Boat Families of the Grand Junction Canal One-Place Study

Boat Families of the Grand Junction Canal – a One Place Study that is really stretching the definition of one place. The Grand Junction Canal stretched from Brentford in Middlesex to Braunston in Northamptonshire, and was fully opened in 1805 when the Blisworth Tunnel was finally completed. It linked to several other canal arms, all owned by different companies. Over time, those companies merged or were bought out and in 1929 almost the entire network across the Midlands became known as the Grand Union Canal. The numerous different canal arms and branches means that your boat family could be anywhere in the Midlands. It turns out that the Grand Junction Canal was really just a starting point for my research, and I would have been more accurate in calling my study Boat Families of the Midlands.

Boat families were close knit and insular, often marrying within the community. They had their own style of dress, music, artwork, and their own way of life. Marginalised by society in the later years of boat trade, with the new laws restricting their way of life, there was a time when it was considered shameful to have been born on a boat. Fortunately that stigma is long gone, and the descendants of those families, like myself, are working hard to trace our boat family ancestors and remember them.

As part of this one place study, I am working on transcribing Census returns, and baptism and marriage records. I am using the historic counties and within those you will find the villages and towns along the canal. This is very much a work in progress because it is a huge task, so check back regularly to see if I’ve added anything new. Any research or posts that are relevant to Long Buckby Wharf will also appear on that website, so if you’ve visited that site some of my work will be familiar.