History's most Dangerous Job - The Navigator Story

Welcome to this weeks video in which we take a look at the life of the Navvy. We also enjoy a little stroll along the abandoned stretch of the Basingstoke Canal up to the Greywell Tunnel.
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Usual notices:
1. We are not historians. We enjoy researching and learning stuff, and with that we enjoy sharing our journeys with you. That said, sources for information often listed below with credits.
2. Errors. Whilst we make every attempt to not include any errors, research, and piecing stories together from dozens of sources sometimes leads to one or two. I will note this here if any are found:
A. I did kind of just delve into this without explaining the role and what a Navvy is. A Navvy is short for Navigator, and was the name given to a Labourer whose job it was to essentially build the canals and railways.
Credits:
Filter: Snowman Digital and Beachfront B-Roll
Maps: Google Maps
Maps: National Library of Scotland
Lidar: National Library of Scotland
Maps: OS Maps. Media License.
Stock Footage: Storyblocks
Music: Storyblocks
Iron Giant Footage: / ericthehiking
TREVITHICK Puffing Devil: Footage: (cc): / @ucflcoffmxm-crvo412d0g1g
Pictures credit: (Wiki creative commons unless specified).
Bridgewater Canal at Worsley: Parrot of Doom
Lancaster Canal:
Bridgewater Barrow Bridge: Mike Todd
Bridgewater Bridge: Craid Sunter
Berwick Tunnel Shrewsbury: Mark Evison
Blisworth Tunnel southern portal: Stephen Dawson
Butterley Reservoir Adit: Tina Cordon
Staff and Worcs Smestow Brook: SJWELLS53
Aldersley Junction and Wolverhampton: Oosoom
Staffs Worcester Bridge 105: Roger Kidd
Mine Explosion: Agence de photographie
Sapperton canal tunnel Southern Portal: Baryonic Being
Canal Diagrams at Sapperton: Cotswoldcanals.net
Sapperton Portal at Daneway: Jongleur100
Senghenydd pit disaster: W Benton
Bridgewater Wharf: Philip Pankhurst
Sources:
Historian: David Denny
www.networkrail.co.uk/stories...
www.weekehistory.co.uk/weeke/...
shrewsburyrailwaymodellers.co...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navvy
Plus.... a not insignificant collection of my own books.

[@pwhitewick]

Notes: 1. If you enjoyed this and would like to become part of the behind the scenes community, Patreon signup and options are here: www.patreon.com/PaulandRebeccaWhitewick 2. I did kind of just delve into this without explaining the role and what a Navvy is. A Navvy is short for Navigator, and was the name given to a Labourer whose job it was to essentially build the canals and railways.

[@swwiftyy]

Did the Navvies have battered saussages in the 1800s when building the railways and canals?

[@tommytron2000]

No thank you But Congratulations on 100k subs!! What a milestone

[@paulmeads6396]

Both my Great Grandfather and my Great Great Grandfather were navvies in the latter years of railway building, working on the Great Central Railway, the Leeds New Line, the Crouch Valley line, the Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton branch line, and on railways linking the South Yorkshire coalmines to the main lines (amongst others). It has always seemed an injustice that there are statues of Brunel, Hudson, Stephenson, and others who made money from the railways and canals, but nothing to commemorate the sacrifices made by those who actually built them (including their families who followed them around from job to job). Wouldn't it be great to see a statue of a navvy at the National Railway Museum for example?

[@frogandspanner]

My great great grandfather (from Manulla) was a railway navvy around Manchester, and my great grandfather was a railway navvy around Leeds. That was on my distaff side. On the spear side my great great great ... great grandfather was Admiral de France, who was at the Field of the Cloth of Gold with his pal Francois. WW2 was a great leveller that brought my parents together.

[@philiptaylor7902]

There’s a statute to commemorate the navvies at Gerrards Cross station.

[@colvinator1611]

I read a book about English canals some years ago. Many of the ' navvies ' were veterans of the Napoleonic wars. They were often brutal blokes who had experienced vicious hand to hand combat. On one occasion, there was a drunken riot in a village, and a landlord was killed. The militia turned up a couple of days later. The perpetrators were hunted down and tried for murder.

[@pwhitewick]

A brutal time from all directions!

[@colvinator1611]

@pwhitewick Thanks for the history Paul .Very interesting.

