The bell from a long-scrapped Shroppie canal tug is on public display for the first time.
Steam tug W. E. Dorrington was built in 1906 for the Shropshire Railway and Canal Company (SR&CC), and its bell is on show in Warrington Museum until February 28. This has prompted further research into its role in the First World War, and it has been discovered that for three years, the Admiralty took over the vessel.
The cast bronze bell from W. E. Dorrington, clearly marked 1906, was preserved and is the centrepiece in a display at Warrington Museum about waterways in the northwest, and with a strong emphasis on nostalgia for shipping and tugs, in particular in the early part of the 20th century.
It features ship-spotting books and items from the Manchester Ship Canal on which the W. E. Dorrington once traded. The sister ship to the vessel is the Daniel Adamson, which has been preserved and now mostly cruises on the River Weaver.
Les Green, a volunteer for both the Shropshire Union Canal Society and the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society, said: “We were delighted to receive the bell as a gift and to make it a centrepiece of the display. It is important that these historic items are both retained and researched.”
Visit museumsofcheshire.org.uk/venues/warrington-museum-art-gallery
