Scale: 1:48. The model is one of the hopper barges (circa 1926) designed for the Tilbury Contracting and Dredging Company. It has for many years been unidentified but the original engraved plaque that accompanied the display case for the model has recently come to light and it states that the model depicts the barges ‘Black Deep’, ‘Barrow Deep’, ‘Middle Deep’, and ‘Knock Deep’. The barge is shown loaded with spoil and the modelmaker has effectively used ash and sawdust to indicate the cargo.

These barges were used to transport the dredged material from the large-scale reclamation of East Tilbury, London, to suitable dumping grounds. During the Tilbury Dock improvements, from 1927–29, nearly one-and-a-half million cubic metres of spoil were removed by bucket dredger and discharged into hoppers like the one depicted here. The towing of the hoppers to the spoil grounds was carried out by the company’s own tugs.