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Horses on the canals

A few more canal/horse based images that I have collected over the years trawling the web. I have no other information with them other than I set out below,

The first one is at Lifford Lane, Cotteridge, the second just states Birmingham canal, the third is the Navigation Offices on Paradise Street Wharf and the last is at the Fountain Pub Tipton.

Bham Worc Canal Lifford Lane Cotteridge.jpgBirmingham-canals.jpgCity Paradise St Canal Navigation Office.jpgFountain pub Tipton-canal-2[1].jpg
 
We are quite fortunate in BHF in having a good many posters who are able to post photos of times gone by. For some of us they may seem only to be yesterday but truthfully many are 50 or more years ago - almost two generations!
As the internet gets deluged with a great deal of trivia it does seem that t is becoming a little more difficult when searching. The emphasis on trying to sell you things does cloud matters. Try searching for a street, mostly it turns up house details and prices! I can see why some posters probably give up on a search.
 
what a hard life it must have been working the canals and what wonderful servants the horses were...great photos

lyn
 
It was Lynn, as far as I can see. Cooking, washing, sleeping, in a confined small cabin. Older children often slept aboard the butty, with the cargo or empty hold. Then there was the steering to be done (man on motor boat, usually woman/mother on butty which was towed), in all weathers. Older daughters often cared for their younger family members. But it was their way of life and life on the 'bank' was not for them. The romance of the canals is fine when working for a living is not part of it. although some have made it so. The horse boats were another feature where children played their part, often walking along the towpath with the horse. Schooling was haphazard in many cases. There were a few people who made it their vocation to be of assistance medically and spiritually.
www.britishpathe.com

BARGEES' DOCTOR

Sister+Mary+Ward+attends+to+bargees%27+families+from+her+cottage+by+the+canal.
www.britishpathe.com www.britishpathe.com
This was the Salvation Army boat:
1572822307366.png
 
There was a hostel on Jaffry Road/Crescent Erdington for Barge children. They would live there during school term, so they could attend and then retun to working on the boats in the schools holidays.

It sounded like hard work and low pay.
 
We used to ride on top of the coal in the barges, the bargy would let jump on down past witton towards aston. This was in the late fifties and there were still some horses about, always well kept I remember. We would pat them when they rested at the locks, also the bargy gave us his handle and let us work the locks.
 
Im sure a lot of you members have seen this, but if you walk along any stretch of canal, when approaching a bridge or tunnel,have a look at the edge of the brickwork. You will notice a few grooves cut into the brickwork, caused by the bargehorse ropes rubbing against it over many years.
 
Bridge#49, Stratford-Upon-Avon Canal

Bridge number 49, to the south of Preston Bagot, is a split bridge. This is a design typical of the Stratford-Upon-Avon Canal. The towpath ran beside the bridge, rather than beneath it; the towrope was passed through the slot in the bridge, eliminating the need to unhitch the horse
1629623069177.png
 
mw0njm. said:
Bridge#49, Stratford-Upon-Avon Canal

Bridge number 49, to the south of Preston Bagot, is a split bridge. This is a design typical of the Stratford-Upon-Avon Canal. The towpath ran beside the bridge, rather than beneath it; the towrope was passed through the slot in the bridge, eliminating the need to unhitch the horse
View attachment 160649
Click to expand...
Pate, that is a wonderful picture! And the slot in the bridge is a clever idea.
 
we used the cut every weekend in 1950/60 fishing before pleasure boats took over,. it still was used by horse drawn boats. as i remember some of the bridges were all brick with a gap for the rope. i think some of thse bridges have been changed to iron. anyone remember a all brick bridge?

modified example below
No.51 Green Lane Bridge SOUTH STRATFORD CANAL PRESTON BAGOT. Split bridge. c1812-1816, with later restorations. Brick abutments and walls, partly stuccoed and scored in imitation of ashlar and with stone copings, cast-iron rails and decks. Abutments support two cantilevered decks with x-framed integral handrails and are split for tow ropes. Splayed parapet walls,
 
sidspop said:
Bottom lock of Factory 3 at Tipton is a sort of split bridge, albeit cantilevered, but with gap to allow rope through
Click to expand...
There are quite a few of these 'rope bridges' across the canal networks, ground movement has allowed some abutments to move slightly and close the gap.
 
Pedrocut said:
December 1957 Coventry Evening Telegraph...

View attachment 136349
Click to expand...
My friend's sister in law also Elaine is a Narrow boat person. A water gypsy? From around Coventry I will try and get in touch with her. One of her relatives passed away and they scattered the ashes and the flowers in the canal.I have been on barge trips which stop at Sutton Stop. The pub the Greyhound is ancient. We saw a bearded lady once hailed to be a boatwoman. My Black Country Nan said they worked the horses till they dropped. As a little girl she saw one collapse and it really upset her. And white horses were a rare sight. If you saw one you spat on your shoe for luck.
 
sidspop said:
Bottom lock of Factory 3 at Tipton is a sort of split bridge, albeit cantilevered, but with gap to allow rope through
Click to expand...
How do you pronounce Tipton? Nan said Tip'n. Where you going Nan? Arm gooin' ta see Tip'n run. I never knew what she meant. Nan was a lover of canals, she said they were meeting place. A Sunday afternoon stroll when she was a coo ar tin, Grandad, whose house backed on to it. In the winter it froze (fruzz over she said) and they skated on it, with bones strapped to their boots or just their boots, to music sometimes, a hurdy gurdy man or with hot chestnuts, it painted a pretty picture for me. Gandad's first job when he was 8, eight! was to take pigs to the slaughterhouse along the canal, in Stourbridge,. He had the pig by the ears but he was sensitive and the pig bunted him and itself in to the canal and he got the sack.
 
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