Trow owners in the Forest of Dean (General)
by BTPBATH, Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 05:54 (5858 days ago)
I would be grateful if anybody can tell me if there is a listing of "trow" owners in the Forest. Especially any that traded up the River Severn to the West Midlands Black Country. The period would be from around 1650 to 1850. The name(s) I am looking for are Parkes/Parke/Park/Parks/Sparkes and Sparks. There may be variations on these names. I suspect that it would be coal or iron ore northbound. If anyone has any details on any of these families in the Forest area beside the excellent Parish Records the information would also be appreciated.
Brian Parkes
Trow owners in the Forest of Dean
by joss, Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 06:28 (5858 days ago) @ BTPBATH
I've made a note in my files of a couple of things I was looking at a while ago in Gloucester RO which might help. One is FARR, Grahame - Chepstow Ships, which there are several refs to on Google. There might also be some info in Wye Valley Industrial History by Percy G Harris, which as far as I am aware was never published but is available as a typescript in Gloucester and Gwent ROs. As I am in Buckinghamshire I can't check for you, but perhaps some kind soul can, unless you are in the area yourself.
Joss
Trow owners in the Forest of Dean
by BTPBATH, Thursday, January 22, 2009, 09:04 (5856 days ago) @ joss
Joss
Many thanks will investigate further. There would appear to be a considerable number of Parkes/Sparkes etc running around in the forest and I hope I tie them into ancestors in the W Midlands and Bristol Area
Brian
Trow owners in the Forest of Dean
by luddite_jean, Thursday, January 22, 2009, 11:52 (5856 days ago) @ BTPBATH
There's a book called "Chepstow Ships" by Grahame Farr that may have it listed. It's out of print now, but my local library was able to get it for me, you could try in yours. Two of my family trow owners were listed in it.
Trow owners in the Forest of Dean
by BTPBATH, Friday, January 23, 2009, 00:02 (5856 days ago) @ luddite_jean
Many thanks will try and find the book.
Brian
Severn Trow - book
by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Thursday, January 22, 2009, 12:35 (5856 days ago) @ BTPBATH
Severn Traders: The West Country Trows and Trowmen - Colin Green
ISBN 09533028 2 2
The complete history of commercial carrying on the Severn and the Severn Trow,
magnificently portrayed with large clear crisp historical photos. Five hundred years
of history of these vessels along the Severn and its estuaries, including the River Wye,
into the Somerset levels, the coast of Wales and the canals of Gloucestershire.
This is a magnificent book and undoubtedly, the definitive work on the subject.
180 pages. 220 x 282 mm. Hardback.
Black Dwarf Publications.
A trow was a type of cargo boat found in the past on the River Severn in Great Britain and used to transport goods. The mert could be taken down so that the trow could go under bridges, such as the bridge at Worcester and the many bridges up and downstream. The mast was stepped in a three sided frame open at the rear but closed with an iron pin or rope lashing. From the top of the mast a forestay ran down to the bow winch. To lower the mast the pin was removed and the winch slackened off to let the mast fall towards the stern. The reverse operation pulled the mast up. One such Trow, called "Joan", was owned by a timber merchant called Oliver Luff. He used her to bring timber from Tintern, Monmouthshire into 'The Back' now called 'Welsh Back' in Bristol's Floating Harbour, where he owned two timber yards. A pub, the Llandoger Trow is situated in Bristol. Trows were sea-worthy, as with an added keel they could take 90 tons of salt from Droitwich to France across the English Channel The flat bottomed Trows sailed on the sea by hauling a twenty foot log of wood under the hull strapped with chains to give 'grip' and stop the hull sliding sideways.
There are two traditional types of Severn Trow. Prior to the 1840s the River Severn was tidal up to Worcester. The trows that were used on the tidal portion of the River were called Downstream Trows whilst those that sailed north of Worcester were called Upstream Trows and were smaller. An example of a Downstream Trow, the Spry, is at the Blists Hill site of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums. During the summer the flow of water was often very low and so the trows were pulled over the resultant shallows. A rope was attached to the mast and the men who pulled the boats were called bow hauliers. The men would enter into a contract with the captain of the trow in the many pubs which were all along the Severn riverbanks and there was a right of way along the bankside.
If you find yourself in Jackfield , Ironbridge nr Telford be careful if you ask about the Severn Trow -
a public house / B&B takes its name from the boats that carried cargo along the river. From the 17th century it has catered for the needs of the boatmen and other travellers as an ale house, lodgings and until recently had cubicles upstairs for the ladies of the night!
--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>
Severn Trow - book
by BTPBATH, Friday, January 23, 2009, 00:03 (5856 days ago) @ slowhands
Many thanks for your information. In fact my son has just returned from Bath with a copy, so again many thanks.
Brian
Severn Trow - book
by bristolloggerheads , Tuesday, June 02, 2009, 12:45 (5725 days ago) @ BTPBATH
My family (Syner) were trowmen on the upper Severn as early as 1637 but I have them back in the area to the 1550s. There is a branch of Syners who worked out of Brockweir and then Redbrook from 1700 onwards. They appear around 1600 but it is difficult to find records of occupations back this far. While I can't find the connection I can't believe they aren't linked at some point in the past.
The Gloucester Port Books Database should have details of voyages and cargoes for your family.
Peter
Trow owners in the Forest of Dean
by Clairef, Tuesday, June 02, 2009, 21:08 (5725 days ago) @ BTPBATH
Hi Slowhands,
I note you mention the book Severn Traders: The West Country Trows and Trowmen - Colin Green ISBN 09533028 2 2. I live in the north of Scotland and it will take me ages to get a copy of this through my local library and as you quoted from it I am hoping you may have a copy. If you have would you be so kind as to see if there is anything about my great-great grandfather's death in it. His name was Samuel Bush, master mariner, and on 2nd September 1898 he was drowned when the Barge Industry hit the Severn Bridge when he was in charge of the tiller. Thank you.
