Find Spot record 1160 - Astbury Canoe

<1> Chitty, L.F., 1927, Dug-out Canoes from Shropshire, p.129-130 (Article in Journal). SCH3534.

A rectangular type dug-out canoe found in a shallow brook at Ciss Green on 15th September 1923. The stream had cut through a glacial moraine and drained a glacial lake. The canoe was in the gravel bed of the stream and lay across the cutting, the stern part having been destroyed some fifty years previous. The surviving length was 11 feet and 4 1/2 inches, it was 1 foot 8 inches wide. The sides were 1 foot four inches and 4 inches thick. Two holes in the sides have been suggested as rowlocks but may be knot-holes. The body is box like, with straight parallel sides and a square cross section. The stern was probably square. Beak like prow which rises to a broad flat extension with a square termination 1 foot 5 inches wide; the sides of the boat stop and are shaped off 2 feet. 8 inches from the end, and a broad transverse ridge has here been left across the platform, similar to the possible seat in the Marton dug-out. The floor curves up to the prow and decreases from a thickness of 4 inches to 2 inches at the end. The beak is a characteristic of Lancashire dug-outs. Now at Manchester Museum.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ 86 SW 1 (Index). SCH2487.

Trough-like canoe [L.J. Vigor 05/09/1960]. Mr Ball [Ciss Green Farm] found the canoe while clearing out the bed of the stream. It lay near the surface and was restricting the flow of water. He pointed out the find spot at SJ 8489 6054 [J. Rigg. F.I. 21/03/1962].

<3> Fox, C, 1926, A Dug-out Canoe from South Wales: with Notes on the Chronology, Typology, and Distribution of Monoxylous Craft in England and Wales, p.133-4, 142, 147 (Article in Journal). SCH9348.

Classified to Fox's Group Ia, and similar to a log boat recovered from Ellesmere, Shropshire. Fox found the oar-holes difficult to account for.

<4> McGrail S, 1978, Logboats of England and Wales, with comparative material from European and other countries, p.149-150 (Monograph). SCH385.

The boat (punt or barge) was located at Manchester Museum and was inspected on 27th February 1974. This boat was almost inaccessible and showed no signs of conservation. One end of the boat was not recovered, the end having cut off prior to its discovery, the surviving length being 3.5 metres. The boat is made of oak, but neither the pith nor the growth-rings could be discerned. The loose sides have been nailed and tree nailed on and the original shearline survives in places. The surviving end of the boat is probably from the butt-of the log; The transverse section is rectangular, and the body is flat-bottomed with parallel sides. The end rises to an overhanging 'duckbill', possibly created using a natural bend in the original tree. There is a vestigial ridge across the inboard end of the 'duckbill'. This end could form a natural seat, and this, together with the identification of the butt end of the log, makes it possible that the surviving end was the stern. Alternatively, a 'duckbill' end makes a stable platform for a fish-spearman in the bows. Thus, the end cannot be conclusively identified. The oar holes identified by Fox (see 3) are knotholes.

<5> Longley D, 1977-1978, Longley Archive, no.217 (Paper Archive). SCH2005.

<6> The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1924, The Antiquaries Journal: Notes, p.64 (Article in Journal). SCH9349.

Prehistoric canoe found in Cheshire: Illustrated and described in the Congleton Chronicle of 06/10/1923. Found during gravel digging near the source of Dairy Brook. The canoe is made of a single piece of oak twelve feet and eight inches long, one foot and nine inches wide, and one foot deep. One end is missing and there are two holes in the side. Undated, but considered to be not as ‘primitive’ as neolithic examples.

<7> Chronicle Group, 1893-2009, Congleton Chronicle (Newspaper-Magazine). SCH972.

<8> Stephens W B, 1970, History of Congleton, p.12 (Book). SCH1414.

<9> Graham, J.M., 1966, The Dugout Canoes of the British Isles (Unpublished Report). SCH9350.

<10> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

The glacial moraine and drained a glacial lake described by Chitty (see 1) is probably the mill dam and pond of Newbold’s Mill (CHER 169), a medieval and later watermill.