal system.  

Many of their boats were built by Benjamin Clifford of Shardlow - we believe he was located at the dockyard owned by Soresby (no 21 on the 1852 plan) because we know that by 1841 Samuel Clifford was located there, and continuing there in 1852. 

The Soresby family records show that Joshua Fellows bought 10 of Soresby's boats in 1860 - "8 Trent boats and 2 canal boats". 

Soresby Cargoes  
 

Entries in the 1827, 1850 and 1860 Directories show the extent of the trading network:  1827 - Conveyance by water:   Soresby and Flacks fly-boats 4 times a week to Derby, Leicester, Loughborough, Manchester etc.  also to all places upon the line of the Trent, Mersey and Bridgwater canals  1850 - Conveyance by water:  To London, Liverpool, Manchester, Derby, Leicester, Loughborough, and intermediate places  J & W Soresby's and Pickford & Co's boats daily  1860 - Carriers by water  Soresby James & William C - Shardlow Wharf

J. & W. Soresby's business card

Most of the cargo tables say that they are employed in "trading". We know from the notice of John Wright's death that they carried red lead and from the tables that one boat was employed in bringing coal to Shardlow in 1800.  

Three surviving invoices for 1843 at the Boat Museum add a little information:   

From the early boat cargo tables (gauging records of T. N. Co.) we have the masters of Soresbys boats being weighed in these years:  
 

Thanks to Soresby's descendants 
We are in contact with several descendants of the Soresby family who are all being very helpful. They have lent us photographs, family histories and family trees and are still searching for other material which may add to the story. 
 
 

The earliest record we have of the Cowlishaws on the waterways is from the Trent Navigation Company's Gauging Tables. George Cowlishaw bought an 8 year old boat second-hand in 1792, and it was gauged in 1799, 73 ft by 14 ft 2 ins with  mast and sail, carrying coal to Loughborough and Leicester, and corn etc. from those places to Shardlow. 
George Cowlishaw received payments from the Shardlow Overseers of the Poor, for regular deliveries of coals to the poor, every few weeks throughout the winter e.g. Jan 13 1803 George Cowlishaw for coals £1 - 1s - 0d 
In 1799 George was assessed for duties and paid 12 shillings duty on 2 horses used for business purposes. He also paid for one '4 shilling dog', and 4 shillings and 6 pence for  a house with 6 windows. 
The horses appear again in his will (probate 13 October 1812) : 
'I give and bequeath unto my eldest Son John Cowlishaw and to my third Son William Cowlishaw my Boat with the (?Lines) Ropes Poles and all other Implements and Appurtenances thereto belonging and my Horses with all the Tackle and Gearing belonging to them equally to be divided between them my said two Sons share and share alike.' 

John Cowlishaw (1779 - 1845) is recorded as Master of Soresby and Co boat No 4 in 1800, carrying coal to Shardlow. In 1805 he purchased his boat No 1 (74 ft 5 ins by 14 ft 3 ins) from the Gainsborough Boat Company (who had built it at Shardlow in 1798), and this was reweighed August 1812 when he was carrying coal on the Erewash Canal. He appears again as owner/master of boat No 1 in 1816. 
In the 1828 directory, John and William Cowlishaw are listed as coal merchants at Shardlow, but are not listed in the 1835 onward directories. 
William (1789 - June 1862) had 2 children Mira and William Joseph and in later life describes himself as a proprietor of houses and land, and a rate and tax collector. He lived at Holly Villa, at the corner of Long Row and Wilne Lane. See below for more about his son William Joseph (1854 - April 1918). 
Returning to John Cowlishaw (1779 - 1845), he had 3 children - Sarah (1819 - 1891), John Dewsnop (1824 - 1884) and George (1827 - 1882). 

John Dewsnop takes over the family wharf (No. 28 on the 1852 plan) in the late 1850's, probably in 1858 on the death of his mother Hannah. This wharf had been run for some years (at least since 1835) by Philip Burton who also occupied 'the Lawn' as a tenant.

