Bantam tug Ilda leaving City Road Lock, on the Regents Canal, pushing two barges in front of it
During the fifties and sixties E C Jones & Son (Brentford) Ltd built a series of tugs which they called "Bantams". Several of these boats are now exhibited at various waterway museums but even more are still at work every day on navigations, in harbours and gravel pits throughout the country. City Road Lock is a lock on the Regent's Canal, in the London Borough of Islington, England. It is located a short distance to the east of Islington Tunnel, and immediately to the west of City Road Basin. The lock was well-used, since City Road Basin proved to be much more convenient for goods reaching London than Paddington Basin, and made a huge contribution to the prosperity of the company. Firms moved there from Paddington, including the carriers Pickfords, and it became a distribution centre into central London. The area around the lock became congested, because of the time it took for boats to pass through the adjacent tunnel, but this was partially relieved in 1830, when a towing boat was installed, which wound its way along a chain attached to the bottom of the canal. This system remained in use for over 100 years until the 1930s
Size: 5181px × 3744px
Location: City Road Lock, Regents Canal, Islington, London.
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: &, bantum, basin, boat, canal, city, craft, hall, heward, ilda, inland, lock, regents, road, tug, waterways, wood, workboat, working
