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Learning
As you wander along the canal looking at narrowboats, have you noticed watercans on the roof painted with roses and perhaps a castles? Or have seen castle paintings on the open back doors of a boat? If you have seen these brightly coloured decorations, you might be wondering where the tradition comes from or when it began to be used on canal boats.
Canal art is the name we sometimes give to the hand-painted roses, daisies and castles on narrowboats and objects used on the boats. Many people call this art ‘roses and castles’, the name canal art only started to be used later in the 20th Century and its only in the social media age that canal art has become canalart.
For many people the most obvious form of roses and castles is the watercan, today often referred to as a Buckby can. Watercans are different to garden watering cans as they have a short lip spout, often with a hinged cover, plus another hinged lid over the wider part of the can’s opening. These lids help keep the water inside clean. During the 19th Century these large watercans, usually 2 or 3 gallons, carried the drinking and cooking water for those onboard. Cans would be lined up on the port side of the boat, near the sliding hatch of the cabin with the spout facing outwards, making it easy to pour from a heavy, full can into a bowl.
One myth that circulates is that canal roses and castles was copied from the Roma or Gypsy people. However, there is no historical evidence to support this, and, on closer inspection canal art is different to Roma art. The highly decorated Gypsy caravans or vardo developed in England in the later 19th Century (after canal art), with carved decoration, rather than painted swags of roses and castle images.
To find out more information about the history of Roses and Castles on the canals or discuss some Canal and Roses' workshops please contact: learning@foxtoncanalmuseum.org
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