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Horse-drawn boat
 
 
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Not to be confused with the modern towboat
Towboat

A towboat is a boat designed for pushing barges. Towboats are characterized by a square bow with steel knees for pushing and powerful engines....
.


A horse-drawn boat or tow-boat is a historic boat
Boat

A boat is a watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water, and provide transport over it. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas....
 operating on a canal
Canal

Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: Aqueduct canals, which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterways, which are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans....
, pulled by a horse
Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
 walking on a special road
Road

A road is an identifiable Road number, way or Trail between Location . Roads are typically smoothed, Pavement , or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel; though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or Maintenance, repair and operations....
 along the canal, the towpath
Towpath

A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge....
.

Romans are known to have used mules to haul boats on their waterways in the UK. Boat horses were the prime movers of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomics and cultural conditions in United Kingdom....
, and they remained at work until the middle of the 20th century.






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Not to be confused with the modern towboat
Towboat

A towboat is a boat designed for pushing barges. Towboats are characterized by a square bow with steel knees for pushing and powerful engines....
.


A horse-drawn boat or tow-boat is a historic boat
Boat

A boat is a watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water, and provide transport over it. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas....
 operating on a canal
Canal

Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: Aqueduct canals, which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterways, which are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans....
, pulled by a horse
Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
 walking on a special road
Road

A road is an identifiable Road number, way or Trail between Location . Roads are typically smoothed, Pavement , or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel; though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or Maintenance, repair and operations....
 along the canal, the towpath
Towpath

A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge....
.

United Kingdom

The Romans are known to have used mules to haul boats on their waterways in the UK. Boat horses were the prime movers of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomics and cultural conditions in United Kingdom....
, and they remained at work until the middle of the 20th century. A horse, towing a boat with a rope from the towpath
Towpath

A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge....
, could pull fifty times as much cargo
Cargo

Cargo refers to goods or produce transported, generally for Commerce gain, by Cargo ship, Cargo airline, Train#Freight trains, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal freight transport long-haul cargo transport....
 as it could pull in a cart
Cart

A cart is a vehicle or device designed for transport, using two or four wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people....
 or wagon
Wagon

A wagon or dray is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle. Wagons were formerly pulled by animals such as horse, mule or ox. Today farm wagons are pulled by tractors and trucks....
 on roads. In the early days of the Canal Age, from about 1740, all boats and barges were towed by horse
Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
, mule
Mule

In its common modern meaning, a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.Mules are classified as an F1 hybrid.The term "mule" was formerly applied to the infertile offspring of any two creatures of different species....
, hinny
Hinny

A hinny is a domestication equine hybrid which is the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey . It is similar to the more common mule, but mules are the product of a female horse and a male donkey....
, pony
PONY

PONY may refer to:*PONY Baseball and Softball*PONY MagazineA PONY can refer to a small keg of beer....
 or sometimes a pair of donkey
Donkey

The 'donkey' or 'ass', Equus africanus asinus, is a Domestication member of the Equidae or horse family, and an Odd-toed ungulates. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the Wild Ass, E....
s. Many of the surviving buildings and structures had been designed with horse power in mind. Horse drawn boats were used well into the 1960s on UK canals for commercial transport, and are still used today by passenger trip boats and other pleasure traffic.

The Horseboating Society
Horseboating Society

The Horseboating Society is a national society, with the primary aim being the preservation and promotion of Horse-drawn boats on the Canals of the United Kingdom....
 has the primary aims of preserving and promoting Horseboating on the canals of the United Kingdom
Canals of the United Kingdom

The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a colourful history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role for recreational boating....
. There are horseboat operators at Foxton
Foxton, Leicestershire

Foxton is a village in Leicestershire, England, to the north-west of Market Harborough. It is on the Grand Union Canal and is the site of the Foxton Locks....
, Godalming
Godalming

Godalming is a town in the Waverley, Surrey district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous stockbroker belt commuter town for London....
, Tiverton, Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines....
, Newbury
Newbury, Berkshire

Newbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings....
 and Llangollen
Llangollen

Llangollen is a small town in Denbighshire, north-east Wales, situated on the River Dee, Wales and on the edge of the Berwyn range mountains....


NB Maria

Maria is Britain's oldest surviving wooden narrowboat
Narrowboat

A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of England and Wales....
, built in 1854 by Jinks Boatyard in Marple
Marple, Greater Manchester

Marple is a large village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Goyt southeast of Stockport....
, and was never converted to have an engine. From 1854 to 1897, Maria was used to carry railway track ballast
Track ballast

Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railroad ties or railway sleepers are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to facilitate drainage of water, to distribute the load from the railroad ties, and also to keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track structure....
 for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was formed, by amalgamation in 1847. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its Great Central Main Line....
. She was then used as a maintenance boat until 1962, lay abandoned for nine years until being salvaged in 1972 and converted to a passenger boat in 1978. In 2000 she was restored to near original operating condition.

She is currently owned by Ashton Packet Boat Company. She is sometimes loaned to the Horseboating Society
Horseboating Society

The Horseboating Society is a national society, with the primary aim being the preservation and promotion of Horse-drawn boats on the Canals of the United Kingdom....
 and has taken part in several of their events, including British Waterways' "Coal and Cotton" event, celebrating the Leeds and Liverpool Canal's history of transporting coal from Leeds
Leeds

Leeds is located on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. It is the urban core and administrative centre of the wider metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds....
 and Wigan
Wigan

Wigan is a large town in Greater Manchester in England. It stands on the River Douglas, south of Preston, west-northwest of Manchester, and east-northeast of Liverpool....
 to Liverpool, and taking cotton
Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
 from Liverpool docks to Leeds
Leeds

Leeds is located on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. It is the urban core and administrative centre of the wider metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds....
.

In 2006 she was the first boat to have been legged
Legging (canals)

Legging is a method of moving a boat through a canal tunnel.Early Canals of Great Britain#Tunnels were built without a towpath as this would require a much larger bore and hence cost more to build....
 through Standedge Tunnel in 60 years. A UK Government minister and a local Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators....
 took turns at legging Maria through the highest, longest, and deepest canal tunnel in the UK.

See also

  • Flatboat
    Flatboat

    A flatboat is a rectangular boat with a flat bottom and Square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways. The flatboat could be any size but, essentially, it is a large, sturdy tub with a hull that displaces water and so floats in the water; therefore, the flatboat is not a raft, which floats on the water....
  • Narrowboat
    Narrowboat

    A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of England and Wales....
  • Trekschuit
    Trekschuit

    Trekschuit, literal translation 'tugboat', is an old style of horse-drawn boat specific to the Netherlands where it was used for centuries as a means of passenger traffic between cities along trekvaarts, or tow-canals....
     (horse-drawn boat in the Netherlands)


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