Building A New Canal - Halsall, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 34.929 W 002° 56.732
30U E 503605 N 5937035
This information board on the Leeds Liverpool Canal Towpath provides information about how navvies constructed canals by hand.
Waymark Code: WMPKZB
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/16/2015
Views: 2
The canal is 127.25 miles long and flows from the inland woollen town of Leeds to the coastal sea port of Liverpool, crossing the Pennines along the way. Work on the canal started in 1770 and built in a number of sections and was finally completed in 1816.
The information board was sited here because Halsall is where work on the construction of the canal first started. It was placed here in 2004 when a stone sculpture of a navvy by Thompson Dagnall to mark the work of the navvies was erected here.
The centre of the board has a drawing of navvies at work, including the construction of an arch bridge across the canal. This board is very close to a bridge similar to the one in the picture, if not the actual one itself.
Thw information board has the following information.
Halsall Navvy
The West Lancashire Canal Partnership chose the 'Halsall Navvy' from four proposals submitted by leading North West artists. The sculpture by artist Thompson Dagnall comemorates the labourers who dug this canal by hand. Local people of all ages were involved in its creation.
Walk under the bridge and along the towpath where you will find a small plaque on a wall marking the spot where the building of the Leeds Liverpool Canal began.
Building a new canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal was promoted by John Hustler, and other merchants from Bradford who wanted a cheaper way of transporting limestone and coal.
In 1770 an Act was passed in Parliament allowing them to build the canal. Work began here at Halsall where the Halsall Cutting is the largest engineering task between Liverpool and Parbold.
Insult and injury
Navvies moved from place to place as canal building continued helped by local farm labourers when necessary. Their life was harsh, the work was physically tough and accidents were common.
Progress continued from both the Leeds and Liverpool ends of the canal and by 1797 there were more than 500 men employed building the canal.
Meet the gang
Building a canal was difficult, few people could read the engineers written instructions. The cutters, soon to be called navigators or navvies were skilled workers who dug the canal. Masons and carpenters were also in demand to build bridges, lay edging stones, put up scaffolding and repair tools.
Tools of the trade
Picks, shovels and wheelbarrows were the navvies' main tools. They came in all sizes and shapes - sometimes special tools were needed, such as Trawley Barrows used for moving heavy blocks of stone. To build even the largest structure such as the Halsall Cutting, rock was removed by hand with picks and shovels.