CE20_p76_p77_Cotswold Canals 11/8/2009 17:02 Page 1
History Cotswold canals
George Gleed was simply doing his job when he made
Cotswolds history early in the last century. Cotswold Essence
talked to his grandson to find out more.
Words by Sue Bradley
Pictures by Richard Pasco
once famous for being the longest tunnel a bargeman called Pegler had a row
I
T WAS a tough life on
the Cotswold canals but
in the world. It is still the third longest. with his wife and dumped her there.
Described by The Times as a She had to be picked up by the next
one particular day in “remarkable work of inland navigation”, barge to come through!
1911 proved to be
the tunnel was mined with the aid of 25 “Water levels were always a
vertical shafts that were sunk between problem for the canal: once when the
particularly testing for
Coates and Sapperton: the resulting water level dropped my grandfather’s
bargeman George William
mounds of spoil were planted with beech boat went aground and he spent two
Gleed.
trees to make them more attractive and nights and a day stuck mid way
are still visible today. through the tunnel before there was
George was on his way to Stroud in his
Canals played an important role in the sufficient water to refloat the boat
vessel “Waterlily” to deliver five tonnes of
continuing economic growth of the again.”
timber that he had brought down from
Cotswolds in the 18th and 19th Centuries George the bargeman delivered a
Birmingham and was just about to enter
as they enabled materials, such as wool variety of materials, such as Bristol
the Sapperton Tunnel when he received
and timber, to be transported quickly and Blue Stone for road making in
the news that it had been closed the week
cheaply. But the growing dominance of Lechlade and timber.
before.
the steam train, and, particularly in the His longest trip, lasting three weeks,
The tunnel, which ran underground for
case of the Thames and Severn, the involved setting off towards London
two and a quarter miles between
problem of water retention, brought to join the Oxford Canal and going
Sapperton and Coates, was a key stretch
about their demise by the 1930s. on to Birmingham with a load of
of the canal and bargemen usually
“My grandfather worked for Smart’s wheat before returning via Gloucester
needed the assistance of water pumps
Barges for 30 years,” said George, who with a load of coal.
and “leggers” – men who were paid to lie
lives in Chalford. “Time meant nothing to them in
on the vessels and walk against the walls -
“He would have passed through the those days,” said George. “They
to aid their passage.
Sapperton Tunnel six times a week on would be on the barge until the job
Unfortunately for George the leggers
occasions. was done.
had long gone so, after locating and
“He used to tell me that it was terrible “My grandfather said it was a
turning on the pumps to ensure a
if a steam train went through the other healthy and interesting life when there
sufficient level of water, he set about
tunnel while he was in the Sapperton was plenty to do.
pushing his vessel through the tunnel with
tunnel: it was like thunder. “Grandfather couldn’t read or write
the aid of a pole. Meanwhile his 15-year-
“Another story is that there is a small but he had a marvellous memory.
old son, George, walked along the
wharf in the tunnel that was known to “He died just over an hour before
towpath with the pony that normally
the bargemen as ‘Pegler’s Wharf ’ because his wife in June 1955 after more than
pulled the barge.
sixty years of marriage. Between them
“It usually took two or more hours for
they had eight children who produced
the leggers to take barges through the
14 grandchildren.”
tunnel so it would have been long, hard
The entrance and exits of the
work for my grandfather,” said his
Sapperton Tunnel can still be seen but
grandson, who continued the family
the structure is now impassable as
tradition by being named George.
part of it caved in several years ago.
“Really poling was frowned upon
George has been watching the
because it was feared it would damage
gradual restoration of the canal with
the canal bed but in this instance my
interest but he would prefer the work
grandfather had no other choice, and it
to end at Brimscombe.
wasn’t as if anybody else was going to use
“The old canal is a haven of
the tunnel again.”
wildlife from Brimscombe to
George’s hard work earned him a place
Sapperton,” he said.
in the history books as the last man to
“I think it should be left as part of
take a barge through the Sapperton
history.”
Tunnel.
The structure, completed in just four
years and used from April 1789, provided
a key link in the Thames and Severn
Canal for more than a century and was
76 COTSWOLDESSENCE | SEPTEMBER ~ NOVEMBER 2009
www.cotswoldessence.co.uk
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