Good roots run deep

This morning, volunteers from the Canal & River Trust showed a group of children in Years 1 and 2 Brentford Gauging Lock.

The children learnt that over 250 years ago there were no cars, trucks, trains or aeroplanes. Instead, canal boats carried goods from one place to another. Horses were used to pull canal boats that weighed 50,000 kg along the Grand Union Canal.

In the 1700s, large families lived in a tiny area of a canal boat. It was the children’s job to walk the horse along the tow path all the way to Birmingham 200 miles away. The journey took a week.

The children were very excited to see the lock being opened. They also saw the Boatman’s Institute, which was a school for the children of boatmen.

Thank you so much to the volunteers and parents who came with us. The parents said afterwards that they had learnt a lot of history about their local area.

If you would like to see more photos, click here to visit the gallery.