Answer: When British Waterways says it is, apparently.
BW's press release section of its website has a photograph of two narrowboats on the BCN in central Birmingham. When you hover the cursor over it you get a caption which reads "A barge moored in Brindley Place Birmingham".
There appear to be several errors here which, considering that this is the place where media organisations look for waterways stories, doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
- There are clearly two boats here, not just one.
- The preferred spelling for the area seems to be "Brindleyplace" (ugh), not Brindley Place. Indeed, elsewhere on the same website is an article headed "Brindleyplace celebrates Birmingham’s canals Venetian style".
- Many boaters would object to a narrowboat being referred to as a "barge" (but I acknowledge that narrowboats were sometimes loosely called barges by working boaters in the past). These days most cognoscenti accept that barges have a broader beam than narrowboats.
Here's a more up-to-date chunk of BW's website: this photo is hover-over-able.
All Press Releases
Volunteers to give the tern a helping hand
25 November 2009
The Midlands in November may seem a million miles from the seaside but local families are being urged to do their bit to help Britain’s seabirds in an environment day taking place at Fradley Junction this Saturday (28 November).
This particular "barge" has somehow found its way onto the narrow Birmingham Canal Navigations.
4 comments:
It's taken me years at work to stop people calling narrowboats barges, so with luck you won't near such a mistake on the BBC national radio news (TV are another matter!) As for Brindley Place, they seem to call themselves brindleyplace, whether on signs there or on their website, so I guess BW are just following their style.
I try my best too, Adam! But it's an uphill struggle, especially on the more populist TV news. And what hope is there when BW itself calls narrowboats barges?
My point about Brindley Place/Brindleyplace/brindleyplace was that BW was not following their style. BW itself is inconsistent.
I know I'm ignorant about these things, but what's the objection to calling NB's barges when in the old days, that's what they were used for. I find it strange myself that so many replica Dutch 'barges' are called that when their resemblance to anything like a proper barge is virtually nil.
Is it just a mater of tradition or is there some other reason apart from the beam?
VallyP, many boaters and canal aficionados wince when they hear the word "barge" used when "narrowboat" (or, indeed, "narrow boat") is appropriate. Although narrowboats were built, like barges, to carry cargo, barges generally have a broader beam and could never use the narrow locks of the "narrow" canals.
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