Between May and August 2026, Jamie Briggs Heritage carried out two of the most demanding relocations in the company’s history, for the same client and within a few miles of each other. The River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames is transferring its River Thames and Rowing collections as the museum closes its doors to the public, and two vessels from that collection needed to leave the building: a pair of Saxon log boats around 1,500 years old, and a 17.5 metre carbon fibre prototype eight bound for a new home in Switzerland.
Different centuries, different materials and different destinations, but the same underlying problem. Both vessels were too fragile to bear their own weight under normal handling, and both required a conservator’s input, a bespoke crate and a carefully sequenced lifting plan before anyone touched them. Here is how each project was planned and delivered, and what the two jobs share in common.
A museum in transition
The River & Rowing Museum has confirmed it is now seeking new homes for its River Thames and Rowing collections, with a preference for keeping items together where possible but also accepting expressions of interest for individual objects. The collection relating to the town of Henley-on-Thames itself is not part of this process, and the museum’s education workshops continue to run alongside it.
That kind of transition puts real pressure on the objects involved. A collection that has sat in a fixed display for years, sometimes decades, suddenly needs to move, often to an interim location before a permanent one is agreed, and every stage of that journey has to protect items that were never designed to travel. The Saxon log boats and the Prototype 8 were both part of this wider process, and both needed to leave the building on a schedule set by the museum’s programme rather than by the object’s convenience.
It is exactly the situation our heritage storage is built for, giving a collection a secure, controlled interim home while a permanent one is found, without compromising on the conservation standards a museum move demands.
Two very different vessels, one shared constraint
The Saxon log boats are dugout vessels carved from single tree trunks. The larger of the two dates from approximately AD 450 to 530 and was excavated from the River Thames at Walton in 1966, likely used for carrying passengers and bulky loads. Sixteen centuries of burial followed by decades on display had left the timber fragile, and in places the display structure holding the boats had bonded to the boats themselves.
The Prototype 8 “Glass Casket” is a fragile object of a different kind. Built from epoxy, glass fibre and carbon fibre, the 17.5 metre rowing boat is light but extremely delicate, and its outer shell could not be allowed to bear load anywhere during handling or transit.
One object from the fifth century and one from recent competitive rowing history arrived at the same conclusion. Nothing about either move could be improvised. Each required a conservator engaged before a crate was designed, a bespoke crate built around the object rather than the other way round, and a handling method that kept load off the surfaces that mattered most.
The stakes were different too. An archaeological dugout boat cannot be replaced if it is damaged in transit, and its value lies in surviving material that has already outlasted sixteen centuries of burial and display. A prototype racing hull is irreplaceable for a different reason: it represents a specific stage in the development of the boat and the sport, and the museum, the crate manufacturer and Jamie Briggs Heritage all treated it with the same seriousness as the far older vessel travelling out of the same building that summer.
The Saxon log boats: dismantling a display without touching the boats
The project began in May 2026. At the time of the move, the smaller boat was mounted above the larger vessel on a glass supported structure, while the larger boat sat below on a wooden tray with rubber pallet supports. The display was not simply scenery around the artefacts, it was part of the problem to be solved, and the base of the larger boat’s box had bonded to its supporting frame, raising questions about how much structural support the box itself was providing.
Jamie Briggs Heritage engaged an independent conservator at an early stage to review the history and condition of both boats and to advise on handling, packing, transport and storage. The conservator remained involved throughout planning rather than being consulted once, and the methodology was reviewed and adapted as it developed, most notably with the introduction of three large scissor lift tables that gave additional support and control during each transfer.
The metal framing and glass elements around the display were removed gradually, one section at a time, to minimise vibration reaching the boats, with the condition of both vessels monitored throughout. Bespoke crates were designed around each boat by a specialist crate manufacturer, who attended site on several occasions to take measurements. The crate components arrived on 11 August 2026 and were craned to the gallery floor for assembly, each one fitted with Plastazote protection and custom cut internal supports shaped to the contours of the vessels.
Packing avoided direct contact with either boat. For the smaller vessel, a gap beneath it allowed Tyvek to be fed underneath, creating a safe means of handling it that was then retained as a protective layer once the boat was in its crate. For the larger vessel, gaps beneath the hull allowed Tyvek to be threaded through in a hammock style lifting system that distributed the load evenly along its length. In both cases the crate was positioned immediately alongside the boat on the scissor lift tables, keeping the transfer distance as short as possible before the vessel was secured with custom cut Plastazote supports.