[@patrickjmorgan]

Fun fact. When people of my age were apprentices, we were working with WW2 veterans and sometimes things boiled over and discipline was harsh., I was a lift engineer. It was heavy work installing. @@colvinator1611

[@shirleylynch7529]

We don’t know the half of it do we? Those hard working men shaping our land with progress with much suffering. It’s does us good to to reflect on all they done. Thank you Paul. Very poignant.

[@malcolmrichardson3881]

Great video, rightly emphasising the punishing conditions of life of the canal navvy - whose constructions changed the face of Britain and other industrial nations, but whose individual and collective lives have left relatively little trace. How much one would give to hear their story.

[@fion1flatout]

Yep. It would be nice to ask them what they think of 'white privelige'

[@IONACOMPUTERS]

40 years ago I worked with Irish lads on river alleviation in London , some of the old guys said the machines came too late for them , some luaghed, working a shovel is real tough skilled work , if u don't use it right U won't last , these guys were incredibly resilient

[@tonyclough9844]

It's a fact most people can't dig there own graves, you have to switch off completely and only think of the beer your going to drink.

[@liamhickey359]

​@@tonyclough9844 did a lot of digging and shoveling in my time. Tough work. Would not fancy grave digging. Remember talking to grave digger working in situ. He was down 5 foot or so and was literally chiselling the soil out with a bolster and lump hammer. He said he was finishing up because he had enough and they wouldn't notice it wasn't 6ft plus deep anyway.

[@buildingsbyair]

it's with awe how some of these railways and canals were built

[@josephturner7569]

The Irish were famous for doing a days work before midday. So they could spend the rest of it in the pub. And, there was always a pub. I think, 7 men died digging Sonning cuttjng between Twyford and Reading. Lots of locations on the railway are named after pubs.

[@mjh5437]

Yes,I know when London housing was growing fast in the 1800s the developers often got the navvies to build pubs first so they would have somewhere onsite to get pissed after work while they were building it.That`s why after WW2 when mass immigration from the West Indies started poor homeowners renting out rooms in their houses to make a few quid sometimes put up a sign saying " No dogs,no blacks,no Irish" in the windows of their houses because the Irish had such a reputation for drinking and and fighting all the time....The reasons homeowners didn`t want blacks in their houses either I will leave to your own imagination.😁

[@paulwillis8504]

This channel never disappoints, yet another superb story.

[@mphinpgh]

Paul, this was an outstanding episode. One of my favorites...

[@robinwatling6538]

that was excellent, you need a tv series!

[@bradarmstrong3952]

I'm thinking this is only as good as it is because it isn't done by committee and doesn't have to turn an ever-increasing profit for investors. Paul's enthusiasm and clear understanding of the subjects he talks about are what draws folks in.

[@iainhunneybell]

Love the outtake at the end. At least you didn’t lose your boots in the mud 😊

[@MuttleyMutter]

Navvies get their name from the canals, which were originally called Navigations, meaning waterways navigable by a boat, and included rivers that had been improved by engineering works. The use of "damp" for gases encounterd in mines and tunnels comes from the experienced miners who were brought over from Germany to expand coal mining in Britain. Dampf means vapour or steam in German. Firedamp is any explosive gas, most often methane. whitedamp is CO produced by burning things and afterdamp is the CO that's left after a firedamp explosion. Trevithick's engine, now famous as the Pen-y-Darren locomotive, did not have wheels when it first arrived. It was a stationary boiler used to drive a steam hammer. The owner of the Pen-y-Darren ironworks, Samuel Homfrey, had Trevithick mount it on wheels for use as a locomotive, and was so impressed that he made a bet with another ironmaster that the locomotive could haul ten tons of iron along the Merthyr Tramroad. It succeeded, but broke many of the cast iron plates that formed the running track of the plateway, and was subsequently taken off its wheels and put back to use driving the steam hammer. Your video clip under the commentary at that point is of a replica of Trevithick's road locomotive, Puffing Devil, and not the Pen-y-Darren locomotive.

[@IanDDalton]

great video, we don't realise how lucky we have things today, although at times we all moan about health and safety, and remembering their was generally no insurance at these times, you could loose your life, and your family end up impoverished!, life was very cheap :(

[@johnjephcote7636]

Wow, half a crown as a tip for me, a railway porter, in the 1960s really made my day. Back then it was very good for a whole day.

