Name Lynher

1.      What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate history in her physical fabric?

Evidence for designs, functions, techniques, processes, styles, customs and habits or uses and associations in relation to events and people.  How early, intact or rare these features are may impact on significance.

The LYNHER was designed as an ‘inside’ barge and exhibits particular methods of construction suited for navigating the upper reaches of the River Lynher, a small but important tributary of the River Tamar. Originally designed to carry cargo under sail, in 1928 she was fitted with a sturdy 27 horse power engine which ran on tractor vapourising oil.  A one-and-a-half horse power Hamworthy engine powering a winch fixed to a crane was installed at the same time, to speed up the loading/unloading process. After leaving service, she ended up a hulk for 33 years, before being raised and undergoing a nine year conservation project to return her to sailing condition.  From 2016, LYNHER has been subject to further conservation work with the hull being re-planked both internally and externally, thus replicating the exact build structure from 1896.  Her strong build includes 26 double and four single frames, with a long oak stringer either side of the interior.  Conservation is being carried out using traditional materials such as larch, oak, oakum and nails.  Some modern adaptations to ensure longevity include the use of galvanised nails, a metal shoe to encase and protect the original elm keel, modern glues and a linseed oil putty compound to seal the seams.  Despite the extent of works which this vessel has undergone, she retains a continuum in her hull structure, materials and the evidence these demonstrate of her working life.

2.      What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence?

Associations with people or places.  Off-ship research.

LYNHER was built by the skilled boatbuilder James Goss in 1896 in Calstock and used throughout the industrial heyday of the Plymouth Rivers. She formed an important commercial and social link between the communities of the Rivers Lynher and Tamar and the growing town of Plymouth, even being used at one point to deliver post and produce, and she retains strong associations to this area today. She is the most pertinent example of an industrial method of river transport applied to its geographic location and her trade routes, founded on the transport of stone, fertiliser and farm produce mirror the industrial growth of Plymouth with its Naval Dockyard and the merchant shipping industry of the South West. During the first half of the Twentieth Century until she finished work in 1962, the barge was owned by Notter Bridge Quarries and Poldrissick Quarry, both on the River Lynher. She also played a role in the Second World War, being requisitioned by HM Government for use as a barrage balloon platform and anchored in Plymouth Sound for the duration.  LYNHER is now one of only two surviving Tamar barges (the other being SHAMROCK) from the hundreds which were once the workhorses of this region.  She has been recorded on the National Register of Historic Vessels since 1998 and has the status of being listed on the National Historic Fleet.

3.      How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?

Overall aesthetic impact of the vessel, her lines, material she was built from and her setting.  Does she remain in her working environment?

LYNHER is typical of her type with workaday lines and a substantial hold capacity.  Her small, simple hull, flat transom stern, round bows with no overhang and shallow draft were all designed to enable her to trade far up-stream in rivers.  Her internal structural specifications allowed her to reach up to the landing quays where the hold would be loaded with stones.  LYNHER remains in Plymouth today in the area where she traditionally operated.  Subject to the completion of conservation work to return her to operational use, she will be sailed once more in her heritage setting as an educational and charter vessel, linking the communities where she once traded.

Source: Vessel owner & NHS-UK team, 30 March 2017.