The 1861 census shows 'the Lawn' being occupied by: 

Returning to George's cousin William Joseph (1854 - 1918) he seems to start his own business in 1887, combining being a coal merchant with the office of Assistant Overseer to the Poor. 
William Joseph Cowlishaw's boats appear in the Trent Navigation Company Tables and the Ilkeston Register of Canal Boats (to register the boats as a dwelling). He is believed to have run 3 boats at any one time although there appears to have been replacement of some of the fleet at sometime. 
The Ilkeston Register describes 3 boats each with cabin (the Registration also gives cabin dimensions and cubic capacity) as follows: 
 

Ilkeston Reg. No.	Boat Name	Date of Record	Event	Master
No. 37	'Shardlow'	6 October 1887	Registration	John Woolley
		16 November 1909	Inspection	Bradley
		11 May 1910	Inspection	Bradley
		9 August 1916	Inspection	G. Sheffield
		20 May 1920	Inspection	G. Sheffield
	Route:	Shardlow to Shipley and Langley Mill
	Cargo:	Coal:
	Propulsion:	Horse
	Max. number of persons:	In aft cabin, 3 persons
		The 1909 inspection specifies it as a wide boat.
No. 38	'Admiral Dundas'	6 October 1887	Registration	John Woolley
		19 July 1910	Inspection	? (3 men)
		9 Nov. 1911 -'this boat is in full working order'	note
	Route:	Shardlow to Shipley and Langley Mill
	Cargo:	Coal and Coke
	Propulsion:	Horse
	Max. number of persons:	2 Adults  1 Child under 12
No. 39	'The Hope'	9 May 1888	Registration	James Woolley
		(no subsequent records)
	Route:	Shardlow to Shipley and Langley Mill
	Cargo:	Coal
	Propulsion:	Horsepower. Wide Boat
	Max. number of persons:	In aft cabin, 4.

We have a photo of this boat in Shardlow Lock, showing the Ilkeston Registration number. 

The Trent Navigation Company also records 3 boats, but does not quote their names, and one was not built until 1892, and did not join the Cowlishaw fleet until some time later, and appears to be a narrowboat (judging by hold length and gauging weights/freeboard - unfortunately the table omitted the length and beam measurements...). Maybe this boat was a replacement for the original 'Hope'. 
The Trent Navigation Co. records are summarized: 
No. 2151 (late 1529) Reweighed 24 Jan 1903. Master - H. Hackett 
Built by Samuel Clifford of Shardlow in 1838, for a previous owner. 
W. J. Cowlishaw purchased in year (unknown). 
Rebuilt by W. J. Cowlishaw in year (unknown). 
74 ft 9 ins by 14 ft 2 ins with 2 Trent lines 

No. 2155 (late 1903) Reweighed 16 March 1903. Master - W. Webster. 
Built by Joseph Barnsdall of Nottingham Trent Bridge in 1841, for William Jackson of Newark. 
W. J. Cowlishaw purchased in year (unknown). 
71 ft 3 ins by 13 ft 10 ins with jury mast and Trent lines. 

No. 2173 Weighed 18 March 1905. Master - D. Brown. 
Built by Mssrs Rudkin Bros. of Leicester about 1892 for Messrs Kendal & Co of Nottingham. 
Length and Beam not recorded. Hold length 48 ft, max. gauged load 30 tons. 
W. J. Cowlishaw purchased about 1901. 

Two newspaper articles quote Mr. John Nash's memories of Cowlishaw in the 1890's. One article is from Nunews, the cutting is undated but believed to be from the 1970's and the other, from which the quotations are taken, is from the Long Eaton Advertiser 21 March 1975. John describes the following trip taken with his father who was one of Cowlishaw's boatmen: 
"At Cowlishaw's coal wharf .... coal was brought by horse-drawn boats from the various coal pits via the Erewash Canal. My father was a boatman and sometimes he would take me on these trips. 
I was not very old for I was wearing petticoats and skirts at the time. It was all right going down for I had the empty hold to play about in. But coming back with the boat loaded I had to stay in the cabin or in the well deck. 
I well remember one of those journeys. We had just cleared Sawley Lockhouse Lock into the River Trent. I had managed to climb up on to the bow and was watching the bow cutting through the water. 
Old Joe Sabin, who lived in Long Row, was at the helm when he drew my father's attention to my dangerous position. I can just remember being snatched off the bow, hard across his knee, my clouts being turned up and having a good belting, After this I had a leather belt around my waist and a piece of rope fastened to it - so it was a case of so far and no further." 
The article in Nunews lists the boat names and their Captains: 
Shardlow (Capt. J Bradley), Hope (Capt. W Webster), Admiral Dundas (Capt. Beeley from Castle Donington). 

