West
Vale Branch |
|
|
The
first specific reference to wages paid to labourers is found in the day
book on March 7th 1772 where £7 6s 8d was paid to Robert Parkinson for
day labourers. However on November 2nd 1771 there is a reference to "£10
6s 0d being spent amongst the men" which I assume is for wages. "The
Day Book of the Bradford Canal Committee 1771-1776" is a very useful
and valuable primary resource as to the economics behind the building of
the Bradford Canal. The "Minutes of the Bradford Canal Committee
1771-1815" are a valuable primary resource as to the personnel,
finance and problems that the canal company faced, but they are not as
legibly written as the day book and are difficult to read. Abraham
Balme's diary is also a very useful resource as to why and how the
Bradford Canal was built. By analysing some of the entries in his diary it
is possible to come to the conclusion that the men who cut the canal were
paid between 1s a day and 15s a week in wages. On
the 31st October 1772 Abraham Balme made a very interesting entry in his
diary which records that the men digging Sprinkwell Lock were paid 12s 6d
for ale because they were "working in the water". According to
this diary bribing the men building the canal with ale, the "Navvies",
was a common occurrence. The
cost of making the tow path is recorded in Mr Balme's diary as being 2s 6d
a rood and the total length was 278 1/2 roods so it can be worked out that
the total cost of making the tow path was £34 16s 3d. There
are many entries in Mr Balme's diary that refer to Bradford Canal one of
these entries that is backed up by further evidence refers to a bridge at
the paper mill. The entry read, "Mr Balme paid on 30th June 1774 to
Jeremy Kitson on behalf of the people of Idle £1 1s 0d being for
subscription for the bridge at the paper mill and £5 5s 0d for making the
road from the same over the Cragg ... ". This
bridge and road is refered to in a letter from 1772 entitled "Canal
Through Idle and Eccleshill" which discussed all the inconveniences
of a canal. The letter raised eight points of disadvantage and the cost by
whom for these disadvantages of building the canal. Points five and six
refer to the bridge and the road over the hill. The points from the letter
read as follows: i)
This discusses what price is to paid for having a canal. In
order for the canal to be built landowners at either side of the canal had
to be compensated under the terms that were laid down in the canal Act. In
some cases this was leased and in other cases the land was compulsory
purchased, usually after the original landowner had died. The
land at Hoppy Bridge was frequently flooded by the beck and the land at
Windhill Cragg was wasteland both of which were easily purchased. As for
the rest the canal day book records various entries for damage, rent or
purchase of land. On
27th November 1771 John Savigemson was paid 3s 9 1\2d for damage done to
his land due to the building of the canal. Could this be the same man who
wrote the lettercomplaining
about the canal we shall never know as the letter was unsigned. On
December 24th 1771 Mr Redshaw was paid £60 for the purchase of his land.
On 16th May 1772 John Denbigh was paid £100 for the purchase of his land.
Which was an average amount for compensation at this time. This is the
same John Denbigh who supplied the wood that was used in the building of
the canal. The
total cost of the completion of the canal is recorded in the canal day
book as being £9,424 14s 2d. This was £3,500 more than was originally
intended. This further amount of money was raised by a mortgage of £3,000
that had to be paid back at an interest of 5% which was the usual mortgage
rate at that time. By 1792 the canal had become so profitable that it was
able to pay an interest of 7% back on the mortgage. It
is difficult to say when the canal actually opened as there are no
newspaper recordings of the event. Its opening was probably over shadowed
by the opening of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Priestly (PRIESTLY 1969 P
85) states that the Bradford Canal was finished in 1774. The Bradford
Canal was no good on its own so it was probably opened shortly after or at
the same time as the ceremonial opening of the Skipton to Thackley branch
of the Leeds and Liverpool which took place on the 21st March 1774. As
soon as the canal was opened trade began on it and new mills and
industries sprang up in and around the then village of Bradford.
