New Milton Advertiser 22nd Jan 2021

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Navvies: builders of our railways reflections by Nick Saunders

struction of the Channel Tunnel which stretched 31.5 miles and took six years to build. The direct line was finally opened on 5th March 1888. A special train with 150 guests rode from Waterloo to Bourne- mouth where speeches and a feast were held. The navvies moved on to the next construction project, al- though a number stayed on in the area working for the railway. Next time you take the train anywhere between Christchurch and Brocken- hurst, as you trundle over em- bankments, and bridges or dive through cuttings spare a thought for the navvies who, through sheer muscle power and determination overcame the odds to construct what turned out to be one of the most difficult stretches of rail- way line in England. For more information, Jude James’ book Treacle Mines, Tragedies and Triumphs is highly recommended, as is Philips Benstead’s article avail- able on the Milton Heritage So- ciety website. Nick Saunders BA (Hons) is a local historian and chairman of the Milton Heritage Society. He can be contacted via nick@ miltonheritagesociety.co.uk or 01425 618549.

MOST of us will have taken a train journey from Brocken- hurst to Bournemouth and beyond. However, do you give much thought to how the rail- way line was built, and at what cost? In Victorian times, railways became the new technology that revolutionised passenger and freight transport. It was a quick and reliable means of moving goods and people around the country. It became vital to the economy of the na- tion. The railway network expand- ed rapidly. In 1850 there were 6,621 miles of track and the railway companies employed 56,000 men in total. By 1900 there were 15,195 miles of track and 440,000 staff employed. Bournemouth was a fast-growing resort on the south coast. In 1870 the railway arrived and the town contin- ued to expand. The circuitous railway route from Brocken- hurst was known as Castle- man’s Corkscrew because of the twists and turns it took to make best use of the terrain across the Forest and to incorporate as many towns as possible to improve profitability. Need for a direct line The London and South West- ern Railway decided to con- struct a direct line which would cut across the Forest and con- nect from Lymington Junction to Christchurch and Bourne- mouth. The new route would be 10 miles in length, a reduction of eight-and-a-half miles on the existing Corkscrew line and would cut the journey time by 40 minutes. After much tricky negotia- tions with the Crown and other landowners along the route, an act of parliament granted ap- proval for building the railway. The construction company of Kellet and Bentley were offered the contract and, after a brief survey, work commenced in Au- gust 1884. Who were the navvies? The workmen were ‘navvies’ or navigators. They acquired their sobriquet from building canals. As these became super- seded by railways so the nav- vies moved to new construction contracts on the expanding railway networks. They were specialists who could tunnel through hills, bridge rivers, dig cuttings and raise embankments. They were usually employed on behalf of the construction companies by local ‘gangers’. The navvies would stay while the contract lasted, moving along the rail- way line until either the work came to an end or the prospect of higher wages lured them elsewhere. The navvies were often ac- companied by their wives or womenfolk and children. The navvies would try to get lodg- ings near to the worksite. It is recorded that navvies were in lodgings in Manchester Road and Brighton Road in Sway and in Ashley. When lodgings were not available, they would build en- campments. Occasionally these were provided by the construc- tion company. Sometimes the navvies created shanty towns themselves. There are newspaper and court records telling us of en- campments in Sway, Fern- hill Copse at New Milton and at Hinton. The Christchurch Times of 20th June 1885 reports that the Rural Sanitary Author- ity had inspected the navvies’ lodgings and found them to be overcrowded and insanitary. The Salisbury andWinchester Journal, dated 23rd July 1886, reports that an Elizabeth Beer, described as the “keeper of the navvy shanty at Arnewood” was prosecuted for selling ale with- out a licence. A plain-clothed police constable had bought some drink from her and later a search of the premises revealed a barrel of beer. Elizabeth was fined £10 and was further prose- cuted by the excise authorities. William Retford, the re- nowned violin bow-maker, was

sa struggling to raise the four children. Louisa had to take the construction company to court to wrest some compensa- tion from them. The company lawyer, a Mr Jackman, told the court that Whitcher was negli- gent and caused his own death. After a prolonged case the judge found in favour of Louisa and the company was ordered to pay them £150 in compensa- tion. The only surviving grave of a navvy is that of Frederick Wil- liam Clarke. He is buried in St Luke’s churchyard in Sway. He was killed at Sway on 30th Au- gust 1886 when the rail truck he was in overturned at speed and pitched Frederick out. In court the company denied the truck or brakes were defective. The judge disagreed, awarding Clarke’s widow £156. Other men suffered life-changing injuries including one young lad named Webber who lost a leg as a result of in- juries suffered while working on the line. He tried to claim £120 in compensation from the court but the contrition compa- ny lawyer, Mr Jackman, argued that Webber had commenced his case one day after the six- month deadline. The case was dismissed and Webber received no compensation. The newspapers of the time

report frequent accidents or fatalities. Phrases like “anoth- er fatal accident” or “this week two men were taken to hospital working on the line” were not uncommon. The records, while not com- plete, suggest that there were nine or 10 deaths in the con- struction of the line, nearly one death a mile. In contrast 10 men were killed during the con- The grave of Frederick William Clarke at St Luke’s Church Sway (Photo: Jude James)

