Life on The Cut

Britain is blessed with a unique 2000-mile network of Georgian- and Regency-era canals – the vast majority built in a golden age that stretched from 1760 to 1840 when the Industrial Revolution was just finding its way. Indeed it was these canals that made it possible, connecting mill towns and coal fields and the great cities and seaports, and along the way transforming the nation. More than 200 years later, they are still flourishing  – no longer as vital transport arteries but as home to a floating community of canal dwellers, of which I am one. Indeed there are more boats on the inland waterways now than there were even at the height of the Industrial Revolution. For some, particularly in the London area, it’s a matter of cheap housing, for many others, such as myself it is a refuge from all that’s small and mean and rushed and unpleasant about the 2ist century.

It is a different world on the canals – a parallel universe than moves along at an unhurried 18th century pace ofd two or three miles an hour, through some of the loveliest countryside in Britain and into the gritty urban heartlands of its biggest cities. As I travel slowly along the canals, living and working aboard a 58-foot narrowboat, I’ve been photographing life,”on the cut” to use an old boatman’s phrase. Here is a collection of images from this on-going project. Click on image to enlarge.