NORTHWICH sits astride the beautiful mid Cheshire plain at the point where the Rivers Weaver and Dane converge.

The Trent and Mersey Canal joins the River Weaver via the Anderton Boat Lift, and together they leave the town and meander gently through some of the most peaceful and picturesque countryside in Britain.

Despite being well inland, Northwich was famous for shipbuilding through the years but is no longer.

Isaac Pimblott & Sons was a Northwich boat yard which built small river and ocean craft including torpedo boats and other warships in the last war. They traded from 1867 to 1974.

The firm of WJ Yarwood & Sons Ltd was another shipyard in Northwich and from 1896 to 1966, built 1,000 vessels, including coasters, tugs, river and canal boats and small military ships.

Here we see the RAF Auxiliary ‘Aquarius’ leaving Yarwood’s with Lawrence of Arabia on board en route to Devonport.

In March 1934, Lawrence turned up in Northwich; he arrived under the name of Aircraftsman T.E. Shaw RAF.

He was one of three representatives of the Air Ministry who were here to supervise trials of the Royal Air Force Auxiliary ‘Aquarius’, built at Yarwood’s dockyard in Navigation Road.

He stayed for three weeks at the Crown & Anchor Hotel in High Street.

‘Aquarius’ eventually made a 9,000-mile maiden voyage to Singapore, to serve as a depot ship for flying boats.

Later, when Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942, ‘Aquarius’ escaped and was probably making for Australia.

Lloyd’s War Losses state: “About 14 February 1942, ‘Aquarius’ was sunk off the southeast coast of Sumatra, on board were 60 to 70 persons, of which only three survived, and these also subsequently died.”

Both companies have now gone although their products can still be found around the world.