River Ouse Bargeman

The Ouse reaches into the heart of Yorkshire from the Humber Estuary. Until the 1980s, loaded barges made the challenging journey from Hull to Selby, bearing bulk cargoes for the mills of the town. The bargees had to be tough and resourceful; physically strong enough to handle their craft, wise enough to combat the rivers shifting currents and savvy enough to deal with those supplying short measure.

Laurie Dews of Selby worked the Ouse from 1937 to 1987, and is now the only ,man remaining with first-hand experience of a lost way of life. In this book, "River Ouse Bargeman", Lauries words of wit and wisdom give a skippers eye view of a barge loaded to the gunwales fighting upstream, unloading at the mill and drifting back with the tide.

Laurie spins many a yarn about a bargemans social life, too. His first-hand account includes the mysterious river crafts of singling out and penning up, the tricks and tell tales to show where the ever-shifting river channel lay and the camaraderie of life in the close-knit watery world.

In this book, alongside Lauries account, there is a factual commentary, illustrated by many images from Lauries collection dating back over a century, and extracts from official documents and maps.

About the Author

David moved to Yorkshire in the 1970's, rapidly learning to love life in the 'Broad Acres.' Whilst teaching Science for thirty years, his interest in historic transport infrastructure grew. He volunteers at the Naburn Lock site near York, was part of the campaign to save the Settle-Carlisle railway, and worked to help commemorate the airship industry at Howden. A post funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund involving investigating the history of Selby followed.

In this guise, he devised school-based study and drama sessions concerning Selby's history, ran a 'pop-up' museum in town and led walks and talks for many local groups. This brought him into contact with the remarkable Laurie Dews the bargeman on whose recollections this book is based.