Saving the Shrewsbury Belle: a Sentinel steamer on the cusp of preservation

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We look today at some slightly heavier machinery, with this charming set of photographs which have fallen into our hands. Anyone with even a passing interest in steam road haulage will know a Sentinel when they see one, and this particular single chain-drive example is pretty early, as surviving specimens go—Works No. 2307 dates from 1919. It can also claim to have been a very well-known vehicle once upon a time, but alas no more. The Shrewsbury Belle attended many steam and vintage rallies during the 1960s and 1970s, but a quick search for it reveals that it hasn't been on the road since 1983. Where is it now?

We don't know, but we do know that it entered preservation in 1956, because that part of its history is told through these pictures. Originally, 2037 was sold in March, 1919, to Messrs. Horridge & Cornall of the Bolholt calico printworks of Bury, Lancashire. If you prefer motor sport to steam, you might be interested to learn that one of the heirs to the business was John Walter Stuart Schofield Horridge (1926-87), who, by 1954, had become a racing driver. His first car, we understand, was Jehu, consisting of a Jowett Jupiter chassis, Riley engine and fibreglass body by Rochdale Motor Bodies (later of Olympic fame). That was followed in 1955 by a similar concoction but with a Lister chassis and Rochdale Type C body. By 1957, the special had become Bristol-engined but was written off that year in an accident. Horridge replaced it with another Lister-Bristol which he owned into the 1960s.

But we digress. The Sentinel was used for runs back and forth between Bury and Manchester practically without a break up to 1935, it being entrusted to longstanding driver Harry Anderson of Walshall. Anderson retired aged 76 at Christmas, 1955, and the waggon, which was still owned by Horridge & Cornall, was allowed to retire with him. It was then bought in March, 1956, by S. L. Wedgwood of 215, Walmersley Road, Bury. The Wedgwood family also had a long history with steam waggons, but Wedgwood's intentions were strictly for preservation and enjoying rallies. He registered the lorry with the Traction Engine Club of Great Britain and christened it The Shrewsbury Belle after the town in which it was built.

In our first photograph, we see The Belle in Easter, 1956, newly acquired by the Wedgwoods and still wearing its original livery. The next photograph was taken at the Bury Charity Carnival on June 22nd, 1957, where the waggon is in line for the big parade. We also see it in full carnival dress for the Festival of Wales—Gwyl Cymru—on February 15th, 1958, in a picture taken for The Bury Times. It had not actually reached Wales when the picture was taken, but was photographed outside Bury's Art Déco Odeon cinema at the junction of Rochdale Road and Clerke Street. Sadly, it was demolished in 2013.

We know The Shrewsbury Belle is still around somewhere. Hopefully it won't be long before it's awoken from its hibernation.

Words: Zack Stiling
Photographs: Stiling Collection

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