The full sequence, from condition assessment through to sealed crate, is set out in the Saxon Log Boats case study.
The Glass Casket: a dual crane extraction for a 17.5 metre hull
The River & Rowing Museum commissioned Jamie Briggs Heritage to manage the packing, handling and transportation of the Prototype 8 from Henley-on-Thames to Switzerland. The controlling constraint was simple to state and difficult to solve: nothing could be allowed to bear on the outer shell. A conservator was engaged early, and it quickly became clear that any direct contact with the composite structure presented an unacceptable risk.
Working with the conservator, Jamie Briggs Heritage developed a crate design that supported the boat only at the internal titanium core and the outriggers, avoiding the fragile shell entirely. A specialist crate manufacturer surveyed the vessel and built a bespoke timber crate roughly 18 metres long, designed specifically for this one object.
The museum had separately appointed a contractor to lower the boat from its suspended display position, which left a single day, 14 August 2026, in which to erect the crate before the lowering operation took place. Once the boat was installed, two cranes extracted the crated vessel from the building on 17 August, with skates positioned beneath the crate beforehand so it could be manoeuvred safely into place while the lifting equipment was attached.
Onward transport required an abnormal load trombone trailer given the overall length of the crated vessel. The crate travelled first to a logistics facility in Egham, where it remained for several days before transferring to a second vehicle for the international leg to Switzerland, with route, site access and vehicle manoeuvrability planned in advance with the haulage contractor. Regular coordination meetings with the transport provider kept every party aligned on the plan across both legs of the journey, which mattered given how little tolerance the schedule had for delay once the single day assembly window had passed.
The full project, including the crate design process and the three stage transport route, is set out in the Prototype 8 Glass Casket case study.
What the two projects have in common
Set side by side, the two moves used different materials, different crates and different transport methods, but they were built on the same principles.
- A conservator engaged at the design stage, not brought in after a handling method had already been chosen
- A bespoke crate built around the specific object rather than adapted from a standard size
- Non-invasive handling, using Tyvek slings, Plastazote and internal support points instead of direct contact with fragile surfaces
- Several specialist contractors coordinated on site, including the museum, the conservator, the crate manufacturer and the lifting teams
- Transfer distances kept to a minimum, with crates and lifting equipment positioned as close as possible to the object before it was moved
None of those points are unique to boats. The same sequence applies whether the object is a rowing boat, a painting, a single archive box or an entire library. Engaging a conservator early means the handling method is built around what the object can actually tolerate, rather than being fixed before anyone has properly assessed the risk. Building the crate around the object, instead of reaching for a standard size, is what allows support to land only on points that can safely take it. And coordinating every contractor on site, from the museum’s own team through to the crane operators, is what keeps a complex lift or a single day assembly window from becoming a point of failure.
The packing materials and methods behind both projects, including Plastazote and Tyvek use, are part of the wider approach covered on our conservation packaging page.
Why museums and archives choose Jamie Briggs Heritage
Jamie Briggs Heritage combines specialist relocation expertise with secure heritage storage, conservation led packing methods and detailed collection control. For museums, archives, universities, libraries and cultural institutions, the team provides an end to end service for the safe movement, storage and long term care of important collections, drawing on the same approach used for the River & Rowing Museum boats.
Scale varies enormously between projects. Jamie Briggs Removals and Storage, the company behind the Heritage division, has moved 7.9 million books for the Bodleian Library in Oxford at one end of the range, and a single 1,500 year old log boat at the other. What stays constant is the method: assess the object and its condition, bring in specialist input where the object demands it, design the crate and handling plan around that assessment, and coordinate every contractor involved so the plan is followed on the day.
Our museum moves service covers everything from single object relocations like these two boats through to full collection transfers, while library and archive moves apply the same conservation led planning to books, documents and archival material that needs to stay in sequence and in condition. Fine art moves and antique removals bring the same bespoke crating and handling to individual pieces and private collections, and where a collection needs to be held rather than moved on immediately, our heritage storage gives it a secure, controlled environment for as long as it is needed.
All of these sit within our wider heritage services, built around the same principle that runs through both projects above: the object dictates the method, not the other way round.
Planning a heritage relocation?
Every project on this page started with a conversation before a method had been fixed. If you are responsible for an object, archive or collection that is too large, too fragile or too significant to move without a plan built around it, talk to us while that plan can still be shaped around the object. You can see more examples of this kind of work across our case studies, or contact the team to discuss your collection.