Severn Trows

Tough Ship for a Tough River

The name is said to come from the Anglo-Saxon word "trog" meaning `trough', which describes their shape well. Special trow features included a flat bottom, masts that could be lowered to go under bridges, a round stern and square sails. However there was never a standard design. Over time many different types were used with all, or only some of the special features. At Gloucester there were two main sorts. Both were about 18 metres long and able to carry 40-100 tons of cargo, but those that went down to the Estuary were much wider than those going upstream of Gloucester.

The trow was developed so that heavy, bulky, cargoes of coal, grain, salt or quarried stone could be carried in relatively shallow water. Over the years they carried many different cargoes, everything from clay tobacco pipes to teapots. Trows even ended up delivering groceries to riverside villages.

Unfortunately competition from the railways, steam tugs and eventually lorries became too much for the trows. After twenty years of decline, the very last one was built at Brimscombe in 1904. Most had their sails and masts taken away to become ordinary barges towed by tugs. By 1939 only the `Alma' and `Palace' were still working under sail. Eventually, they were all either broken up, or left to rot as wrecks on the riverbank. The only survivor, the `Spry', has had to be reconstructed from only two pieces of original timber.