The Piling Rig and Boat

One of the necessities of a canal system is an ability to strengthen the banks and make repairs. When the system was built it was thought that most boats would be horse drawn and there would be very little erosion of the clay banks. The advent of powered craft and increased use of the canals destroyed that assumption and it was necessary to provide piling craft to do this work.

Piles are lengths of wood, concrete or today steel, driven vertically down into the bank to support the clay puddle or lining and the surface of the pile acts as breakwater preventing the wash of passing boats disturbing the lining.

The boats used for this operation have flat bottoms to enable them to get close into the canal edge. The piling rig would use a heavy weight drawn up on a frame and released to hammer the pile into place. The weight was drawn up by a motor driven winch and wire cable although more primitive hand operated types are known.

The pictures show the project's piling boat display, and a very rare picture of a piling boat in action believed to have been taken prior to the second world war.