2pm, meet at Purton Lower Bridge
A programme of guided tours through the remains of the Purton Hulks, in the company of L. P. Barnett, Marine Historian and Winner of the Nautical Archaeological Societies: National Adopt A Wreck Award 2007 and Certificate of Merit 2008.
Tour fee £3.50 per person. Approx tour time 2 hours, weather permitting.
Slide show presentations also available upon request. For more information, phone Paul Barnett on 07833 143231 or email below:
www.mythornbury.co.uk/thornbury/l...
Email:
2pm, meet at Purton Lower Bridge
A programme of guided tours through the remains of the Purton Hulks, in the company of L. P. Barnett, Marine Historian and Winner of the Nautical Archaeological Societies: National Adopt A Wreck Award 2007 and Certificate of Merit 2008.
Tour fee £3.50 per person. Approx tour time 2 hours, weather permitting.
Slide show presentations also available upon request. For more information, phone Paul Barnett on 07833 143231 or email below:
www.mythornbury.co.uk/thornbury/l...
Email:
2pm, meet at Purton Lower Bridge
A programme of guided tours through the remains of the Purton Hulks, in the company of L. P. Barnett, Marine Historian and Winner of the Nautical Archaeological Societies: National Adopt A Wreck Award 2007 and Certificate of Merit 2008.
Tour fee £3.50 per person. Approx tour time 2 hours, weather permitting.
Slide show presentations also available upon request. For more information, phone Paul Barnett on 07833 143231 or email below:
www.mythornbury.co.uk/thornbury/l...
Email:
2pm, meet at Purton Lower Bridge
A programme of guided tours through the remains of the Purton Hulks, in the company of L. P. Barnett, Marine Historian and Winner of the Nautical Archaeological Societies: National Adopt A Wreck Award 2007 and Certificate of Merit 2008.
Tour fee £3.50 per person. Approx tour time 2 hours, weather permitting.
Slide show presentations also available upon request. For more information, phone Paul Barnett on 07833 143231 or email below:
www.mythornbury.co.uk/thornbury/l...
Email:
2pm, meet at Purton Lower Bridge
A programme of guided tours through the remains of the Purton Hulks, in the company of L. P. Barnett, Marine Historian and Winner of the Nautical Archaeological Societies: National Adopt A Wreck Award 2007 and Certificate of Merit 2008.
Tour fee £3.50 per person. Approx tour time 2 hours, weather permitting.
Slide show presentations also available upon request. For more information, phone Paul Barnett on 07833 143231 or email below:
www.mythornbury.co.uk/thornbury/l...
Email:
Where to find the Purton Hulks
About this map.Purton Hulks
Latest News:
The Night the Severn Burned
Standing on the shore in the quiet village of Purton situated on the banks of the sleepy River Severn, recent visitors are often overheard saying how this tranquil setting lulls and carries them along on its peaceful waters. Now famed for its collection of hulked vessels, little do they realise that this idyllic scene hides a dark event which once shook Gloucestershire to its bedrock in a ball of flames, buckling iron and boiling spray.
Despite the passing of some fifty years many locals still vividly recall the fog-bound night that brought death and destruction almost to their doors. For the 25th of October 2010 will see the 50th Anniversary of the Severn and Wye Railway Bridge disaster, which saw the untimely death of 5 men from the John Harker owned tankers Arkendale H and Wastdale H following a collision that night.
After arriving at Sharpness from Avonmouth a little after 10pm, the Arkendale H, with her 300 tons of black oil, is said to have come into contact with the Wastdale H carrying 350 tons of volatile petroleum spirit, causing both to hurtle upstream on a flooding tide and strike an iron pillar of the Severn and Wye Railway Bridge. In doing so both vessels are thought to have become entangled with the bridge structure, which eventually gave way, sending two adjacent spans crashing to destruction in the black waters with catastrophic results.
Fuelled by a fractured gas main serving the Forest of Dean, both vessels were quickly consumed by flames only to sink upstream after leaving a trail of destruction and consigning five of the eight man combined crew to watery graves.
To this day visitors can still see the remains of the vessels locked together in the river after all attempts to raise them failed, a permanent reminder of the gallant sacrifice made by those who routinely navigated these treacherous waters. Keen eyes will also note that despite a long battle to save the Severn Railway Bridge, it was finally torn down and shipped away for scrap in 1967, leaving behind a few solitary stones to mark the base of this Victorian triumph over nature.
The Friends of Purton are therefore immensely proud to announce that they are scheduled to host a comprehensive exhibition in words and pictures to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passing of this sad event.
This will open at the Dean Heritage Museum on the 16th October 2010. The Friends are keen to speak to any one who may have information, anecdotes or memories of that fateful night for possible inclusion in the finished exhibition. Also the we are particularly interested in making the acquaintance of any surviving relatives of the vessels crews with the view to inviting them to an official opening ceremony at the Museum in October later this year. Alex Smith, Collections Officer of the museum, joined in the plea for information by stating “We are delighted to host the exhibition at the Dean Heritage Centre. The Friends of Purton have produced a fascinating and eye opening examination of an event that is deeply etched in the history of our area”. (http://deanheritagemuseum.com/events.html)
Further to this, sponsorship remains to be secured to ensure the event will be marked for eternity by two 1.5 ton blocks of stone to be inscribed with images of the bridge and both vessels, alongside the names of the eight men who fought the river that fateful night.
Announcing this news Paul Barnett, the Chairman of the Friends of Purton, paid special tribute to the work of local Stone Mason M. E. Damsell of Bream near Lydney for sourcing the blocks of the original Bridge stone and for the donation of his valued time and expertise in forming a fitting memorial to this Gloucestershire Disaster.
