Stock photographs of narrowboats, canals and life afloat – Page 1

These photographs of colourful traditional working narrowboats, modern leisure craft, live-aboards and barges have been drawn together from across the Jim Batty Image Library collection. The images represent boats, locks, bridges and canalside features from a wide variety of English canal navigations and inland waterways in the Midlands and south and west England, including: Grand Union Canal (GUC), Shropshire Union Canal, Trent & Mersey Canal, Oxford Canal, Kennet & Avon Canal, River Wey Navigation and the River Thames.

Of course there are images of the beautiful traditional signage on the cabin sides of narrowboats – some indicating the boats' and owner's names, or business names, and home navigations. There are also photos of people enjoying their boats, working on their boats, relaxing, cruising, talking on their boats, and taking them through locks.There are images of canalia - Buckby cans, knotted bell pulls and beautifully hand-painted trays and jugs and some of the special details of narrowboats: traditional hand-painted castles and roses, wooden butty tiller and rudder, brass tunnel lamps, stripey swan necks.

There is also a good collection of stock pictures from the 2008 Canalway Cavalcade – an annual weekend festival attended by narrowboats from all over the country – held in London's Little Venice, where the Regent's Canal joins the Paddington Branch of the Grand Union Canal

The Jim Batty Image Library is a stock picture resource for editorial, travel, design, commercial and small business professionals. If you would like to buy or enquire about any of these photographs, please contact: