page_title: Narrowboat
section_title: Traditional stern
hierarchical_section_title: Narrowboat / Modern narrowboats / Types / Traditional stern
caption_attribution_description: English: Narrow boat sterns at Saul, Gloucestershire
context_page_description: A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways commercial canal traffic gradually diminished and the last regular long-distance traffic disappeared in 1970. However, some commercial traffic continued into the 1980s and beyond.
  To enter a narrow lock, a narrowboat must be under 7 feet wide, so most narrowboats are just 6 feet 10 inches wide. A narrowboat's maximum length is 72 feet. Anything wider or longer will be unable to navigate most of the British canal network. Some locks are shorter than 72 feet, so to access the entire canal network the maximum length is 57 feet
  The first narrow boats played a key part in the economic changes of the British Industrial Revolution. They were wooden boats drawn by a horse walking on the canal towpath led by a crew member. Horses were gradually replaced with steam and then diesel engines. By the end of the 19th century it was common practice to paint roses and castles on narrow boats and their fixtures and fittings.
context_section_description: Many modern canal boats retain the traditional layout of a small open, unguarded "counter" or deck behind the rear doors from which the crew can step onto land. It is possible to steer from the counter, but this is not very safe, with the propeller churning below only one missed step away. The "tiller extension" allows the steerer to stand in safety on the top step, forward of the rear doors. (On a working boat, this step would have been over the top of the coal box). On cold days, the steerer can even close the rear doors behind themselves, and be in relative comfort, their lower body in the warmth of the cabin, and only their upper body emerging from the hatchway and exposed to the elements. In good weather, many trad-stern steerers sit up on the hatchway edge, a high vantage point giving good all-round visibility. On trad boats, the bow "well-deck" forms the main outside viewing area, because the traditional stern is not large enough for anyone other than the steerer to stand on safely. Internally, trads may have an engine room forward of a traditional "boatman's cabin", or an enclosed engine tucked away out of sight and the increased living space this brings.
caption: Traditional-stern narrowboats at Saul, Gloucestershire
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