Navvies started work on the Lymington-Christchurch line in August 1884

This added to the woes of the navvies as they were not paid, and some were literally starv- ing. The navvy mission and charitable locals helped the men to survive. It is noticeable in contem- porary newspaper reports that subsistence theft such as poaching and men caught sleeping rough was reported in this period. The firm of Joseph Firbank and Co, an experienced railway contractor, took over and work recommenced on 1st August 1885. The navvy mission Navvies were considered by many to be godless pagans who needed to be saved, especial- ly from the demon drink. The Navvy Mission Society set out to do just that. The society was run by lo- cal Christians. Mr West, a lay preacher, was the missionary to the navvies. Services were ini- tially held in a private house at Burton before a purpose-built tin hut was erected at the nav- vy camp at Hinton. This was described as being 30ft-by-12ft and wood-lined. The interior was decorated with temper- ance posters, religious pictures and scripture texts. The hut was officially opened in February 1886 by Mrs Eliza- bet Garnett who was a champi- on for the navvies and produced a magazine ‘The Quarterly Let- ter to the Navvies’ which kept them up to date on the latest engineering contracts where jobs were available and gave a voice to the navvies’ concerns. It also provided spiritual guidance. This indicates that the navvies were literate to some extent. In addition to the mission hut at Hinton there was another at Sway. The Christchurch Times of 4th June 1887 reports that an in- quest into the death of Charles Young, a navvy killed at Sway station, was held there. Wherever navvies worked there were dangers and risks. The direct line was no excep- tion. It went through some extremely difficult terrain in the Forest and across the river Avon. It cut across the natural line of drainage from the higher ground of the Forest. The area between Sway and New Milton was extremely haz- ardous with yellow waterlogged clay causing embankments and cuttings to slip. Weeks of work could be un- done in a few hours as the ground gave way. The navvies trudged back to their lodgings in Sway covered in thick yellow mud. This gave rise to the legend of the Sway Treacle Mines as the navvies told the locals that they had been working in them. Mechanical diggers were of no use in these conditions so all excavation had to be done by hand. Diggers were more suc- cessfully employed at the other end of the line. Accidents and fatalities Numerous accidents were re- ported in the local papers dur- ing the construction of the line. One of the first fatalities was a local man, Alfred Whitcher from Bashley. He was an agricultural labourer, desperate to improve

his lot with a growing family to support. He tried his hand as a nav- vy. Soon after starting work he was killed at Newhooks cutting at Arnewood when the earth slipped on to him during a night shift on 22nd April 1885. Al- though his colleagues dug him out quickly, he had suffocated in the clay. His death left his wife Loui-

born in a cottage beside Ashley Road in June 1875. He record- ed his memories of growing up during the 1880s. He wrote: “Navvies were hard-working, harmless men, earning about four shillings a day. Some lived in hutments of wood at Fernhill, some roamed the lanes, often hungry, picking blackberries from the hedges. Others, craftsmen, obtained lodgings with local people, and much of their spare time was spent in the pubs that were open all day.” Some idea of the accommo- dation available to the men on the Bournemouth direct line can be found through Violet Hawke, the daughter of navvy John Cook. She recalled later construction sites, galvanised iron huts with men at one end, women at the other and a com- munal living area in the middle. John Cook had walked from Tetbury in Gloucester to get work on the line. He started courting Rosa England from Southampton. They were mar- ried in Lymington. Violet was born in 1888, beside the railway line at Sway. After finishing on the Bourne- mouth line the family moved to Manchester where John worked on the Manchester ship canal. John was advanced from navvy- ing to metal working. This skill he brought with him when the family moved back to New Mil- ton and set up a forge in the old village close by the George Inn. The gangers would also em- ploy locals, usually farm work- ers, to act as labourers on site. At the time of construction of the direct line there was a de- pression in farming. Agricul- tural labourers’ wages were low and the navvies’ higher pay was tempting. They could ex- pect to earn 3-4 shillings a day, far above that of an agricultur- al labourer. However, navvies worked hard for that money, of- ten at great risk. The contractors would bring up food and drink to the nav- vies and sell it to them. The men would have 2lb of beef and a gallon of beer a day. This sys- tem was called ‘truck’. The pay- ment for food and drink would be deducted from the men’s wages. Often the food was of poor quality and the beer over- priced. The contractors usually made a tidy profit from over- charging the workers. The navvies would be paid at the end of each month. They would drink their pay away over several days, even selling their shovels to pay for more drink. These events, known as ‘ran- dies’ usually ended in fighting and appearances in court. The Hop Pole Inn located in Chap- el Lane, Sway, had a notorious reputation and was a favourite watering hole of the navvies. The magistrates and police urged the contractors to pay the navvies weekly. The con- tractors rejected this idea as it might encourage the men to save or spend their money on cheaper, locally sourced food and drink. It also meant writ- ing up four lots of payment ac- counts a month instead of one. Just under a year after work commenced, the firm of Kellet and Bentley became bankrupt. Work ceased on 30th June 1885.

John Cook on the left with his son beside him and grandson Tony on the right

The Newhooks cutting where navvies Clark and Whitcher were killed (Photo via Jude James)

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The Hop Pole Inn at Sway was a popular watering hole for navvies