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MADE IN MIRFIELD
227 YEARS OF BOAT BUILDING & WEST COUNTRY KEELS
Launch of the "Elizabeth B." At Ledgard Bridge Yard 1951.
Mirfield
has long been associated with boat building. The first boat yard being established at Shepley bridge in 1776, followed by two further yards at Ledgard Bridge (near the Navigation Tavern) and Battyeford (on the island between the river and the canal.).
These three yards over the next 178 years produced hundreds of boats for owners all over the county. 373 craft were registered as being built at Mirfield. The last commercial barge to be launched was the keel
"Isobel" in 1955.
A West Country Boat Similar to those built in Mirfield
The barges built in Mirfield were known as "West Country Keels" this name coming from their reduced dimensions in comparison to their larger cousins the "Yorkshire" and "Humber" keels which were
too large to navigate the inland waterways to the west. The Keel is a very ancient type of craft, probably being directly descended from the Viking long ship. The name "Keel" coming from the Anglo-Saxon word
"Ceol" a single masted square rigged ship. Evidence of the basic keels goes back as far as the thirteenth century.
