Canalware and Gifts for Sale in the Wharf Shop, Devizes

Traditionally painted canalware for sale.

The Wharf shop had been looking a bit tatty of late, so after a revamp last week when walls were painted, doors repaired, furniture moved about, the ice cream freezer and the drinks cabinet repositioned  and the counter smartened up, I was invited to take some photos that will eventually go into the "Butty," the bi-monthly magazine of the "Kennet and Avon Canal Trust." 

The pottery above is traditionally painted canal ware, showing roses and leaves.  The old bargees painted their barges, buckets, tillers, doors, hatches and brooms with decorative patterns of roses and castles.  The origin of this kind of decoration is unknown, but modern boaters still decorate their boats in this way

Models of the old barges, workboats and narrowboats.

Model boats for sale, the upper ones replicas of the old working barges that carried goods from Bristol to London, stopping on the way to deliver coal, flour, wood, stone and a multitude of all the necessitites of life to the towns situated on the canal.

A selection of canal guides and maps of the local area.

It is useful to have a canal guide, just like a road map it gives you details of canal mileage, the lock widths, the bridges, mooring places to stop for the night,  and best of all, information about where you can buy your next plate of fish and chips.   Devizes has three really good chippies, the one in the Market Place is the best!

Children´s toys for sale. 
During the summer months many visitors come to Devizes from around the world to visit the canal and the shop.  Parties of school children also come to learn about the history of the canal as part of their history lessons.  Here they have a chance to spend their precious pennies on souveniers in the shop.