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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cambridgeshire => Topic started by: michael4210 on Sunday 31 October 21 08:06 GMT (UK)
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Hello,
I have an ancestor who said he had worked on the 'Muck Boats' in the Ely general area in 1840s & 1850s. I am wondering if anyone can help me find out about Muck boats? Would they have been transporting manure or fertilizer?
Thank you,
Michael
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There's a couple of references to 'Muck Boats' via Google Search. One describes Steam Muck Boats, on the Manchester Ship Canal, that transported sewerage. Another describes Dublin Canal Boats carrying clay and gravel.
I assume for the period mentioned, 1840s/50s, that the Ely Muck Boats operated on the Great Ouse, probably powered by sail, and probably carrying similar commodities as mentioned above.
http://heritageboatassociation.ie/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=186&Itemid=64
https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/threads/the-manchester-muck-boats.39704/
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Perhaps boats that dredged to keep the slow flowing rivers free of silt .
There is fenland in that area,very flat .
People hunted waterfowl and eels for eating.
There are special flat bottomed boats for the purpose.
Viktoria..
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Is the term "Muck Boats" on the 1841 and 1851 census?
Is the ancestors occupation either:
lighterman
waterman
bargeman
etc.
Tony
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Hello,
Thank you for the responses.
The term 'muck boat' was not used in the Census but is in some personal correspondence. In the 1851 census he was described as a fisherman. I did wonder if 'muck boat' was a common term for a fishing boat but it didn't seem quite right.
The explanations above seem more in keeping with my notion of 'muck' but I don't know what terms were in use locally for the different types of boat.
Thanks again
Michael
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In my opinion, a muck boat would have cleared weeds as well as silt from the waterways.
I.E. all the muck that prevented free flowing of the working boats.
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Yes of course, and the reeds were sometimes woven into baskets like the narrow pointed ones which were eel traps .
In Lincoln there is a museum by the river where the various crafts and trades were explained and an enormous duck gun .
A bit out of the town centre .
Near where we stayed ,I was on a FH quest ,to Pinchbeck Fen.
Wonder if there are still Herons and Cranes there?
Viktoria.
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Something of a guess this, but it fits the facts known to me. I would think that the muck is raw sewage as already stated, referred to in other parts of the country as "night soil" and transferred to its final resting place by a variety of means, which I shall touch on shortly. In this case I would guess the sewage would be collected by horse and cart, taken to a quayside and loaded onto an open barge for conveyance to the Wash, I imagine since this was an essential daily operation which could not be dependant on wind and sail that the barges were originally horse drawn, later replaced by steam power, and possibly later on diesel. The Wash was and still is to an extent extremely polluted and a variety of shellfish like mussels are banned for human consumption. I must be lucky, ate loads of them during rasioning in the 1940s and early 50s, fresh boiled straight off the boats!!
On to the transport of sewage this from the Tinsley/Rotherham/Sheffield area, prior to the giant seage works at Tinsley. The night soil was loaded onto a train in a siding at Ickles, and taken nightly to Toton for disposal in the Trent!!The train was quite notorious (known as the Ickles sh*t train)
It was the fastest scheduled freight train in the timetable, ran 365 days a year; it was the only train in the UK at that time where the guard was allowed to travel on the footplate with the driver and fireman instead of in a brakevan at the rear. Probably would never have survived.
I know that sewage is still transported around the country, on the Terrace at the House of Lords overlooking the Thames, tranquility is spoiled several times an hour by the passing of a barge full of the stuff en route for dumping in the Thames estuary. I am told that Southend on Sea is known locally as Southend on mud, except it isn't mud, think about it!
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Thank you for this information.
My choices now are sewage, manure or mud/weeds from the canals.