Narrow Boat: L.T.C. Rolt

First published in 1944, this book is credited with reviving interest in the preservation of the English canals and waterways and the life aboard the barges, or narrow boats. The author and his wife fitted out a narrow boat as their home and journeyed 400 miles along the network of the Midland waterways. They learnt of the boatmen and their crafts, as well as their singular decoration of the boats that were their home. A reflection of a way of life now sadly lost. Illustrated by D.J. Watkins-Pitchford.