CONCRETE barges built in Barrow during the Second World War have become an unlikely tourist attraction 200 miles away near Bristol.

Between 1909 and 1965, more than 80 barges, ships and boats were deliberately beached on the banks of the River Severn to encourage silt deposition and reverse the effects of bank erosion.

The site has since become something of a tourist attraction and some of its most prominent vessels were made in Barrow.

Eight Ferro-Concrete Barges were built at the shipyard during the war to shore up harbours destroyed by bombs.

The barges had limited success given their susceptibility to impact damage and their porous nature.

After the war the barges were moved to Bristol and spent their final years as floating pontoons at Sharpness before they were beached at Purton.

Roger Marks, from the Friends of Purton group, said: "Of the eight Barrow-built FCBs at Purton only six are currently visible.

"The story of FCB52 is a sad one – having been refloated and rescued from Purton in 1990 to become an exhibit at the National Waterways Museum, she was later removed from the collection and moored at Marshfield, just a few yards away from the site at Purton.

"Unfortunately her hold was left uncovered and after a few years she filled with enough rainwater to sink her."