Starvationer at Ellesmere Port Canal Museum

Legging is a method of moving a boat through a canal tunnel or

adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adit ...

containing water. This method of navigating through canal tunnels and adits was commonly used in canal tunnels during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Legging in canal tunnels

Tunnel Entrance Gates at Diggle - geograph

Early

canal tunnels The Canal Tunnels are a pair of single track railway tunnels in north London which connect the East Coast Main Line to London St Pancras International Thameslink. Their name comes from the Regent's Canal, which they pass closely beneath. Con ...

were built without a

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport w ...

as this would require a much larger bore, and hence cost more to build. Prior to the introduction of motorised boats, legging was one of the few options for getting a boat through such a tunnel. Two people were required. They would lie on a plank across the bows of the boat, and holding the plank with their hands, would propel the boat with their feet against the tunnel wall. This was quite a dangerous activity and resulted in many deaths. In later years 'wing' boards were hooked on to the boat to make the operation safer. At Crimson Hill tunnel, alternate stones in the walls were recessed to provide better tread for the leggers. While the boat was being legged through the tunnel, the horse would be led over the hill. On short tunnels the legging was done by the boat owner and crew. At long tunnels, professional leggers were available, such as at Blisworth Tunnel and

Dudley Tunnel Dudley Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Dudley Canal Line No 1, England. At about long, it is now the second longest canal tunnel on the UK canal network today. ( Standedge Tunnel is the longest, at , and the Higham and Strood tunnel is now ...

. At the 3 mile long Standedge Tunnel expert leggers could get an empty boat through in 1 hour 20 minutes, taking 3 hours with a full load, for which they were paid 1s 6d. At Blisworth the boatmen were often terrorised into employing leggers, so in 1827 the leggers were registered and issued with brass armlets for identification. At Standedge Tunnel, the use of official leggers eventually became a requirement for passage. At Morwellham, boatmen were said to have pushed against the tunnel roof. This tunnel has a considerable flow of water through it, and progress was very slow in one direction.Hedges, Carolyn. "The Tavistock Canal", Dartington Amenity Research Trust, 1975

Berwick Tunnel Berwick Tunnel is a canal tunnel located on the Shrewsbury Canal, Shropshire, England, UK. History The Shrewsbury Canal connected Shrewsbury to the Wombridge Canal, and provided a way to supply the people of Shrewsbury with coal at reasonabl ...

on the

Shrewsbury Canal The Shrewsbury Canal (or Shrewsbury and Newport Canal) was a canal in Shropshire, England. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 183 ...

, opened in 1797 was the first tunnel to be built with a towpath, negating the need for legging. Legging was also the main form of propulsion used in the man-made adits in Speedwell Cavern until the boats were given electric motors. Sometimes the guide will switch off the boat's engine and leg along the roof of the cave to demonstrate how the boats used to be worked by miners. They got paid £11.05 in today's money.

Canal Tunnels known to use leggers

* Blisworth Tunnel * Braunston Tunnel * Butterley Tunnel *

Greywell Tunnel Greywell Tunnel is a disused tunnel on the Basingstoke Canal near Greywell in Hampshire, which is now a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. History Construction of the canal had been authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1778, ...

Harecastle Tunnel Harecastle Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal in Staffordshire between Kidsgrove and Tunstall. The tunnel, which is long, was once one of the longest in the country. Its industrial purpose was for the transport of coal ...

s. Note: only the old

James Brindley James Brindley (1716 – 27 September 1772) was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century. Early life Born i ...

tunnel *

Islington Tunnel The Islington Tunnel takes the Regent's Canal under Angel, Islington, as the longest such tunnel in London. The way for short boats and barges only opened in 1818; the pavements above are waymarked so the otherwise discontinued towpaths are co ...

Lapal Tunnel The Lapal Tunnel (old spelling Lappal Tunnel) is a disused canal tunnel on the five mile dry section of the Dudley No. 2 Canal in the West Midlands, England. It takes its name from the settlement of Lapal. History The narrow brick-lined tun ...

Maida Hill Tunnel Maida Hill Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Regent's Canal in London, England. The two other tunnels on the Regent's Canal are Islington Tunnel and Eyre's Tunnel. History The Regent's Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in July 1812. Th ...

* Morwell Down Tunnel *

Norwood Tunnel Norwood Tunnel was a , and brick (3 million of them) lined canal tunnel on the line of the Chesterfield Canal with its Western Portal in Norwood, Derbyshire and its Eastern Portal in Kiveton, South Yorkshire, England. Origins The Chesterfie ...

Sapperton Canal Tunnel The Sapperton Canal Tunnel is a tunnel on the Thames and Severn Canal near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. With a length of , it was the longest tunnel of any kind in England from 1789 to 1811. Construction, following an Act of Parli ...

* Standedge Tunnel *

Worsley Navigable Levels The Worsley Navigable Levels are an extensive series of coal mines in Worsley in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. They were worked largely by the use of underground canals (the navigable levels) and boats called starvationers ...

References

External links

''Towpaths in Tunnels''
List of canal tunnels, lengths and towpath status. Accessed 17 September 2007. {{refend