[@Christina-ge3xr]

Thank you for this fascinating look at the perilous the job market of the early Industrial Revolution, Paul. I always wonder why my ancestors left the UK to come so far (Cincinnati) from all they knew and start all over in what was then the Wild West! The job market in the UK didn’t leave much choice considering how awful life was for unskilled country folk. I appreciate your enthusiasm in these posts.

[@philhawley1219]

These impoverished people were mainly drawn from farming stock. Industrial urbanisation was barely beginning and almost all of them came from a family history of heavy physical labour since they were children. No machines had been invented to aid them, the most powerful thing that existed in their world was a horse. The life of a European worker in his or her own country was generally "nasty, brutish and short". They could be dismissed, cast out of their filthy little one room hovel with a dirt floor with all their family at no notice, beaten by their employer or landlord and considered as worthless livestock. Next time someone mentions "white privilege" remind them that slaves were expensive to purchase. These white people often had one option: work or starve, there were thousands of them and if one died it cost nothing to replace the foolish or careless individual with another for free. The use of slaves was forbidden many hundreds of years ago in Britain but poor people were far cheaper, especially if they lived nearby, than shipping a slave from thousands of miles away .

[@Allan_son]

Hmm. Someone did exactly the same work in North America! On the west coast disposable Chinese labour was common. In the east I suspect a large part was disposable Irish labour but also migrants from the UK.

[@Gez-C]

Favourite part of the week! ❤

[@garywheeler7039]

For people outside the UK, a navvy person is is a railroad or canal construction worker. It comes from the word "navigation" as in putting a line through the country.

[@llywrch7116]

I always wondered where that word came from. Thanks.

[@Allan_son]

Oh. You mean navvy means the same thing in the UK as it does in Canada? I am pretty sure I also heard the word in a description of canal construction by our rebellious neighbours to the south.

[@garywheeler7039]

@@Allan_son :: maybe you were confused by the name nappy!

[@stephendavies6949]

Here's my personal link to such hellish working conditions: My dad started working as a coal miner in South Wales in the early 1950s, alongside his dad. They worked in awful, cramped conditions, hacking at the coal with picks (or "mandrils", as the miners called them), then loading the coal into small, narrow-gauge wagons (called "drams") using huge, square-nosed "navvy shovels". In these early days of nationalisation, the miners were still paid on piecework, calculated on how many "drams" they filled per shift. Even though there was no more than 6 feet between them, my dad & grandad couldn't see each other, not only becuase it was dark, but also due to the thick, airborne coal dust. They filled the dram by "touch": feeling for the edge of the dram, and then either on their knees or bent over, shoveling the coal - in one motion - into the dram, whilst continuing to face away from it. They did this for 8 hours per day. Luckily for my dad, mechanised coal cutters and new measures to reduce the level of airborne coal dust transformed the industry in the 1960s. Many, many coal miners never lived to claim their old age pensions. It's very sobering to realise that this is not ancient history.

[@eastcorkcheeses6448]

My granddad and his brothers had 2 choices in the valleys , down the pitt or the railways , and since they were all over 6 foot railways it was -

[@stephendavies6949]

@eastcorkcheeses6448 My dad wanted to be a farmer, but grandad said, "No son, come and work with me, just like I did with my dad." I was the first person for 4 generations not to be a miner. Thank heavens!

[@RotGoblin]

My grandfather moved to work on the railways after generations of coal mining in the Welsh valleys. When Beeching destroyed the railway network he was mentally and emotionally crushed.

[@abandonedrailwaya2470]

A brilliant video, Paul. The navvies lived in totally brutal conditions. A combination of a dangerous working environment and deadly diseases, like dysentery, all contributed to the high mortality rates. We owe them a great debt of gratitude. Thanks for sharing this video. Cheers. Ron.🙂👍

[@paulinehedges5088]

Wow Paul that was really interesting. I had never thought about the sheer physical effort needed to build the railways and canal. Heroes all. Thank you SO much. 😊

[@NonstopEurotrip]

Absolutely fascinating video Paul! Loved it mate 🙂

[@robinhayhurst5943]

Paul... I am absolutely loving the improved quality of the production of your videos! Not that it was bad in the past of course!

[@pwhitewick]

😊

[@eng9040]

My Dad as a long distance bus driver told me stories about the irish navvys excavating the motorway link between england and scotland, the M6 and M74 he worked with them , there are many graveyards along that road and one day I will get the chance to leave the motorway and pay my respects.

