The barges which ply the canals of England and Wales are mostly Narrowboats. They are called Narrowboats, because they are less than 7 feet wide, although they can be up to 70 feet long.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and up to about 1960, they were commercial carriers of coal, iron ore, pottery, glass, timber etc.. but were supplanted later by the railways. The boatman's family lived aboard in a tiny cabin aft (the boats were mostly hold), and brightened up their small living space and the exterior of their boats with paintings which developed into a distinct canal 'style' and featured roses and castles, which are reputed to have been copied from the china plates they carried.

Designs are usually of red, yellow, blue, pink and white on dark backgrounds and can be found on all sorts of domestic utensils as well as the boats themselves. Below are two examples of roses and two of castles, taken from a set of tablemats.

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