What can I say? Here we have another brand new Hostess No35 made from scratch at our workshops here in Bristol. This one is going into newly restored 1930s Showmans van. What a beauty!
Category: Back cabin stove for narrow boats
I am often asked to provide a stove for the back cabin of a working narrow boat. More often than not original examples of these stoves are missing and only a handful of boats in the Uk actually have one still on board. All sorts of different stoves were used, not necessarily models specific to boats although there were several types produced back in the day.
The most common examples I have seen are the Guidwife, Beetonette and Larbert portable ranges but it was the Guidwife in particular that the boatmen and women preferred and it is a Guidwife that is the only remaining original stove in any Uk museum collection. These would all have been of the 24″ wide variety for Butty boats with a depth varying from 16″-17″ excluding the trivets that clipped onto the front of the range.
All would have had slight modifications to ‘marinise’ them for example the feet would have been removed and a brass ‘fiddle rail’ or ‘galley rail’ would have been fitted. This stopped any pots and pans falling off the hot plate should the boat get knocked or bashed when out on its daily duties.
The stove would have sat on the swim plate on the left hand side as you entered through the cabin doors at the stern.
Rarer still is the 20″ Larbert stove that was used for motorboats. Motorboats provide a problem since unlike the Butty, they have a deep Gunwale that limits the space for the stove sat on the swim plate.. The 20″ Larbert sat neatly into the back cabin however and was complete with all its ornaments like the polished brass fiddle rail.
There are several back cabin stoves now commonly used on boats of all shapes and sizes but all are reproductions and are not authentic to the historic working boat. These are the ubiquitous ‘Epping’ stove, the ‘Stratford 1910’ and the ‘Premier’ the later being based on the ‘Nipper’ stove that had some limited use in working boats in the past.
Here at O.J.Osborne & Co we can source, restore and provide you authentic original examples of back cabin stoves. 24″ examples are extremely rare but they do come up and I always try to keep a couple in stock.
PLEASE NOTE O.J.OSBORNE & CO. WILL BE RELEASING PRODUCTIONS RUNS OF BOTH THE 24″ GUIDWIFE AND 20″ LARBERT IN OCTOBER 2015
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Brand new Hostess No35!!!
Here’s something a bit special! This is a Hostess No35 we have made from scratch for a client. We only take on a few of these a year as they are such a lot of work to get them right. The client chose ‘Northern county blue’ for the colour of his enamel and I got to say it looks stunning!
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Hostess Mahogany fronted coal draws
Here we have our new mahogany fronted coal draws for the Hostess Range. These are exactly as the ones supplied by Mellors of Oldham in the early 20th century. The only difference being that our versions have stainless steel draws.
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“Guidwife” Portable Range
I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for these Guidwife ranges. There’s just something about the simple yet traditional design that really works and they have a few nice features like a flip up toaster. This one was supplied by us and has been fitted in a historic living van in Yorkshire.
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Belle Portable range restored
Belle Portable ranges such as these were the most prolific of their type and were manufactured well into the mid 20th century. Whilst the iron founding arm of the company has since been retired the company of Jones & Campbell is still are large concern in Scotland and has been in family ownership for well over 100 years
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Guidwife Portable Range
We just finished this nice little 24″ Guidwife Portable Range for a client. This one is staying fairly local to us and will end up in a Showman’s Waggon that is currently undergoing restoration.
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A little “Nipper” stove ready for home
Here we have a nice little “Nipper” stove ready to head back home. Due to their compact size these stoves were used in all sorts of place from caravans, boats, cabins and offices. At 21″ wide they can fit almost anywhere
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Stunning Hostess No35 for showmans van
They might be a lot of work but these brilliant little Hostess range really are a thing to behold. These ranges would have been fitted to the vast majority of travelling wagons and van for both the showmen and gypsies of the late 19th/ early 20th century. This examples dates from circa 1920 and now restoration is complete it will be returned to its original van
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Hostess No 34 Stove range, Columbian Stove & Iron Works
Here we have the very rare Hostess No.34. This one has been made entirely by ourselves here in Bristol from our own patterns. This has been manufactured as an exact replicas of the originals except all sheet metal has been replaced with Stainless Steel and the high finish electroplating is now triple plated copper, nickel, nickle. The green colour is Vitreous Enamel (fused galss) and is available in 5 different original colours. These little ranges can be made to order.
