Introducing Lakeland Art’s latest boat acquisition, the Iris. Built in 1904, this electric-powered vessel is a piece of pioneering history. For the past two decades, the Iris has been a resident of the Derwentwater shore, slowly decaying. The vessel is now being stored off-site until the conservation team has a viable conservation plan in place.
Despite the traditional design, the Iris was revolutionary, running on electricity while others relied on steam. Today, we’re circling back to electricity as a greener, modern power source and the conservation team at Windermere Jetty Museum are blending cutting-edge technology with traditional boatbuilding techniques to bring the vessel a new lease of life in the 21st century.
The story of the Iris began with the Victorian obsession with countryside recreation. To keep up with demand, many Lake District stately hotels were built, including the Lodore Falls Hotel; which was built in 1870 by the side of Lake Derwentwater. The owners of the hotel sought to use water from the adjacent Lodore Falls to provide electricity and went on to set up a launch company which made use of the free electricity and ran passenger boats for its guests. The Iris was commissioned by the Lodore Hotel to utilise the electricity from their hydroelectric plant.
In 1904 the Iris was built by renowned Bowness boatbuilder Tom Hayton whose premises were located on the bay at Bowness until 1912. When building was completed, the Iris was transported to Derwentwater using a traction engine which was supplemented by teams of horses. Moving the vessel must have been a challenge as it weighed 7 tons, was 45 ft long, 8ft wide and 2.6 ft deep!
The Iris was operated by the Keswick Electric Launch Company running from the Lodore Falls hotel to Portinscale. The Iris remained on Derwentwater following WWII when it was sold to the Ambleside Motor Launch Company to operate on Windermere. This is thought to be the time when the cabin was moved to accommodate a TVO (Tractor Vaporising Oil) engine. When Ambleside Motor Launch Company merged with the Bowness Bay Boating Company in 1968 the Iris was converted to diesel. The Iris worked on Windermere for forty years until the late 1970s when it returned to Keswick to re-commence service on Derwentwater where it operated, with a brief spell on Coniston, until the end of the 1990s. For the last twenty years the Iris has sat on the Derwentwater shore, until now.
Lakeland Art’s vision is for this electric vessel to be sailing on Windermere once more, offering a greener alternative for people to experience the lake. Stay up to date with the team’s restoration progress on our social media @windermerejetty.
