THAMES sailing barges are synonymous with Maldon.

A walk along Hythe Quay reveals several barges in great condition in the town.

Indeed, Maldon is the only place in the region where you can still see multiple Thames Sailing Barges, and that is all down to the hard work carried out by the team at Cook’s Yard.

Topsail Charters has run the yard since the early 1990s, and they work to keep the barges going and maintain a vital part of Maldon’s history with the traditional line of work.

The Standard was given a tour of the yard to see the work they do first hand.

“I met a lady on the quay the other week from Southend,” said Paul Jeffries, one of the yard’s owners.

“She had lived there her whole life but never been down to Maldon before. She was blown away by the beauty of the place and the beauty of the barges.

“As far as we know this is the last surviving barge yard anywhere. It was in danger of going under in the 90s so we took it over and carried it on.

“There has been continuous work at the yard since the 1800s.”

Topsail’s four historic barges each have to work to earn their keep at the yard, where they are constantly maintained and restored to keep them in working condition.

Resourceful, the most recent addition to the collection, and the last sailing barge ever built, is currently being used as a tearoom in order to cover her costs.

Paul explained: “These barges cost a huge amount to maintain. It is a lifestyle business, it is not something you do to make money.

“The important thing is that all the barges have to earn their own keep. They all have to bring revenue in.

“Resourceful has been very successful as a tearoom for example.”

Other barges are used for day trips or weekend trips, helping to bring money into the business.

Hydrogen, for example, has room aboard for fifty people to go out on day trips, while Reminder has accommodation aboard that allows Topsail to host a group for weekend long sailing adventures.

All of this is possible because of the fantastic shape the barges are kept in.

The barges typically work for nine months of the year, and then receive maintenance work for the remainder of that time.

That is where shipwright, Ralph Springett, comes in.

Ralph has worked as a shipwright his entire life, having served his apprenticeship at Heybridge boat yard, and a lot has changed during that time.

He said: “The big difference is the work force. In the old days it was a huge amount of labour and hard graft – not to say that it isn’t now – but it was astonishing what they could achieve.

“A lot of that was down to amount of people who working the yard back then. When I started as an apprentice there were 45 shipwrights, now there are three.”

One constant of Ralph’s time at Cook’s Yard has been the George Smead.

A third party barge that he has been working to restore since he started as a shipwright.

“That one has been a pretty epic restoration,” Ralph explained.

“It has been here for the past 45 years. I worked on it when I was an apprentice.

“It is all down to the commitment of the owners that it is nearly complete.

“A lot of people get bored or fall out of love with it after a few years, but they have kept going. And it has not been a cheap renovation that is for sure.

“I would love to finally see her sailing.”

Sadly, the skills Ralph possesses are becoming rarer and rarer, with fewer people taking up the mantle of continuing the tradition.

The yard are working with Plume Academy to try and keep some of those skills alive, taking on volunteers and apprentices from the school.

Paul said: “Ralph is so important to everything that happens at the yard. It is really important to get youngsters involved with the craft and the skills.

“We do a lot of work with Plume, and have quite a few pupils coming down throughout the year.

“They work with Ralph and he tells them what to do and how to do it, and it is keeping the skills alive basically.

“The kids love it as well. We never have any problems. They get their heads down and crack on.

“It is great to see.”

To find out more about the work of Topsail Charters and what happens at Cook’s Yard, visit top-sail.co.uk.