Dell Quay c 1895
Dell Quay is a tiny port at the head of the easternmost limb of Chichester Harbour (England). The earliest record of cargoes passing through the port dates from about 1200, and the last cargo left in 1935. Nowadays, the place is entirely given over to pleasure craft, and since the port dries (meaning that there is no water here at low tide) the boats are all small shoal-draught cruisers and racing dinghies.
This painting is based on photographs of the quay which date from the last years of the 19th century. Many people refuse to believe that vessels as big as a Thames barge could ever have reached the quay - indeed, I once overheard a man telling his son that my painting was "completely ridiculous" - but fact is that Thames barges were, and still are, quite able to reach the quay at high tide. I have seen several photos of barges at the quay. And as if that weren't enough, I have even been aboard the huge Thames barge, Gestetner when she visited the quay in the 1970s. 'Nuff said.
The buildings on the quay were mostly used as stores, but the one on the left was called "the cottages". It seems to have served as both a storeroom and as the residence of the quaymaster. In the last years of the building the quaymaster's wife sold sweeties from the "cottages" and so the building was also known as "the sweetshop". The black, weatherboard buildings all date from the 1700s, but the brick one on the end of the quay probably dates from about 1850.
The boat sitting on the hard (on the right of the painting) is a gravel barge. The design of this flat-bottomed barge is unique to Chichester Harbour. The painting of the boat was based on sketches made by an archaeologist friend.
The cart in the foreground is carrying gravel from the barge. Behind the horse, in the middle distance stands a gentleman in a brown topper - the only "gent" in the picture. His name is Mr Sadler, and he owns a whole fleet of the gravel barges.
Watercolour - ½ imperial (approx. 22" x 15" / 56 x 38cm)
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