Current Research Projects

Matters for debate? Your views are welcome.

Our next publication will be entitled WORKING BOAT: West Midlands Canal Carriers 1770 - 1845. It will be ready for publication in 2000.

Research for this book has raised many different questions, particularly about the working practices at the time. This was a period pre-photography when illustrations are only available from prints and portraits. Most of the information is drawn from archive sources and newspapers which, combined together, paints a picture of words.

A synopsis for this particular publication is given below, followed by some important questions on which Heartland Press would welcome your thoughts. Comments please to Ray Shill - heartland@netlineuk.net.

WORKING BOAT:
West Midlands Canal Carriers 1770 - 1845

Following the success of the Rainhill Trials, the British Railway system expanded across the country. This expansion led to inevitable competition with the existing canal network which altered forever the role of canal carrying and the canal trade.

The new railways network reached the West Midlands in 1837 with the completion of the Grand Junction to Vauxhall Station. Prior to this date other railways had been either isolated operations or canal feeders. The impact of the new age was to discourage many of the existing traders from continuing in the canal business..

Those who are interested in canals may well be acquainted with firms like Fellows, Morton & Clayton, the Grand Union Carrying Co. or the Anderson Carrying Co. These firms came into existence long after railway age was established. They managed to survive at a time then dominated by the railways.

By 1845 the basic structure of the railway network was already formed, although, like the canals, they were owned by a group of independent companies. They were collectively able to offer serious competition to the canal traders.

Some fifty years before, the canal network had undergone a similar expansion, and like the later railways were able to offer a countrywide service. A subtle combination of canal and road transport achieved this goal, although the speed was never as fast as the later railway operation. A group of independent carriers came into existence whose principal role was to ferry merchandise and minerals the length and breadth of the country.

Competition amongst the canal traders was just as intense as that which later developed between the canals and railways. Working Boat book is a study of these times and looks at the rise and success of the canal carriers before the railway network was established.

Traders worked the length of the canal network. Those from London through Birmingham to Liverpool and Manchester were particularly busy, as were the routes to the rivers Severn and Trent. Their story is complex, and is one that was influenced by a multitude of factors. Many firms lasted but briefly whilst others remained in business throughout this canal age. Bankruptcy and mergers feature often in their history, as does the type of trade each carrier was involved in. There were those who specialised in the grain iron or timber trade, whilst others chiefly carried coal.

• This was a time when boats were worked by horses or donkeys. The animals needed stabling and canalised stables were common along the waterway. When the canals were first made, there were few canalised stables. How did the boatmen care for their horses when accommodation was lacking?
• Much of the merchandise trade was carried by Fly Boats. These vessels worked both day and night until they reached their destinations. The canal boat crew worked in shifts with men working whilst others slept. Life on the Flyboat was a routine of working and rest, where eating and washing happened on the move. The firm of Pickfords is credited with establishing the fly boat concept and there were similar practices on the roads where Fly Wagons operated. The question is which came first, the Fly Boat or Fly Wagon?

Other questions may appear on this web page from time to time.