Hoo Mill Lock Trent and Mersey

colhel said:
Bit of a long shot. Does anyone know it?
It's my Grandparents old house.They started off hiring boats and later built boats under the name "Kingfisher Line".
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Haven't been there for many years, was that before Mike Heywood (?) bought it and made some questionable boats or was Mike your Grandpa.

If so, whoops.....
 
TrueBlue said:
Haven't been there for many years, was that before Mike Heywood (?) bought it and made some questionable boats or was Mike your Grandpa.

If so, whoops.....
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There wasn't a business before Granny and Grandpa were there. So, not guilty :)
My Gran sold up around 1980. They had a fleet of dayboats which were sold off and a steam powered Narrow Boat which was for their private use.
I did hear rumours about whoever it was who bought the business, but don't know his name.
 
colhel said:
There wasn't a business before Granny and Grandpa were there. So, not guilty :)
My Gran sold up around 1980. They had a fleet of dayboats which were sold off and a steam powered Narrow Boat which was for their private use.
I did hear rumours about whoever it was who bought the business, but don't know his name.
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Ah, that's good then - I didn't want to inadvertently rubbish anyone coming on here.
I remember the steam boat, having seen it in action and talking to the owner - so that must have been your Grandfather. Great concept for silent boating with a tiny boiler and even smaller engine. Was diabolically expensive to run as there was only room for one small gas cylinder at a time. That's what probably killed it off as a project.

There was an article in Waterways World.

One season we saw the hire fleet the next trip Mr. Haywood (spelling?) had bought the place and building boats. I think his method of construction cause some problems for owners......

That's my lot.
 
TrueBlue said:
Ah, that's good then - I didn't want to inadvertently rubbish anyone coming on here.
I remember the steam boat, having seen it in action and talking to the owner - so that must have been your Grandfather. Great concept for silent boating with a tiny boiler and even smaller engine. Was diabolically expensive to run as there was only room for one small gas cylinder at a time. That's what probably killed it off as a project.

That's my lot.
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You would have probably spoken to my Uncle, John Rice, it was him who grew the business into a boat builders as well as a hire fleet. He also built the steam boat "Silent Kingfisher" which I had a few trips in.
The rumours I heard regarding whoever bought the business, were he bought the hulls in from someone else, and it was these that there were issues with. Thats my lot too.
Don't spose you know if the article is still available as part of a back catalog or anything?
 
colhel said:
Bit of a long shot. Does anyone know it?
It's my Grandparents old house.They started off hiring boats and later built boats under the name "Kingfisher Line".
Click to expand...

Hoomill Lock is located at Great Haywood:

52° 48.885'N 002° 0.289'W

You can see the lock-keepers house by using Street View by looking north from the middle of the bridge. :)
 
colhel said:
You would have probably spoken to my Uncle, John Rice, it was him who grew the business into a boat builders as well as a hire fleet. He also built the steam boat "Silent Kingfisher" which I had a few trips in.
The rumours I heard regarding whoever bought the business, were he bought the hulls in from someone else, and it was these that there were issues with. Thats my lot too.
Don't spose you know if the article is still available as part of a back catalog or anything?
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Just to give a quick answer (I had an awful feeling you might ask...) WW have a download facility for subscribers to use, but I've no expertise in that area. However I will look when I have time (or probably, the will) and come back.
 
lenseman said:
Hoomill Lock is located at Great Haywood:

52° 48.885'N 002° 0.289'W

You can see the lock-keepers house by using Street View by looking north from the middle of the bridge. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I used to spend my Summer Holidays here. It was also used in an episode of Inspector Morse http://www.sutton-coldfield.net/morse.html

Looking at various photos on the net, I'm reluctant to go back and visit as my memories are precious, if that makes sense :)
 
colhel said:
Looking at various photos on the net, I'm reluctant to go back and visit as my memories are precious, if that makes sense :)
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Well I made time to resurrect my WW logon and tried a search. Like most search engines it's not very precise. Anyway, only relatively recent articles can be downloaded - so it looks like a "no".

As to revisiting old haunts - perhaps we don't get too distressed by change and the rural bits of canal don't get massive changes - most are (IMHO) pleasant. Previously derelict industrial sites (depressing) have been replaced by less unsightly warehouse areas. Particularly in Stoke which was grotty.
 
TrueBlue said:
Well I made time to resurrect my WW logon and tried a search. Like most search engines it's not very precise. Anyway, only relatively recent articles can be downloaded - so it looks like a "no".

As to revisiting old haunts - perhaps we don't get too distressed by change and the rural bits of canal don't get massive changes - most are (IMHO) pleasant. Previously derelict industrial sites (depressing) have been replaced by less unsightly warehouse areas. Particularly in Stoke which was grotty.
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Thanks for taking the time to look. If I find any info on it I'll make a new post. My Uncle (The boat builder) is working in Sierra leone, he's 78 now, he's coming back to visit in August, so I may be able to get more detail.
 
Loddon said:
If you can brave it, ask on canalworld.net
Bit rough but they do have lots of info
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Well, ten years or thereabouts since I started this thread, but there is an update. I did some more googling a couple of wet Sundays ago and came across a thread on canal.net, so I added a snippet or two. My username on there is Colin S

A Rice Boat Builder?

We've also uncovered some old slides and converted them to digital. At the moment all we've found are mainly pre boat building, apart from this one with my Brother and I enjoying "Flip" which was built on site. Steel construction with a Stuart Turner petrol, the gear lever was on top of the engine box, (where my right hand is) the throttle on the rear side and the hand crank on the forward side. The box on the Starboard side was the petrol tank. What Memories!!
This must have been around 1978-9
img509.jpg
 
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