Coracles were still in use on the stretch of the River Severn between Bewdley and Welshpool at the beginning of the Great War (1914) a distance of 60 miles, thirty years later that distance was halved. Unusually for one river, on the Severn there were different designs of coracle in use for many different tasks and an early record from1586, Camden writes of a coracle man netting or angling with a rod and line in a horsehide covered Coracle. A much later advertisement dated May 28th 1798 describes a Coracle Race to be held at Llandrinio Bridge near Welshpool. On many stretches of the river bridges are few and far between and for the inhabitants living near the river owning a Coracle was a must, also on some bridges like Ironbridge a toll was charged.

The type of coracle used between Bewdley and Ironbridge was bowl shaped and what is now referred to as the Ironbridge type. No photographs are known to exist illustrating their use at Bewdley but they are recorded as being made from oak unlike the more commonly used ash, also another unusual feature was a socket called a pivot that was nailed to the floor below the seat. The paddle handle was inserted in this socket to assist carrying instead of a leather loop used on other parts of the river. The Tolly family were still using hides to cover their coracles at the end of the nineteenth century. The last Bewdley coracle was made about 1908 and some of the families associated with Coracles were Wanklin, Shrimpton and Darkes.

No original Welshpool Coracle has survived, the sample shown is a modern replica displayed at the National Coracle Centre in Cenarth

Englands most famous coracle maker has died. Eustace Rogers who lived in the shadow of the famous Ironbridge over the River Severn passed away on January 31st at the age of 88. He was born on August 5th 1914 into a family who have been making coracles by the river for at least three hundred years. His father Harry and his grandfather Tommy were also famous for their coracles. I last spoke to him in September of last year when in the company of other members of the coracle society I paddled on the river and under the famous bridge to the house of Eustace, then with the chairman of the coracle society Peter Faulkner we met him. Coracles were naturally the topic of conversation and I photographed the occasion. This small history of the river Severn is dedicated to his memory.

Edward Rogers drowned in the 1800s
Photo courtesy of Pat Jones

Albert Rogers - Ironbridge Carnival circa 1933
Photo courtesy of Pat Jones

The photograph of Edward Rogers (above) is published on this website with the kind permission of his daughter Mrs Pat Jones. Also the painting of the late Edward Rogers is supplied by her; she is his great, great, granddaughter. The family lived at Severnside during the late nineteenth century and in the early years of the twentieth century. Edward on marriage moved across the river.

If any visitors to this website know of the family connection to the 'other' Rogers family who also lived at Severnside (Harry, James, and Eustace Rogers) please contact me and I will pass the information to Pat Jones who is compiling her family tree.

Eustace Rogers
September 2002

Peter Faulkner - Chairman of the Coracle Society with Eustace Rogers - September 2002

Moving further up the river the next centre for Coracles and probably the most famous is Ironbridge after which the surrounding village became known. The Rogers family have for many generations lived by the river and are world famous as Coracle Makers. In the 1930s two brothers Harry and James Rogers made all the Coracles and Harry was also a rabbit catcher who also caught them from flooded islands when the river was high. Recent information has identified an Edward Rogers who drowned while using his Coracle in the early 1800's.

Eustace Rogers of Ironbridge

A print from1782 clearly illustrates a Bowl Coracle in the shadow of the Ironbridge in the design used today and unusually the paddle is in the style of what is known as the "modern" type made from three pieces of wood unlike an earlier design made from just one. Many years later in the Nineteen Thirties at least eight were still in use on the river there. A feature of the "Ironbridge" type is the seat resting on top of the gunwale although some Ironbridge coracles made today by other makers away from the river are made with the seat flush with the gunwale are inaccurate and not the genuine article. Another type made by the Rogers family is constructed of bent hazel sticks covered in a cow skin. Its origin is unknown although it is now made today by another Shropshire Coracle Maker who was taught by Eustace Rogers in the Nineteen Eighties.

Upriver from the Ironbridge into the Upper Severn the next centre for Coracle use is Shrewsbury where they could still be seen at the outbreak of the Second World War (1939) being used for angling.

Shrewsbury coracles are uniquely made by not interlacing the lathes but the transverse ones are laid across the lengthways ones and held in place by riveting or by clenched nails. Traditionally the coraclemen came from the Frankwell district of the town and could be seen carrying their coracles out of the town for four miles up river and angling while on the return journey. Another unusual feature is additional short lathes nailed to the floor between the ribs as an extra support.

A new coracle was invented in the 1870s by the Shrewsbury boat builder H. Hudson who devised a collapsible wooden mould from which a coracle was made that in shape resembled the Upper Dee (Llangollen) type although it is believed that no more than six were completed. They were constructed in three days and were sold for fifty and fifty five shillings each. The Davies family at Shrewsbury have been well known for their coracles for many years and the late Fred Davies achieved fame as a rescuer of footballs from the river during matches played at the ground of Shrewsbury football club.

This River Severn Coracle is a copy of an original in the collection at the National Museum of Wales

Although netting had been prohibited thirty years earlier, a Welshpool coracle was last used on the river there in the 1920s although it is not recorded what it was being used for. The last fisherman at Welshpool was Samuel Phillips of nearby Leighton Bridge who still owned his coracle in 1935 when it was photographed and a record of its construction recorded. His father and grandfather had also been fishermen on the river and he recalls that with his father he netted in February during frosty and cold weather to catch the early run of Salmon for a higher market price. It is interesting to note that his first coracle was purchased from Shrawardine Castle down river near Shrewsbury made to the same design as his family but by another Coracle Maker. After the prohibition of netting he set hooked lines for a licence fee of ten shillings till that was also prohibited. The design of Coracles there have features from other Coracles on the river by the lathes being interlaced the same as bowl Coracles and short support nailed between the ribs as the Shrewsbury design has.

The paddles were short, made from ash at four foot three inches long with a blade length of eighteen inches. These Coracles were not carried on the back as other types are in South Wales but the seat was rested on the left shoulder and the paddle used as a counter balance.

The River Vyrnwy runs into the River Severn halfway between Shrewsbury and Welshpool and from interviews recorded there with several elderly men during the 1930s another coracle type has emerged. William Evans of Haimwood Llandrinio was the last fisherman on that stretch of the river where it flows into the Severn, although if he used a net or a rod and line is not known. But it is known that his coracle(s) were made from …"strong briars pulled from the hedgerows"… If he only used briars then his Coracles might have resembled those used on the River Spey in Scotland or more probable is that the gunwale that was a woven basketwork of briar instead of the more usual hazel as used on other rivers. A Welshpool Coracle can be seen at the canal museum in the town and an original Nineteenth Century Shrewsbury Coracle is at present in storage at the National museum of Wales at Cardiff.