Oh, I am an old navvy and I work on the line.
And the last place I worked was Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Well, I'll tell me misfortune it happened in fun.
Oh, it happened one night I'd me navvy boots on.
-Navvy Boots
In a time when the British countryside is covered by roads and rail lines it can be hard to imagine that the vast embankments, cuttings and tunnels were all dug by hand with nothing but shovels, picks, determination and dynamite. This was accomplished by the navvies. A divisive people valued for their hard work but shunned for their vices. From windswept moors to hills and valleys shrouded by mist and coal smoke. Roving camps of men and women living under rain sagged roofs in tents and shanties. Moving with the line they forged a path through the British countryside. In our recreation of one such camp you can see how the navvies lived far away from the unyielding rigours of polite society and experience the daily lives of a people who works remains all around us while their culture and traditions have faded from memory.
