Anger at damage to historic Purton shipwrecks

Only days after the enveilling of the monument to mark the 50th anniversary of the Severn Bridge disaster that cost the lives of five boatmen a boat has been seen at the site removing parts of the wrecks. 

The crew of the Larkham Ships vessel, MV Riparian, removing material from the wrecks.

Paul Barnett, of the Friends of Purton was distrought to hear of this activity on the wrecks and said, "Just days ago I said to a group of grieving people that Gloucestershire does care about its heritage as we unveiled the plaque and now this happens.

"At a time like this, on the anniversary of this disaster where five men died, this is so insensitive."

The vessel removing parts of the wrecks is MV Riparian that belongs to Larkham Ships. Fred Larkham told The Gloucester Gazette that he recognised that he had gone out at an insensitive time but he believed that people had been taking parts of the vessels and he wanted to save some of the remaining parts of the ships. He went on to tell the paper that he intended to offer the parts he had removed to a museum.

An application has already been made to list the two vessels and English Heritage have said that they are considering the application at the moment.

The incident has prompted an angry reaction and a large number of 'comments' to the story in the Gloucester Gazette.  You can have your say at: Historic wrecks 
Previous stories: 
Bells toll for Severn Disaster victims
Severn Railway Bridge disaster victims remembered
Contacts:

Friends of Purton