The Black Country is famous for it's canals or 'cuts' as they are known. As in'weer ave yow bin?'
'I've bin fishin fer Jack Bannocks in the cut.'
Translated as 'Where have you been?'
'I've been fishing for small fish in the canal.'
Canals were a vital transport system when the Black Country got it's name. They were used for shifting coal, iron, clay, bricks and any other number of goods around the area. Birmingham has more canals than Venice.
The Black Country is very hilly and many great engineering projects were built so that the narrowboats (barges) with their cargoes could move around.
This involved the building of the locks. Locks are used almost like rooms to adjust the levels of the water so the boat can move from one part of the canal to another. The picture is of the Nine locks, which isn't far from me.
1 comment:
When I was little, we used to go looking for sticklebacks and Natterjack toads in the Wyrle & Essington 'cut', Nell.
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