Mark Edwards
Boat builder
- LONDON -
This is an interview from 2015. Visit their website to see what Mark is up to today.
Mark Edwards is one of Londons few traditional boat builders.
In the Richmond Bridge boathouses him and his team builds an average of 5 boats per year. In 2012 Mark built The Royal Barge, Gloriana, and it was the lead ship in the Thames Diamond Jubilee.
On the river Thames, under three of the arches, I read a big, colorful, hand painted sign saying “Richmond Bridge Boathouses”, a sign that could have been the logo of a circus in the 1920s, matching the sound of an accordion being played by an elderly man 10 metres from the boat yard.
As I approach the arch I ask one of the guys who is polishing a boat who I should talk to, and Im pointed in the direction of a man dressed in grey knitwear but with cheeks rosy as the cherry blossom that is in full bloom across the river.
I sit down with Mark on the grassed hill behind the arches and he starts telling me about his journey in traditional boatbuilding.
There has always been a tradition of boat-builders in Richmond, and there would have been boats here for hundreds of years. It takes 1.5 hour to row in to London, which means you can row in on one tide. This made Richmond a very convenient location for the boating industry.
Mark started at The Richmond Boathouses as an apprentice and at the age of 14 he restored an old skiff that he would row around the canals. This is when he knew he wanted to always work with boats.
He was eventually encouraged to go to college, and didn’t return to his childhood dream until the 1980s when he came back to the boat houses.
“Luckliy there was some old guys left here to teach me the art.” Mark says.
He also explains that, from a practical point of view, the traditional wooden boat almost died when the plastic boats took over in the 1970s, but luckily in the 80s its tradition and interest increased.
The wooden boat is a tradition and luckily they still fulfill a function, so the fiberglass boats are still not overtaking the light weighted traditional wherry.
“I decided in the 80s to really give it a go, but naturally it is drying up like any craft industry, it is bad times and there are good times. As a surviving technique, we never turn things down. We scratch along as a craft industry and its all very jolly.”
Back in the days every gentleman would own a wooden boat for practical reasons, and as the practical aspects of having a boat disappeared and the pleasure boating kicked in, it wasn’t any longer common to own your own boat.
Mark gets a number of young men coming every year to work and to learn how to build boats, some of them have even developed in to becoming his main boat-builders.
Some of them ends up being general carpenters but when there is the demand they have someone who can build.
With only 35 members of the Wooden Boat Building society in England, you truly understand how rare Marks breed is.
Personally I believe the wooden boat is here to stay, and Im already planning a trip on the river this summer in one of Marks rental boats!
