Fiona’s Fine Words
Trust supporter Fiona Rivers loves working outside. Originally, Fiona joined the Trust in winter 2015 to demonstrate and teach hedge-laying at Green Lane Farm between Pewsham and Studley.
Still in the Melksham, Calne and Chippenham (MCC) branch area, Fiona now volunteers mainly on the Pewsham section, working on all sorts of different tasks. She’s also involved in the monthly Pewsham Locks open days that run on the second Saturday from April to October, when MCC offer refreshments from the café, boat trips and tours of the site.
But Fiona has other talents. Following in the footsteps of her father, she writes an occasional poem. When Fiona first discovered the Wilts & Berks Canal, she read up on its history in Doug Small and L J Dalby’s books. Feeling inspired, Fiona wrote a poem about the canal and often reads it to Pewsham Locks visitors while they’re sitting having their coffee.
So – grab a cup of coffee and read on!
The Canal Story
The plan was made over two centuries ago
To build a level waterway, no current or flow.
They were carefully surveyed and built by hand
Around the contours of the land.
High on embankments and through cuttings deep
Locks were built where levels were steep.
Immigrant navvies worked along the line
Their dormitories now canal pubs selling beer and wine.
They were rough and tough and showed no fear
Fed on bread and cheese and very weak beer.
Pick, shovels and wooden barrows were their tools
Many died along the way, they worked harder than mules.
A network of canals were created in the UK
Much like the motorways we have today
Mass production was starting and transport was sought
These canals linked towns, cities and overseas from the port.
Quarries and brick kilns were built along the line
To supply the materials to build the structures so fine.
Lift and swing bridges, aqueducts, tunnels and locks
18th century engineering was like the inside of clocks.
Factories were built, huge were the bills
People moved from the country to work in the mills
And thus began the industrial revolution
And hence the beginning of global pollution.
Goods were transported by horse drawn barges
There were wharves and toll houses collecting the charges.
Whole families lived on these navigable waters
The working boat was their home too, for sons and daughters.
They carried wool, timber, iron, stone and coal
Thousands of people were in work, no one on the dole.
The canals were profitable and busy for years
Until the steam train came along and realised their fears
It was fast and efficient, it was here to stay
People could go to the seaside for a day
The railway bought canals in discount sales
The boats carried materials to build their rails
The canal was used as the railways bitch
The waterway became poorer, the railway got rich.
When railway mania hit countrywide
Many canals were abandoned or allowed to slide.
The boat tolls went up higher and higher
Till the seller was paying more than the buyer.
And so canal life went in to decline
With very few barges still using the line.
Eventually a whole way of life was destroyed
The canal folk redundant and made unemployed.
Some were filled in, or just left to rot
Dirty and smelly, an unsightly blot.
But in recent years they’ve been rebuilt and repaired
Some of the structures and canal bed were spared.
There are layers of ages in the structures you see
Different generations rebuilt things, sometimes for free
Run your fingers where the ropes have left grooves
Shut your eyes and you can hear the horse’s hooves.
Brought back to the present by cyclists and joggers
Texters and tweeters and internet bloggers.
But look at the water and the structures left behind
And you could be in the past if only in your mind.
The canal is still used but not for business, just pleasure
Not hard graft and transport, just travel and leisure.
Chugging along or moored to pitches
Middle aged, retired or water gypsies.
All the people have ties that bind
Narrow boats, wide eyes and open minds.
By Fiona Rivers