The Spry should return to Worcester says boat enthusiast

Ian Done of Diglis, Worcester, has been researching the history of The Spry, a 129-year-old vessel anchored to the city's past but now under the care of a museum in Shropshire.

Although she cannot be viewed by the public, leaders at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, where she now is, say she will soon be back on display in all her glory. The aim is to have her back on public display by April 1. 

PASSION: Ian Done of Diglis is passionate about the Spry and its historical connections to Worcester (Image: Ian Done)

The Severn trow, a type of cargo boat once sloop-rigged, was built in 1894 and 'not unlike the Cutty Sark believed to be the very last of her kind' said Mr Done. This month marks 40 years since she left Diglis Basin.

Mr Done compared her to a 'beautiful butterfly which has confounded nature and gone back into a chrysalis and waits in the gloom of a crumbling boat shed for my story of her to be told'.

BEFORE: But the Spry has now been cleaned and is in a new setting so she can be viewed properly (Image: Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust)

However, the vessel's custodians speak of her painstaking restoration and preservation at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum in Shropshire, ready to bring her back on display.

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Abbie King, Chief Operating Officer at Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust says;

“We are very proud of the work we have done to maintain The Spry and to make sure that all of our visitors can see her on display. She is displayed in her own building, to protect her from the elements, at our most popular site, Blists Hill Victorian Town.

"There, she helps us tell the important story of trade and transport on the Severn to our visitors, and she is a much enjoyed and well loved part of our offer.

PAST: The Spry in Worcester after her glory days (Image: Supplied by Ian Done)

"The building she is housed in includes lifts, to help ensure that walkways that allow visitors to view her form above are fully accessible – recently this has required some work and while this was going on the building has been temporarily closed to visitors. We are really excited to be opening it back up again shortly.

"The Trust takes its charitable goal of heritage conservation very seriously, and we are proud to be the home for not only the Spry, but also two other historic vessels - the Middlewich, which appears alongside the Spry on the National Historic Ships Register – and the iron Lilleshall Co. tub boat – one of the earliest surviving iron hulled vessels in the world.”

HOME: Work underway on a new base for The Spry where she can be viewed by the public in her glory (Image: The Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust)

Mr Done's interest was revitalised recently when working as a volunteer archive researcher with the Canal and River Trust during their recent “Unlocking the River Severn Project”.

Mr Done said: "I would love to tell this story to create interest nationwide that hopefully one day see this once beautiful boat returned to her home waters in a full sailing condition for public benefit and education.

"A lot of local people will remember Spry because after her working life was over during early 1950 and she was towed into Diglis Basin and converted into a floating workshop where she remained for 33 years. She is gone but not forgotten if only by one Worcester resident."

In about 1936 she was converted into a dumb barge. During the 1950s and 1960s she was used in the docks at Diglis Basin where she became derelict until acquired by the Upper Severn Navigation Trust in 1983 in partnership with the Severn Trow Preservation Society and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

She was moved on a road trailer on March 26, 1983, from Diglis Basin to Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire, where she was completely rebuilt at Blists Hill.