Small Touches of History
By Ron Rybs
@Ronrybs (21497)
London, England
September 21, 2020 10:16am CST
In my last post I briefly touched on canals and Judy Evans (@JudyEv) mentioned that horses were used to move the canal boats along.
Horses, with long tow ropes, did indeed pull the boats along, these journey being smoother and quicker than the potholed, unpaved, roads which existed at the time. Expensive and fragile goods, such as china ware would arrive unbroken… mostly. One horse could pull a cart and cargo totalling about one ton, whereas on the canal the same horse could pull a boat and cargo of around six tons.
The left photo shows a bridge over an inlet to a dock, about a mile from where I live. This where the Paddington packet boat would pick up passengers for the trip to London. Not in the shot is the Paddington Packet Boat pub where you could whet your whistle as you waited.
The middle and right photos show the grooves cut, into the stonework of the bridge, by the tow ropes. As the ropes would get thoroughly soaked and then picked up grit and small gravel it would become very abrasive and over a 150 years, or so, you can imagine the damage done to anything the rope rubbed against.
Anywhere the original stone and brickwork hasn’t been replaced you can find these grooves, from the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
I do like these ‘touchable’ pieces of history and the innocuous places they can be found.
8 people like this
7 responses
@LadyDuck (502573)
• Italy
21 Sep 20
Just like you, I like to look at "touchable" pieces of history. I hope we continue to conserve for the future generations what were the techniques of the past. May be they will come handy again in a near future. Less technology, would be good for our planet.
3 people like this
@LadyDuck (502573)
• Italy
23 Sep 20
@Ronrybs I fully agree with you and this is one reason why I am all for printer material. We do not know for how many years a magnetic medium could last... surely NOT centuries. If we only have kindle books nothing will be left for the future generations.
2 people like this
@FayeHazel (40230)
• United States
22 Sep 20
Wow such history. I can't imagine how that must have worked, but good thought, the horse could pull so much more easily this way.
3 people like this
@Ronrybs (21497)
• London, England
24 Sep 20
@FayeHazel Camden, in north London, has a huge stable just for horses that worked on the canals. Now it is full of trendy shops and eateries.
2 people like this
@FayeHazel (40230)
• United States
23 Sep 20
@Ronrybs To think of a time when seeing horses used as transportation must have seemed common place
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
21 Sep 20
Such precision cutting there Ron. I never noticed those. Thanks for sharing with us.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382240)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Sep 20
The book I have about the canals is called The Horse on the Cut by Donald J Smith. The photo on the cover shows a bridge much like your photo. I love the ancient houses where, over hundreds of years, stone steps have been worn down by thousands of feet. Thanks for the mention too.
3 people like this
@JudyEv (382240)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Sep 20
@Ronrybs Canals were an easy way of moving produce when the roads were so bad - as you said. This is the Canal du Midi near Poilhes in France. I doubt they used horses on this one though. lol
I couldn't get my head around the 'ancientness' of everything when I first went overseas. Australia has nothing like it. Being colonised by the English is as far back as we go. No Vikings, Celts, Romans for us!! 
2 people like this
@Ronrybs (21497)
• London, England
22 Sep 20
I am quite fascinated by the canal system and have several books about them and their history. Also near by are several brick earth pits and brick kilns that were closely linked to the canals. The brick works date back to Elizabethan times, whilst the canals are from the 18 century.
2 people like this
