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In 1924 the company disposed of/sold the Plume Street Dock. By 1938 there is no reference in any trade directories, of Birmingham based docks owned by Worsey's.
The distinctive Belfast Truss Roof from Rotten Park Street was transferred to the Walall dock.
Enquiries have shown the Walsall yard to have been on the Wyrley and Essington Canal near to Pratts Mill Bridge. The main entrance was in Carl Road, Walsall. The Walsall boatyard was built around 1926 and by 1961 headed notepaper shows its directors as L S Pitt and H S Hadden.
I understand that in 1962 the lease expired and the boat yards was sold to Ken Keay, who continued to use the site for moorings until his yard's demise in the late 1970's. The Walsall dock could accommodate up to nine boats at one time, it comprised of 3 lenghts of canal frontage, one of which was covered by a Belfast truss roof.
Many boat yards of that era had no superstructure and were open to the elements.
This layout was a far cry from the original docks as in those embryonic days it was not expensive to establish a dock. All that was required was a flat piece of ground on the canal bank, a slip way with timber baulks, a saw pit, a steaming box and a shed for stores or a workshop for the smaller tasks.
The overall space occupied was small and the canal frontage was only slightly longer than a boat being built. This could be even shorter if the boat was launched end on. The average work force was 6 to 7 but could be as little as 2 or 3 people.
The local blacksmith was contracted to fashion the ironwork. Steaming was one of the two methods for shaping timbers, the other being cutting with an adze. This was a long headed axe type tool where the blade was turned at 90 degrees. It was swung down to scoop out and shape.
The site of the Walsall dock was probably orginally part of the Birchills Estate that incorporated the Birchills New Furnaces and Birchills Ironworks and Collieries. There is no boat yard shown on the large-scale map on the 1902 Ordinance Survey map but, although unspecified, there is a building on the 1902 revision, which corresponds with the location of the yard.
Carl Street does not appear in the Walsall yearbook until 1914 but even then there is no mention of Worsey's Boat Builders until the Copes Directory in 1926. It was that year that Joseph James Worsey was approached by Hadden and Pitt to build and establish the Walsall dock.
Although by 1900 there was over 20 boat building firms in Walsall, most were small family businesses employing about a dozen men.
The Walsall yard features sporadically in local Trade directories although other boat builders, namely Nicholls, Peabody & Company and T Pearsall feature heavily. By the 1930's Keays, Bloxwich Road appears regularly.
I have a series of photographs showing the Walsall dock in 1944 during the construction of SSS Polestar, which was the Guard ship for the Scouts that was moored in Powell's Pool, Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield.
Worsey's not only built narrowboats they also hired them on a short term basis, primarily to cover the time whem a boat was in for 'docking' and refurbishment. They also leased boats on 1,2 or 3 year 'hire purchase' schemes for steerers who could not a purchase boat outright.
At one stage they had 120 boats for sale, hire or lease.
The chief painter for Worsey's in the twentieth century was Ted Chetwyn, sometimes known as Ted Chattin, who was born in 1908. In 1921, at the age of 13, he joined his father as an apprentice boat builder and worked for a variety of boat builders before moving to Worsey's in 1929.
He became the chief painter and stayed with the company until its demise.
It is thought he died peacefully in 1985 but his brushes and paint tins were donated to the National Waterways Museum. He considered that the 'Vinegar Boats' servicing the HP Sauce factory in Aston, were the 'prettiest' and they were probably built and serviced at the Plume Street dock.
He recalls that as an apprentice he had to get up early, call the foreman, get the keys to the yard, open up and lay out the boat builders tools before they started work at 6.00am. He would be tasked all day and the yard did not close until 5.00pm. He would then return in the evening and practice his skills.
His wage was £1 a week. Boat building was a six-day week occupation for which a master craftsman would be paid 6d (2.1/2p) an hour. He could earn an additional 1/2d if he could fashion the cabin. Those were the days!