£5 Book here

Navvies built canals and railways all over Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We still use the tunnels and cuttings, viaducts, dams, drainage and sewage systems they constructed. They were hard men, noted for their high wages, love of beer, fighting, recklessness and ... love of life.

With money in their pockets and a wide experience of travel and adventure, the girls found their charms irresistible, and local boys their fists equally irresistible! Towns and villages across Britain were changed forever by the experience of a visitation from the railway navvies.

Talk by Kevin Harrison, followed by a Q&A.

This is the first in a programme of talks by the Portico Library with History Unlimited to explore historical events, people and landcsapes in more detail