The Cowlishaw boats were used for the village annual outings before the first world war: 
"Once a year we had our annual treat. Mr. Cowlishaw would have one of his wide boats cleared out. Zachary Smith would supply barrels. Ellis the joinery works on the Wharf would supply timber to be placed on top of the barrels to make seats. One of Cowlishaw's boat horses would be dressed up in coloured ribbons, its hooves black-leaded and polished. On Saturday  afternoon all the village kids would load up and we would set off to Weston Cliff for tea and sports." 
The two photographs are of the 1913 and 1910 boat trips, Capt. Webster is standing in the boat nearest the balance beam on the left hand photo. The right hand photo shows the awning that was erected to protect the women and children. 

Boat trip 1913	Boat trip 1910

John Nash was also involved in the distribution of the coal: 
"When I grew up I joined several other lads and with  some home-made barrows, we would call on Mr. Cowlishaw to see  if he wanted any coal taking out to the local houses. This would be half a hundredweight or one hundredweight at one shilling per hundredweight. After several journeys we would receive anything from a ha'penny to tuppence. I can tell you we felt like millionaires when we went into John Pegg's toffee shop for a farthing bull's eye." 
 
William Joseph Cowlishaw and his wife Louisa had 4 children, two boys and two girls but obviously none wanted to continue the business,. The executors ran it for at least five years after William's death as a photograph in the Heritage Centre of one of their boats unloading at the wharf was taken in 1923. 
 

Joseph married Harriet Milward, the daughter of a bricklayer at Octbrook, in 1845 at Derby. They had 5 children known to have survived - Alice, Sarah, Mary, John and George. The 2 sons continued the business as J and G Moore. 

On his marriage Joseph was already described as a boatman of the Morledge, Derby. In the very early years Joseph and Harriet lived on Cowlishaw Row (now Long Row) in the 5th house from the far end. There is a picture of Long Row in the Soresby section (above). They soon moved however to a house on Canalside (picture in the Sutton section above), where Joseph lived for the rest of his life with his son John and his family, with George and his family only 2 doors away. 

The earliest that we know he was in business for himself is from the Ilkeston Registration of Canal Boats, 1894-5. At that time he had: 
 

Ilkeston Registration Number	No. 53	No 55
Boat Name	Cambridge No. 2	Harriet
Owner	Joseph Moore and Son, Shardlow	Joseph Moore and Sons*
Master	George Moore	Joseph Moore*
Route	Erewash	Erewash valley
Traffic	Mineral	Minerals
Propulsion	Horsepower narrow boat  not as fly boat	Horsepower narrow boat
Cabins	One	One
Dimensions	8' 10" by 6' X 5'
Rule of Dimensions	Rule B. No 1	one fifth (Rule one)
Height	5' 0"	5' 2"
Length	8' 10"	8' 6"
Width	6' 7"	6' 6"
Cu Cap	290' 10"	285' 5"
less	58' 2"	57' 1"
Net	232' 8"	228' 4"
Applied	25 October 1894	1 November 1895
Examined	25 October 1894	1 November 1895
Registered	1 November 1894	?(sic) 4 February 1896
Place Registered	Ilkeston	? Ilkeston
Number of people	In aft cabin 4 persons ?3	?3 1/2  In aft cabin ? 3 1/2
	'Broken up' [presume pre 1946 when register finished]	Broken up 24-10-24  Mr Trevethick - Lenton
		*name of owner and master altered  27 July 1906 when new cert sent   to Gotham Co Ltd

 

After Joseph's death in 1900 his estate gross value £275 was divided equally between his sons John and George who continued trading. We have just one reference to their wide boat: 

Trent Navigation Company table 13. No 2172 weighed 29 December 1904 
70' 6'' by 10' 7'' with Trent line and jury mast. Rebuilt by Mr R. Gilbert of Lenton for J and G Moore of Shardlow. 
Master G Moore, cargoe - Coke, route - to Shardlow 

We know that the 2 narrow boats were still in use in the 1920's as we have snapshots with them in the background under the arch of the Clock Warehouse in Shardlow, still bearing the name Moore - the image is very much enlarged from one of the snapshots. 

John (1858 - 1940) and his wife Mary Ann (1855 - 1931) had a son Joseph who died in France in 1917. 

George (1865 - ?) and his wife Mary had at least one child - Gertrude. 

We are grateful for information on the family from Joseph's great, great grandson.