[@davidberlanny3308]

Really well researched, filmed and edited to very high standards. Well worth watching again and again. Interesting to see (or rather not see) the barge now submerged. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods after all the recent rain. All the best!!

[@jasonhimpson2334]

The Genesis track Driving The Last Spike is about the dangerous lives of the Navvies

[@MrGreatplum]

Cracking tune!

[@Canalcoholic]

We'll never see the likes of them again.

[@philjoyce7939]

Superb piece of history telling. Thank you very much Mr. Whitewick.

[@texano1957]

Extremely compelling and interesting.

[@philhomes233]

As a kid I played on this canal around Frimley. Disused with virtually no water. Great fun and very memorable.

[@DanJamesJames]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Richard Trevithick's name (you showed a picture of him, and referred to him as a Cornish engineer). He is generally considered to be at least as important in the development of steam locomotion as George Stephenson, whom you named a couple of sentences later.

[@Colinpark]

The term "Navvy" lives on here on the West Coast of Canada, where gravel for concrete is called "Navvy jack"

[@robinhayhurst5943]

I loved the touch where you were in the ditch/canal and were talking to the camera up the bank...and then turned your head as you finished speaking and cut immediately to you looking into your hand held camera whilst still in the ditch/canal. Shows in-depth planning...and skill of course!

[@pwhitewick]

Always wonder if people notice those little bits

[@robinhayhurst5943]

@@pwhitewick I follow your work closely!!!

[@johannesofie777]

The Norwegian (and before that Swedish) equivalent name is "rallar". They worked on the railways from the 1870s to the 1920s in the same grueling conditions. With the added "bonus" of living year round in the mountains, blasting through rocks and placing the rails through all kinds of weather. I'm thankful for the work they did, but I'm glad the working conditions have changed.

[@bobsrailrelics]

Absolutely fascinating and a timely reminder. We so often look at the lines, and features and forget they were all created by human beings with blood, sweat and tears. Recognised a couple of Sengynedd images in there 😁 Really enjoyed this, thanks for making it.

[@Baloonick]

Cracking video there, as usual. A few years back I stopped to admire the very deep cutting on the Shropshire Union Canal near Norbury, the height made higher by the spoil being dumped at the top. Doing all that by hand would have been strenuous. There's a WW2 pillbox at the top in a strategic location. Many canal navvies went on to work on building the railways. They were often welcomed in villages and towns for the amount of money they would spend (mostly on beer) but despised for their bad language, attitude and drunken violence. You could do a follow up on this aspect and visit some of the many pubs built for them, like the Tunnel House Inn by the Sapperton Tunnel. The tiny church of St Leonards in Chapel-le-Dale has a mass grave for the many who died building the Ribblehead Viaduct and railway (It's on Roman Road if you needed any further encouragement!).

[@martinmarsola6477]

Thank you for the “literal” meanings of the descriptions of the past. Other than that mentioning, the true meanings would be clouded. As always, a great video to digest and clarify in your mind. Times were rough on workers, and payments were microscopic for raising a family, if the worker survived. Hope your holidays were great this past few weeks. As always, hello to Rebecca, and a great thanks to you for the fabulous video. See you on the next. 🇬🇧🇬🇧👍👍🙂🙂🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@martinmarsola6477]

@@excession3076 If he did, he would have credited me in his comments to me.

[@AnthonyIlstonJones]

@@excession3076 Wages were good for navvies compared to a typical unskilled labourer of the time, but would have been miniscule compared to the people in charge. And they earned what little they got, ordinary labourers couldn't earn enough to feed themselves on the piecework that navvies were paid, let alone their families.

[@Linleys]

Another cracking video there Paul. I hadn't realised the contractor's encouragement/interest in using local labour. They would not have been as skilled as the hardened navies on tour for their work. Cheers, Warren :)

[@Sarge084]

Excellent editing, I particularly liked your use of your extensive archive to provide clips from your previous video's. Suggestion for a future canal themed video: The creation of a new town where the Staffordshire - Worcestershire Canal met the River Severn. The port by the confluence of the River Stour with the River Severn.

[@pwhitewick]

This was particularly helpful today that's for sure!!

[@larry811]

When young I performed a lot of backbreaking physical labor. This guy gets it. Most people have no idea.

[@template16]

An excellent video Paul, highlighting the work often not considered when looking at canals and railways.

[@pwhitewick]

Many thanks!

