Don't let estuary relics disappear (From Gazette Series)

Don't let estuary relics disappear

SIR - Could I kindly issue via your column a plea for help and assistance in unravelling the hidden secrets that lie below the wind-swept foreshore on the banks of the River Severn at Purton?

Many will know this area as the Ships' Graveyard and be aware of the forlorn remains that lie stark against evening sky like the bleached bones of some long-forgotten creature left to sink in their unmarked graves.

This, however, should not been allowed to happen and hopefully, with the help your readers, this project will prevent obscurity and resurrect each vessels' identity and provide an insight into their history and the once proud men who sailed them.

To this end I am currently involved in an accredited programme of academic research, which to date has taken me as far a field as the coastal towns of Truro in Cornwall and Appledore in Devon.

My research has shown that these vessels plied the trade routes throughout the Severn Estuary and were frequent visitors to Stourport, Gloucester, Sharpness, Lydney, Bristol, Bridgwater, Cardiff and Ireland.

Furthermore these former sailing vessels are known to have carried a menagerie of consumables, which included high carbon Anthracite coal from the Welsh Valleys, Russian timber to supply the region's post-war timber industry and Gloucester's' thriving England's Glory factory, Australian grain from Bristol's expanding docks to Priday Metford and Healings of Tewkesbury, cocoa-crumb from across the Commonwealth to Cadburys at Frampton and Bourneville in the Midlands and animal feed stock to the entire farming community.

I would dearly like to speak with any person who may have personal accounts or who have had relatives that played a role in this expansive field and I can be contacted anytime on 07833 143231.

Hopefully then we can help to restore a fitting tribute to the fine vessels who have long since given their parting strength for the good of the foreshore. Vessel such as the schooners Dispatch and Ada, the trows Britannia, Higre and Mary Ann, the former wreaking barge Retriever and Fosters-owned King, not forgetting the workhorses of the canal, the G T Beard-owned F C B concrete lighters and steel Mousell Chadborn lighters Matson, Barnwood and Brockworth to mention a few.

L P Barnett, Address supplied