Claire
Samuel Bush
by dink999, Wednesday, June 03, 2009, 03:48 (5725 days ago) @ Clairef
From the Western Mail Friday September 9th 1898
On Thursday, in the Western Channel near Newnham on Severn the body of Samuel BUSH, master mariner of Saul, near Gloucester was recovered from the beach of the River Severn. The deceased was in charge of the trow Industry on the 2nd inst. when it came to grief
From the Bristol Mercury and Daily Post Friday September 9th 1898
William HAZEL, a Frampton Fisherman, recovered the body of Samuel BUSH of Saul, captain of the trow Industry, which on Friday last was capsised under the Severn Bridge, the body being cast up in the Western Channel at Awre yesterday
Samuel Bush
by Clairef, Wednesday, June 03, 2009, 07:39 (5725 days ago) @ dink999
Thank you very much. I didn't know how Samuel's body was recover.
Claire
Wye Trows
by bristolloggerheads , Thursday, May 20, 2010, 21:55 (5373 days ago) @ Clairef
You may be interested to know that a follow-up book to "Severn Traders" is in the offing on the Wye Navigation. Hopefully next year.
Wye Trows
by peteressex , Friday, May 21, 2010, 08:16 (5373 days ago) @ bristolloggerheads
The movement of trow crews up and down the Severn (and Wye) is a fascinating subject for further research, including linkages in family history. If anybody looking into this subject comes across the name Sterry, Sterrey or similar, please post. There is a suspicion that this surname, frequently found in and around Lydney/Awre/Westbury/Minsterworth for some 250 years, and for much longer around Longhope and Ruardean, may have floated up and downstream.
Wye Trows
by bristolloggerheads , Saturday, May 22, 2010, 22:05 (5371 days ago) @ peteressex
There are certainly several examples of those surnames in Overs hundred, Shropshire in the early C16th although not sure there is a river connection. Thomas Styrre was listed as armiger in the 1524 Lay Subsidy so should be possible to find more on him.
Peter
Wye Trows
by peteressex , Monday, May 24, 2010, 12:12 (5369 days ago) @ bristolloggerheads
Thanks. Possible early connections between Forest and Shropshire Sterrys (or similar spellings) are being investigated. There's a brick wall at the moment, however, between the line of Sterrys starting with Richard Sterry, who was buried at Awre in 1831 having married at Minsterworth in 1794, and the earliest line of Sterrys around the Forest who have been traced back to a marriage at Ruardean in 1539, only one year after the order was given to start parish records in England and Wales. We have yet to connect Richard to the Ruardean line and other very early Sterrys at Longhope. Richard's line became spelt "Sterrey" in the 19th century.
Historically there weren't that many Sterrys outside the Forest. In the whole country under the 1841 census there were 332 Sterrys of whom 144 were in Glos and mostly the Forest. Probably the most famous Sterry was a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, the Revd Peter Sterry, 1613-1672. A connection has recently been established between the Ruardean line and Sir Wasey Sterry, who acted as Governor-General of the Sudan, 1923-25. A will of the Revd Anthony Sterry from the year of his death at Lydney, 1627, shows him connected to Ruardean by his brother, and in fact Anthony had the parishes of both Ruardean and Lydney.
But the possibility of connecting your armiger in the Overs hundred through heraldry records is a whole new game, alongside seeing if we can get the one blood line up and down the river with or without a trow!
Wye Trows
by bristolloggerheads , Monday, May 24, 2010, 22:50 (5369 days ago) @ peteressex
1524 John Sterry £4 goods Nash & Tilsop 1525 John Stare £3 goods at same place
1524 George Sterry £3 goods Nash & Tilsop
1524 Thomas Styrry £3 goods Greete 1525 Thomas Stare £3 goods at same place
1524 John Stirry 20/- goods Greete but "of Hemm in Burford" died 1537 Probate at Hereford
1525 Thomas Styrre armiger £10 land Fitz
The latter is near the Severn but the others are nearer the River Teme.
Peter
Wye Trows
by rsterry , Kurrajong, NSW, Australia, Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 08:51 (5368 days ago) @ bristolloggerheads
Greetings Peter
I am most interested in your last post and STERRY references from the 1500s. I would love to know the source as I haven't come across it before.
I do have a number of STERRY probate references for Herefordshire that appear to reference some of the same material.
See:
http://www.sterryworldwide.com/herfwills.htm
Thanks for the post
Robert Sterry
Wye Trows
by peteressex , Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 09:30 (5367 days ago) @ rsterry
Bristolloggerheads, can you please post your source and our means of access to it as these entries are of great interest to Sterry researchers.
Wye Trows
by bristolloggerheads , Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 18:09 (5367 days ago) @ peteressex
I am a bit conscious we are straying from the Forest here and don't want to upset anyone. You can contact me off-board at bristolloggerheads"at"blueyonder"dot"co"dot"uk replacing the words with the usual symbols.
You might possibly add from the parish of Blore,
Thomas Styre listed as "syngulmen" in 1532 Lichfield B/A/27ii published by LRO as "A List of Families in the Archdeaconry of Stafford" this includes quite a bit of Shropshire but I'm not sure where Blore was.
The other references are in the Lay Subsidy of 1524 E179/166/136, Greete etc,
E179/166/129 Fitz and 1525 Greete, E179/166/127. Probate reference is HP/537/266. The Lay Subsidy 1524-27 has been published by Michael Faraday.
I have also checked the Gloucester Port Books and can't find any likely candidates for masters. (This covers 1575-1760 ish.)
Peter