[@MrPreston1179]

What a wonderful video @pwhitewick [ Paul & Rebecca ]. The Navvies are a group of people who don't get the credit they deserve for the role they played in shaping the country. There is very little content on here about them. Thank you for putting that straight.

[@davie941]

hello again Paul , very interesting video again , great work on this , really well done and thank you 😊

[@pjchosen]

Outstanding Paul in every way.... content, delivery, technology, editing... You should definitely do history programmes for tv!

[@whereinsussex]

I was very aware of the navvies involved in the railway, but had never considered the size of the workforce for a canal.

[@henkbarnard1553]

I got tired and sore just watching this.

[@mickcorbett6724]

Navigator, song by The Pogues. Explains the contribution the Irish made to this country with their blood & guts.

[@allanchurm]

i look forward to your episodes especially the bits of history thrown in with it as well.

[@Sim0nTrains]

Brilliant video Paul, I have seen the start of the Staffordshire - Worcestershire Canal when it joins into the Trent and Mersey Canal at Great Haywood,

[@jackprier7727]

Yay! One of my favorites, so far- I enjoy working with my body {and it tells you that you've abused it}. The teams of laborers doing the actual building of others' dreams has a realness that I understand-

[@TrevsTravelsByNarrowboat]

Nice one Paul. I have been to the eastern end of Greywell Tunnel many a time as the kids used to like going and seeing King John's Castle, but that is the first time I have seen the western portal.

[@WagSchofield]

Great stuff Paul. What you've created here is a real educational resource. Don't be surprised if a link to this starts turning up in history homework packs.

[@Richardincancale]

Excellent production!

[@galinneall]

Last summer, I visited Tunnel's End, Standedge, in Yorkshire, and I took the tour boat into the tunnel. It was interesting to hear the guide's description of the tunnel's construction. If, for example, a navvy was badly injured, they would get him out of the tunnel and carry him off the construction site, because if a worker died on site, the company was responsible for the cost of the funeral. But if you could get him off the grounds before he died, then the funeral was the family's responsiblity.

[@pwhitewick]

Wow... never knew that, doesn't surprise me though!

[@paull2613]

As with you Paul marvellously done and you painted a great word picture of a navies life. Thank you

[@hughwalker5628]

Fascinating video! I actually live on the Grand Union so I have a fresh appreciation of my environment!

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

Great video brother. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, your expertise and adventure. I started watching One of your. fellow countryman David over at KZbin channel, cruising the cut. And he got me interested in your Tunnels and caneles I am a new subscriber and I can't wait to see the rest of your videos. Hello from Detroit Michigan USA Great video Brother thank you for sharing

[@morethan4mph]

Up here in Lancashire we have an area next to the Leeds - Liverpool canal called Botany Bay. Supposedly this takes its name from the fact that convicts were sent to the similar named place in Australia - such was how the navvies that encamped there were regarded by the locals. - excellent video, as always.

[@bobjackson6524]

BRRRRRILLIANT. Not seen one of your videos for ages. Going yo enjoy this

[@pwhitewick]

Welcome back!

[@kaikiefer499]

The thorns liked you as much as I like this video. ^^ Funny thing is, in Germany (which doesn't have a history of navigations and canals as the UK have) the most early Railway tracks and tunnels were build by Italiens.

[@pwhitewick]

It would be really interesting to learn the differences and why!

[@josephturner7569]

A song that illustrates the essence of the Irish Navvy is Paddy and the bricks.

[@pwhitewick]

Good call. I think there are probably quite a few.

[@AnthonyIlstonJones]

@@pwhitewick Navigator by the Pogues, on the Rum,Sodomy & the Lash LP. A particular favourite of mine. 😁

[@TonyFisher1]

Paul, loved this vid. Easily one of your best ‘docu-vids’. Your storytelling is top-notch. Thx. Love long form videos and don’t have much time for the shorts.

[@nicholasbuttery511]

Camden Lock North London has an interesting tale ? There was infighting between The English,Welsh,Scottish and Irish workmen digging and planning at all levels in the Pubs they had a Public house built to house each nation of which are still standing apart from the English one that has fell into disrepair.

[@intractablemaskvpmGy]

Thanks! I learned what "Navvy" meant and more about English canals. We don't have to look back very far to see ruins and archaeology doesn't have to be ancient. I'm looking forward to more content in '24

[@raphaelnikolaus0486]

Lovely and appreciative video. Let's you know more about the often cited Navvies and their actual job(s). Shows both sides of the same coin as it were. Thanks for another great storytelling, Paul. Fits perfectly with the previous Railway Gauge story video.

