Name Reliance

Built in 1931 for William Stevens & Sons of Guildford, RELIANCE is a barge of oak construction which operated on the Wey Navigations. Little can be told of her working life but it came to an end in 1968 when she was badly damaged in a collision on the River Thames. In 1989 she was lying at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex as a rotting hulk when found by the National Trust who were searching for a surviving example of a Wey Navigations’ barge. They took her to Dapdune Wharf at Guildford (where she was built) and a major restoration was undertaken. She is now exhibited in a dry berth supervised by the National Trust.