Barge art

Britain's canal systems form an atmospheric network of inland waterways that wend their way across the countryside. Alan Deegan explores their origins.

It could be said that canals are in artist Meg Gregory's blood. She works as a traditional signwriter, which includes hand-painting the beautiful and decorative script found along the side of narrow boats.

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Colourful Buckby Can..♔...

Narrow boat painting, or canal art is a traditional British folk art. This highly decorative folk art once adorned the working narrow boats of the inland waterways of Britain. Canal ware, barge ware, or gift ware, are used to describe decorated trinkets, and household items, rather than the decorated narrow boats. Canal ware is typified by strong vibrant contrasting colours, stylised roses and castle scene panels. Traditional barge ware items are highly decorated, with little blank space in…

Page 1 of 4 - painted on the back cabin panels - posted in History & Heritage: What sort of things were painted? I'm preparing Linnets backcabin for painting and wondered how common roses and castles were with the old boats, number ones in particular? Ive seen a few photos of backcabins where you can see the table cupboard panel has a dog or a fighter plane emblazened on it (done during the war perhaps?) I've a vague recollection of being told how an old boat painter was bein...

A lifestyle blog about stencils and stenciling. The designers at The Stencil Library share their design inspiration, projects, passion for decoration and the more photogenic aspects of their lives

Canal boat art

I've just returned from a walk by the river, where there was a moored narrowboat with a line of these colourfully decorated lanterns along the whole length of its roof. Roses and Castles is the name for the traditional artwork that adorned items used on a daily basis by working narrowboatmen and women in the past. Today these items are collected and used as decorative features on, or in, narrowboats that people either live in use for holidays.