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The Normanton on Soar Ferry

Book details

front cover

by Malcolm Dark

Price: £6.50

Probably the only existing ferry of its type, with the chain lying on the bed of the River Soar to allow the passage long ago of commercial narrow boats and of present day cruisers.

A rowing ferry is traced back over eight hundred years and the chain ferry from its early days at the end of the 18th century, through to the transfer of ownership from the Paget Estate to the village council in 1981. This occurred when a new craft was needed to replace the one damaged beyond repair some three years earlier.

Incidents and stores taken from the history of ferrymen such as Henry Gaze (early 1900's) to the present resident, make an interesting narrative of this small, hand operated service.