"Abraham Balme's Diary" on the 7th September 1774 records the
loading of a barge called the "Good Intent" The
rates of tonnage on the canal were as follows: "Clay, Bricks, Stone,
Coal, Lime, Dung & Manure 6d per ton",
"Timber, Goods, Wares, Merchandise or other commodities 9d per
ton". (PRIESTLY 1969 P 85) Priestly
(PRIESTLY 1969 P.85) states if these goods remained on the company's canal
wharf for more than 24 hours the canal company was entitled to wharfage
which they had to agree upon. "The Byelaws of the Bradford Canal
Committee (1778) state they charged 1\2d per stone for the first category
clay etc and 3d per ton for the second category". The
fact that Priestly (PRIESTLY 1969 P.85) states that no boats of less than
twenty tons were allowed on the canal unless they paid the rate of tonnage
for twenty tons indicates that the canal must have been heavily used to
have to limit it to burdens of twenty tons or more. In order to receive
these tolls lock keepers cottages were built on all the locks.
"Abraham Balme's Diary" records the building of lock keepers
cottages from August 1774. There
are no records as to the trade that was carried on the canal, but pieces
of information about the trade that was carried on the canal can be
obtained from the Bradford Lime Kiln Company Records. There were only two
share holders of this company who did not have shares in the canal. The
other nine shareholders had shares in the Bradford Canal and three of them
had shares in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company as well. "The
Bradford Lime Kiln Company Journal 1774-1797" makes many entries to
transport and tonnage on the canal. It states that limestone was brought
from Skipton and Craven via the canal to Bradford where it was burnt with
coal. This Journal also makes several references to coal being transported
on the canal and in "Abraham Balme's Diary" there are references
to "bags of coal" being transported on the canal. In 1779 the
Lime Kiln Company Journal refers to different tonnages of coal that must
have been transported on the canal. Priestly (PRIESTLY 1969 P.85) states that the area of Bradford was awash with flag paving stones, coal and beds of iron-stone which without the canal it would have been very difficult to transport these articles to "various parts of the Country". He said, "The extensive iron works at Bowling and Wibsey, Low Moor, and others ... may, in a great measure, be said to have been founded, or at least greatly enlarged, in consequence of the facility which the canal afforded, by its connection with the Leeds and Liverpool canal for the conveyance of their castings to all parts of the kingdom". Trams were built from these foundries to link with the canal which made the carrying of these goods to the canal much easier. Priestly (PRIESTLY 1969 P 86) states that these goods eventually found there way to the markets in London. Priestly
(PRIESTLY 1969 P 86) further states that "Since Bradford became then
the centre of stuff manufacture and principal market for it, wool is also
become a considerable article of traffic upon the navigation". Until
1800 trade on the canal was mainly in lime, stone, coal, timber and other
bulk goods. After 1800 the trade in cloth on the canal became important. Firth (FIRTH 1990) states that it was not wool but coal that was at the heart of Bradford's success in the Industrial Revolution. Within a few decades Bradford grew from a small village to a very large, overcrowded and smelly industrial town. Bradford canal and it's link to the Leeds and Liverpool helped to bring about Bradford's industrial revolution as it was the first cheap and economic way of transporting large quantities of bulk goods such as coal, but it was steam power that was the real reason behind Bradford's growth. The canal allowed the easy and efficient transport of these newly made goods. Although the canal brought prosperity to the town it also brought it's own problems. From the very beginning Bradford Canal had problems with it's water supply, for as the town grew Bradford Beck became an open sewer and as this beck was the chief water supply the canal stank and its methane gas spontaneously combusted. Even in 1888 when water from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was used to supply Bradford Canal, the cost proved to great as the cost of pumping water back was £8 and the tolls were only a few pence. Bradford Canal is almost unique in the fact that it closed in 1922 while still navigable. For most other canals have closed because they were already unused and derelict. It was not the railway that closed Bradford Canal but the door to door delivery service of a lorry. © Christine Kendall 1990 |
|
You are visitor