[@Aengus42]

Then after the canals and the railways came the roads. After the Second World War came the modernisation of our A roads. Classic two lane blacktop at first. (I can still remember St Albans to Torbay taking 12 hours plus pre M5!) These used to be gorgeous driving roads between towns, first light on a midsummer's Sunday morning was the best time for the pre dual carriageway A303. It used to go through every town & village on the way. Can anyone remember playing "Pub Cricket" on car journeys? If you were "batting" you'd watch out for pub signs and count the legs. "The Black Dog Inn" would be a four, the "Duke of York" a two. Any more than a four was a six. So "The Flock of Sheep" was a six. If the sign had no legs, you were out. Do "The Turk" would be a two but "The Turk's Head" would see you bowled out. You can't play "Pub Cricket" anymore and this was because of the Navvies. Their way of life, unchanged pretty much from the 1700s, looked like coming to an end with the morons like Beeching! (How I despise that man!). But suddenly, 1958, saw our first stretch of motorway. The Preston Bypass. Look for ewanmaccoll dot bandcamp dot com slash track slash come-me-little-son-3 for a song written by Ewan McGill (Yes, Kirsty's dad) for "The Radio Ballads" Song of a Road first broadcast on Bonfire Night 1959. A mix of ambient sound recordings, instrumental music, songs & interviews from the Navvies themselves. So to the tune of Tramps & Hawkers... "Come, me little son, and I will tell you what we’ll do: Undress yourself and get into bed and a tale I’ll tell to you; It’s all about your daddy, he’s a man you seldom see, He’s had to roam, far away from home, away from you and me. But remember lad, he’s still your dad though he’s working far away In the cold and heat, eighty hours a week, on England’s motorway. When you fall and hurt yourself and get up feeling bad, It isn’t any use to go a-running for your dad, For the only time since you was born he’s had to stay with you, He was out of a job and we hadn’t a bob, he was signing on the crew. But remember, lad, he’s still your dad and he really earns his pay, Working day and night upon the site of England’s motorway. To buy your shoes your daddy built a length of railway track; He built a hydro dam to buy the clothes upon your back. This motor highway buys the food but the wages soon are spent, And though we have to live apart, it helps to pay the rent. So remember, lad, he’s still your dad and he’s toiling every day; But there’s good to be had and it’s thanks to your dad on England’s motorway. Sure, we need your daddy here, sure it would be fine To have him working nearer home and to see him all the time; But beggars can’t be choosers and we have to bear our load, For we need the money your daddy earns a-working on the road. So remember, lad, he’s still your dad and he’ll soon be here to stay For a week or two with me and you when he’s built the motorway. Edit: I think the Armed Forces and Navvies all through history would recognise the sentiment of that song! Ewan's sung it with Peggy Seeger, of course and Luke Kelly from the Dubliners sang a classic version (although I think, with this same tune, his "Tramps & Hawkers" suits him better. I think the very best version (kink above) is off of "The Female Frolic", a 1968 album with Sandra Kerr and others. There's not a bad track on the whole album, history buffs will love this type of folk music. It's the 9 O'Clock News direct from 300 years ago! (You probably know her better as Madalaine the Cloth Doll from Bagpuss)

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

The towns and villages in the Summer in the 1950's, there - can you imagine the traffic jams for miles before each? McAlpine's Fussilers, with a spade over their shoulders on the Holyhead Ferry ~ Ronnie Drew and the Dubliners.

[@Aengus42]

​​@@huwzebediahthomas9193 That's why I said first light on a summer Sunday was the best time for enjoying good old British A roads. (Edit: I think it's only the A377 that's left out of my favourite roads. Unless "The switchbacks" bear St Albans are still there?) In the daytime they were diabolical! Especially getting into, through & past Exeter, Telegraph Hill, through the Ideford bends, the bleedin' Penn Inn roundabout, Kings-bloody-kerswell and into the bay! I still have a memory from being a kid going to me nan's in Goodrington, looking at the queue of cars twinkling in the blinding sunlight trying to get into Exeter pre M5 and the blissful Devon Expressway from Honiton into Torbay! Every time I drive it I think what massive improvement it is!

[@markwinning8967]

Great research Paul. Enjoyable and informative as usual.

[@scallopohare9431]

Some of this work is simply staggering.

