Acknowledgement to "The London Canal Museum " for this Article.
Canal Families
The first working narrow boats were drawn by a horse walking on the canal towpath led by a crew member, often a child. Narrow boats were chiefly designed for carrying cargo, though there were some packet boats, carrying passengers, letters, and parcels.
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Boatmen's families originally lived ashore, but in the 1830s as canals started to feel competition from the new railways, the families took up home afloat - partly because they could no longer afford rents, partly to provide extra hands to work the boats harder, faster and further, and partly to keep families together.
The rear portion of the boat became the "boatman's cabin", famous for its space-saving ingenuity and for its interior made attractive by a warm stove, a steaming kettle, gleaming brass, fancy lace, painted houswares, and decorated plates. Although such descriptions rarely consider the actual comfort of a large family working an extremely hard and long day, and sleeping in the one tiny cabin, it is no doubt true that at the time there were many workers in harder, indoor, trades with less healthy conditions and worse accommodation where the family were separated for long hours rather than being together all day. Nonetheless it was impossible for such mobile families to send their children to school, and most boat people remained illiterate and ostracised by those living 'on the bank'.
Cargo-carrying by narrow boat was almost extinguished as a way of life between 1945 and 1965. A few people are doing their best to keep the tradition alive, mostly by "one-off" deliveries rather than regular runs, or by selling goods such as coal to other boaters.
By the latter part of the 19th century it was common practice to paint roses and castles on both narrow boats themselves and their fixtures and fittings. The origin of the roses and castles found on canal boats is unclear. The first written reference to them appears to be in an 1858 edition of the magazine Household Words in one of a series of articles titled "On the Canal" but while this shows that the art form must have existed by this date it doesn't provide us with an origin.. Until further evidence comes to light, the origin of the paintings remains uncertain. While the practice did decline with the canals it has seen something of a revival in recent times and paintings with roses and castle themes are a common sight on today's canals.
Reg.
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