In line with this, negotiations are currently underway with English Heritage and British Waterways to secure the erection of the finished plaques both at Lydney Harbour and adjacent to the Sharpness to Gloucester Canal at Purton on the eastern bank of the river. "This it is hoped will symbolically reunite both sides of this wonderful river once again" said Mr Barnett.
The Purton Hulks Story:
When one considers the nation's long and rich maritime heritage, one does not ordinarily consider the windswept shores of the upper reaches of the River Severn.
Neither, might I add, does one ordinarily associate the sleepy Gloucestershire hamlet of Purton as a last bastion of this once proud maritime way of life.
However, look closer, as first impressions can often be deceptive.
None more so than the adjacent foreshore and beyond the rolling hills and gently grazing cattle, as here lies the last resting place of bones of the nation's largest collection of nautical wrecks.
This however, was never always the case and as we will see it has taken some 10 years of in-depth research and only now is the mighty Severn giving up her secrets and unearthing the wonder that is the Purton Hulks.
Paul Barnett, born the third son of a merchantman within the shadow of the mighty shipbuilding gantries of Swan Hunter, Newcastle upon Tyne, and therefore a stranger to these southern shores, has subsequently dedicated his life to researching and comprehensively recording and documenting this national treasure.
He picks up the story “I originally discovered the site in 1976 further to my family's relocation due to work commitments. At that time as a boy the site left me spellbound and with so many questions unanswered - the whys, the whens and the what fors”.
“In 1998 upon returning to the UK following a life at sea employed as a Hydrographic Surveyor, I once again became intrigued with the site and embarked on a programme of research in the hope that one day this site would eventually give up its secrets. Little did I know what lay ahead”
“My initial efforts were to identify what I believed were the remains of 23 former vessels/piles of decomposing timbers to the north of the study area. However it is now my firm belief that the site, which stretches from the waste weir in the north to the Sharpness New Dock entrance in the south, is the final resting place of 81 vessels which encapsulate steel, timber and concrete constructions.”
This understanding has only been made possible following a epic journey that has taken him to Garmouth in the far north of Scotland, to the Devon seaport of Appledore, to the eastern boards of Lowestoft through the mountainous backdrop of Porth Madoc beyond to the emerald isles and rugged Irish coastline of Waterford. He now feels he has at least a mega grasp on the site's hidden treasures”.
The story begins around 100 years ago on 23 December 1909 after A J Cullis, then Chief Engineer of the Berkeley, Gloucester and Birmingham Canal, was hurriedly summoned to the outskirts of the village.
His task was to assess the massive landslip that had earlier removed 60 metres of the nearby riverbank and hedge, leaving the adjacent canal and a main artery to the Midlands exposed and in danger of destruction.
As a temporary solution he rapidly assembled a small fleet of five timber work barges which were then immediately taken into the river and ran up onto the foreshore in an attempt to shore up the eroding river bank.
It worked, and as a result of this epic rescue operation the canal and its vital link was saved.
That said, it has been necessary as a result of the ongoing march of coastal erosion or the desire to rid owners of the burgeoning cost of maintaining timber vessels, the site has continued to develop whilst allowing the last remaining ounces of a ship's soul to be preserved in silt, sand and Severn mud.
Paul continues: "After decades of tidal ebb and flow, I returned to the site in 1998 and was horrified to be met with a sight of total devastation and mindless destruction: the site had been ravaged by man and several vessels had been razed to the ground by fire.
"However, not before their images and locations were captured for posterity by an array of eminent maritime historians and interested players.
"To this end I am immensely privileged to have met, been tutored by and formed a lasting friendship with the eminent architect and maritime author David R MacGregor, who had previously studied the site during the early 1950s in the wake of his good friends and mentors, Bristol based Maritime Historian Graham Farr and a former curator of the Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Basil Greenhill.
"Sadly David died in November of 2003, but not before he had guided me thought the complex world of vessel construction, sail rig, registration and insurance classification. For this I will always be indebted for his kindness, continued encouragement and insistence that I pose questions regarding this ever expanding and unique collection of vessels.
To date I have in excess of 300 photographs, which chronicle the life and death of each vessel.
These are catalogued to represent the individual vessels afloat/in use, during earlier stages, post abandonment and pre decomposition/vandalism/arson/trophy hunters and finally as they look today.
With the use of several sources and modern surveying techniques, I have produced a schematic diagram, which locates each vessel by scale and heading.
I intend to document the site and its artefacts in the hope that a befitting testimony is created, recorded and deposited at the Gloucestershire office of the Sites and Monuments Record.
This is considered vital in order to document these once fine vessels, their courageous crews, forward-thinking ships owners, skilled shipwrights/builders, and associated country folk, who depended so heavily on this now long since departed way of life.
In doing so I wish to acknowledge the many researchers and individuals who have tirelessly relayed their knowledge and personal accounts, without whom the history of the site would have remained buried within the silent banks of the mighty River Severn.
Please be advised that this work is ongoing, with a view to identifying the remaining vessels. I continue to request any information, photographs or contacts and would welcome the opportunity to discuss my findings in greater detail.
Please note that the utmost care will be taken to preserve and accurately reference any information submitted.
To this end I am very keen to hear from any persons or organisations that have access to geophysical instruments in order to conduct a non-invasive ground penetrating survey or sub aqua personal who would be willing to conduct an underwater survey of the 9 vessels, which are currently submerged in the high visibility and non tidal waters of the adjacent canal.
Furthermore for those wishing to attend the site, I am willing to conduct guided tours for individuals or parties of up to 20 persons and I particularly welcome requests from local history or archaeology groups."
For more information and dates please contact Paul Barnett directly by telephone 07833 143231, by post to 22 Gurney Avenue, Tuffley, Gloucester GL4 OYL or via email at
To find out more about vessels in the Purton Hulks fleet, please visit
www.friendsofpurton.org.uk
