For most parts, the river above Gloucester was, at normal summer level, just a series of deep pools, separated every few miles by rock bars. These rock bars had only a depth of 18 inches above them. It was not to be opened until 1827. A barge is anything from 100 feet long and 17 feet wide. Whereas a narrowboat is 70 foot long and only 7 foot wide.
Many people make the mistake of calling a narrowboat a barge.
On the Severn narrowboats are referred to as longboats. The final decline for commercial carrying narrowboats on our narrow canal system was due to the big freeze up of 1963. The canals were frozen over for 3 months which put the majority of operators out of business.