[@whirving]

I've ridden a bicycle tour along the C&O canal in the US, it's quite a popular route. But for me, who works in civil construction it just presented me with so many: "How did they do that???!!!" moments. Thanks for answering some of it. The ability to negotiate even a 3% grade made all the difference didn't it?

[@TheEulerID]

There were canal systems in the world long before this era. Even in the "modern" era of the 17th century, the French had built two large canals, the Canal du Midi and the Braire Canal (a summit canal with pound locks). Indeed, they weren't even the first canals in the UK, although what was probably different was the private financing, speed of construction, network scale and purpose. Not scale in the size of the canals themselves, which were modest by the standards of many in China or Europe, but in the interconnected dense web and how they were built into the very structure of industrialisation. That also forced the builders to push canals across u promising terrain, over or, often, under hills.

[@RangerPaulX]

Some tough jobs back then. Many thanks Paul.

[@RotGoblin]

My mother in-law's ancestors were navvies. A gruelling job that ended many of them before their time. The worst seemed to be the folks who were paid in tokens that could only be spent in the company shops who had direct control over costs and inflation etc, effectively slaves.

[@philiptaylor7902]

Great video Paul. There’s a statue to commemorate the navigationals at Gerrards Cross station, so they don’t go completely unrecognised.

[@thomasdieckmann5711]

very impressive, great story, well researched & told!

[@Codysdab]

Phil Collins got it right in the song "Driving the Last Spike"

[@andrewmcalister3462]

That steam wagon at 15:33 looked even more lethal than tunnelling. Thanks for digging out these little illustrative clips.

[@StephenDavenport-zqz2ub]

An interesting and thought provoking video. The heavy lifting of the navvy is today now largely done by machinery powered by fossil fuels. The 'Just Stop Oil' people should watch the video and reflect on the use of machinery for improving the welfare of workers.

[@andrewlamb8055]

Thanks again Paul! Great episode ⚔️⚔️💫👍🪐

[@dlittlester]

Paul, your videos just keep getting better and better. Thanks for them.

[@jimscarlet]

Absolutely brilliant, every second a joy. Thank you.

[@admirald2680]

Excellent video 😃

[@jefflaufer3205]

Brilliant Paul. Your presentation and history telling get better every episode. It is captivating stuff. Sir David Attenborough would be proud. ❤

[@MrGreatplum]

Wonderfully filmed, Paul and a fascinating story about those whom we often now take for granted.

[@EpicCBgamerOfficial]

Fascinating. Thank you. Happy New year.

[@douglasfleetney5031]

Excellent, Paul. Thank you.

[@hull39]

Thanks! Another excellent video. Your production values are awesome. I can’t imagine how long it took to produce this. Best wishes to you and Rebecca for the new year.

[@pwhitewick]

😊🙏🙏

[@colintyrrell3670]

Great video and story. Thanks for these stories.

[@AdamOpie]

Great stuff Paul!

[@pugman205]

always high quality and welll researched and interesting videos yet again Paul

[@petermainwaringsx]

Grwat video Paul, which held my interest all the way through. Thanks for your videos.

[@Zebred2001]

Gordon Lightfoot's classic song The Canadian Railroad Trilogy also mentions navvies!

[@russellgaudin5981]

again your Videos are most interesting and informative. Thank you and Happy New Year!

[@terryansell6641]

So so interesting thank you taking the time in making these videos from New Zealand

[@redrunner]

Thank you for another great and informative video.

[@DaveFord]

Splendid video Paul.

[@macaidwin]

Another great video. Many thanks, Paul

[@landmannmike]

Great work Paul.

[@davidrussell8689]

Excellent video . Fascinating and well presented . Could you please consider a making a video on the decline of the canal system ?

[@Nick-13]

Hello Paul - I'm very lucky to live very close to the Bridgewater Canal and coal mine entrance at Worsley (the location of recent extensive restoration works - well worth a visit ! Have plenty of photos I can share). The Duke of Bridgewater (3rd Duke) was Lord Francis Egerton (rather than Lord Bridgewater) built the canal for narrowboats (rather than barges, which I think are too wide for most canals, other than the Manchester Ship Canal, which is another story !!) Give me a shout if you ever visit, think you would be impressed by the Bridgwater canal and the Barton Swing Aqueduct, an impressive feat of engineering !

[@jeffricks2640]

great stuff.......thanks Paul 👍

[@dpeter6396]

Outstanding presentation !!