Frank Nurser Canal Stool

The Northamptonshire canal network became an important transport link at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century. A scheme was proposed to dig new canals linking the River Nene to the canal network in the 1790s, but this failed due to funding and technical difficulties. However, the Branch Canal between the River Nene and the Grand Union Canal opened in 1815 allowing goods to be transported all across the country.

This painted stool is a rare and significant intact example of a domestic object painted in the Castles and Roses style, which was popular amongst bargees, as people who lived on the canals and rivers were known. Castles and Roses style developed out of mid-Victorian folk-art movements and was used by boaters to decorate everyday objects such as plates, water cans, washbowls and stools to make them look smart and colourful.

This stool was painted by Frank Nurser, who worked as a boat painter at Nurser’s Dock in Braunston Boat Yard, now known as Braunston Marina, which lies at the crossroads of the Oxford and Grand Union Canals. He created his own distinct style of painting Castles and Roses, (called the Braunston style), which is associated with inland waterways history. Nurser painted roses with one large petal being the dominant feature with several smaller ones around to shape the rose. This stool is an example of his later work, dating from the late 1940s or early 1950s.

Number 63 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.