The railway navvy is an elusive and rather obscure figure for the family and community historian. He is traditionally regarded as a single, hard-working, hard-drinking, hardfighting Irishman who was a perpetual outsider, isolated from the communities in his working neighbourhood. This article examines these stereotypes through a study of the navvy community engaged in building the Dore and Chinley railway line, linking Sheffield and Manchester, between 1888 and 1894. In addition to reviewing the composition of the navvy workforce, the relationship between the navvies and the resident communities is also examined. The analysis rests primarily on data from the 1891 census but also uses evidence from several other sources, including newspaper reports, parish registers, school records and local authority records.
This article is based on the examination of wills made by residents of the parish of Selston over the period 1550-16515). The major features examined here include inheritance custom and practice, providing clues to relationships within the family; the type and pattern of bequests made to kin and non-kin, giving some indication of the respective importance of family and community; and through analysis of the individuals appointed as witnesses and supervisors, the roles played by the wider community, particularly the leading figures of clergy and gentry. Findings suggest a significant change in community relationships after the end of the sixteenth century with a greater emphasis on the nuclear family together with a more detached attitude towards church, clergy, and the wider communal responsibilities such as provision for the poor.
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