Wanted – Information about a Fair Maiden
Robert Lowery writes: In September 2010 we bought an old Calder & Hebble working barge, from Burnley, called Fair Maiden. We have since found out that she worked predominantly on the Calder and Hebble and on the Aire and Calder before being bought by British Waterways, when she was converted to a trip boat and operated from Goole to Leeds. We have spoken to Goff Sherburn at the Waterways Museum, who skippered her as a pleasure craft. If anyone from the IWA in Yorkshire has any history or images of her at any point in her 135-year life to contact us at robert.lowery@sky.com Robert’s information and picture (above) on the National Historic Ships Register: Fair Maiden is a Calder & Hebble Keel, a cargo carrying boat built in 1876 by an unknown builder. The vessel is of steel on iron plate construction and has a Lister HRW3 diesel engine installed in 1978. She was originally built for sail but, in the 1960s, British Waterways ran her as a passenger vessel licenced to carry 40 persons. Later she was rescued from the scrap yard and used as a floating workshop. She is now a private leisure craft based on the Stainforth & Keadby Canal http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/ships_register.php?action=ship&id=2387 15