Barrie,A bit more info for the above drawings
To start on building or constructing a canal.......................
Engineer started by pegging out his line, having in mind the object of moving the least amount of soil the shortest distance, and so balancing cutting and embankment that, when the job was done, no pits from were the soil had been dug, or spoil banks of excess material, should remain........
Topsoil had first to be removed for later return to the completed banks and neighbouring land. Digging was done by hand, using wheelbarrows on planks, and temporary horse tram roads for moving soil longer distances. In a deep cutting, where a man and his barrow had to be got up the sides, rings on the end of ropes could be slipped over the barrow's handles, and it could then be helped up by a horse at the top walking away. Should cutting be through clay or other watertight soil, no lining would be necessary; otherwise the canal bed must be lined or puddled.
From an account written in 1805
Puddle is a mass of earth reduced to a semi fluid state by working and chopping it about with a spade, while water just in the proper quantity is applied, until the mass is rendered homogeneous, and so much condensed, that water cannot afterwards pass through it, or but very slowly. The best puddling stuff is rather a lightish loam, with a mixture of coarse sand or fine gravel in it; very strong clay is unfit for it, on account of the great quantity of water which it will hold, and its disposition to shrink and crack as this escapes.
This puddle was then spread in layers over the bottom and sides of the canal excavation to a thickness of 18ins to 3ft depending on the porosity of the soil, and covered with a layer of ordinary soil or second quality clay about 18 ins thick. The canal then had to be filled with water before hot weather could damage the lining. Filling with water also enabled working boats to .be used to move soil and construction material from place to place.
Meanwhile brickworks had been set up locally to make bricks from local clay, or, in stone country, orders given to local quarries. Timber had been bought for lock gates and beams, and for building construction. Lock pits had been dug, and bricklayers, masons and carpenters would be at work on the lock chambers, on aqueducts or culverts to take the canal over streams, and bridges to carry roads or reconnect portions of farms divided by the cutting. Such accommodation bridges could be permanent brick or stone structures, but more often timber swing or lifting bridges in various designs.
