andrewmorley

Alan. My Mum's family, the Paxtons, are from Blisworth about 30 miles up the Grand Union from Tring. I was doing someresearch a couple of years ago and couldn't find any trace if them in Blisworth before 1801 until I found one who was described in the 1851 census as a canal carrier which got me thinking as to whether the family arrived eighths canal. There has always been a suggestion that we have an Irish connection so maybe they arrived as navvies. I'm not entirely sure what a 'canal carrier' might have been but I'm guessing the ancestor I've found was not a boatman as he would not have been listed on the census living in his own house. Could he have carried goods from the canal to local villages perhaps?

Does anyone have any information about what boats were used on the Edinburgh Union Canal during its working days. I know working ceased in the 1930s and that horses were used right up until then but would like to know if engines were used to any great extent, whether the boats were modelled on the English narrowboat style. There is plenty of information around about the puffers used on the Forth and Clyde and Crinan Canals as well as the larger, sea-going craft on the Caledonian, but very little about the Union Canal.