Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum opens Morgan Giles exhibition ‘Launched in Teignmouth’

Morgan-Giles exhibition at Teign and Shaldon Museum 1 Morgan-Giles exhibition at Teign and Shaldon Museum 2

A special exhibition at the Teign Heritage Centre is celebrating the people and work of the Morgan Giles shipyard from 1921 to 1968.

The exhibition will be held at the Teign Heritage Centre from Friday 8th March to Friday 5th April 10am to 4.30pm from Tuesdays to Saturdays.

On display will be some Morgan Giles plans including some from pre-1914 days, racing yachts in the ‘20s and‘30s, and luxury motor cruisers of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Other items will be specialist craftsmen’s tools, archive photographs, models and oral histories. There will be a featured display about the Lady Cable built in 1923, and other important boats, such as the Hispania yacht built for the King of Spain.

On Saturday 23rd March at 11am there will also be a free talk about the Lady Cable from Lyn Yeoman of the Lady Cable Trust. The Lady Cable is a pleasure boat that went to Dunkirk and was apparently the last small boat to leave the beaches.

Morgan Giles were internationally famous for the elegant design of their boats and very high quality of workmanship, having employed highly skilled craftsmen, shipwrights, engineers, joiners and riggers, many of whom are remembered in Teignmouth today.

For visitor details please see the Teign Heritage website www.teignheritage.org.uk or phone 01626 777041.

I’m grateful to the Boat Building Academy folks for letting me know this was going on. Never ones to miss an opportunity (good for them) they added that BBA student Benjamin Charny is currently building a Morgan Giles-designed clinker-built dinghy – there’s a photographic record of the boat going together here.

Benjamin’s project was recently mentioned by a piece in the Western Morning News: ‘In another corner Benjamin was making a tiny rowing boat: ”It’s eight foot long and I have taken it from a West country design by Morgan Giles. He built the original in the 1930s for his kids and I got the lines from the Falmouth Maritime Museum.

”This will be the only copy around. I have loved doing it.”

4 thoughts on “Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum opens Morgan Giles exhibition ‘Launched in Teignmouth’”

      1. Dear Gavin …
        I am the owner of True Blue a 42 ft Morgan Gilles Narrowboat, I have spent the last 3 years developing her…She is the last one left in her class and a fine example…
        I have tried to find a home mooring for this beautiful craft but cannot find one at a reasonable cost, she is very much in danger of being struck by traditional metal narrowboat, this would be such a terrible lost not only for me, but as a fine example of a Morgan giles…
        Please would you appeal to CRT to find a safe mooring for this vessel…
        I am trying to sell her and the people that enquire after her cannot find a home mooring for her…I am running out of time and I’m sad to say that this vessel will be lost for ever…she does indeed deserve to be preserved as part of the heritage of the waterways…I appeal to you and you fellow members to save this vessel before it to late…

        Yours truly

        Mark savage…

  1. Think someone needs to get get his information correct as there are at least still registered on the inland waterways,and a more realistic asking price might have a offer a lot sooner

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