Horse-drawn boat

[1] Boat horses were the prime movers of the Industrial Revolution, and they remained at work until the middle of the 20th century.

In the early days of the Canal Age, from about 1740, all boats and barges were towed by horse, mule, hinny, pony or sometimes a pair of donkeys.

There are horseboat operators at Foxton, Godalming, Tiverton, Ashton-under-Lyne, Newbury, Llangollen and Maesbury Marsh, Shropshire on the Montgomery Canal.

Maria is Britain's oldest surviving wooden narrowboat, built in 1854 by Jinks Boatyard in Marple, and was never converted to have an engine.

It is sometimes loaned to the Horseboating Society and has taken part in several of their events, including British Waterways' "Coal and Cotton" event, celebrating the Leeds and Liverpool Canal's history of transporting coal from Leeds and Wigan to Liverpool, and taking cotton from Liverpool docks to Leeds.