Photograph details

© Transport for London
Collection of London Transport Museum
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A canal barge on the canal at Uxbridge.

Photographed by Kodak, 1920 - 1925

Location: Uxbridge

Image no: 1288

Inventory no: 2005/2596

20th Century London caption: A woman and two children take a canal barge through a lock near Uxbridge, possibly Widewater Lock at Harefield. A third, younger child is sitting on the top of the boat. This is a 'wide-boat', 10–12 foot (3–3.6 metres) wide. It is probably being drawn by a horse (hidden by the load) since no tug boat is visible. The girl by the balance beam of the lock is wearing a traditional boaters' headgear. The long skirt and white apron worn by the woman at the tiller are also traditional boaters' clothes. However the bonnets worn by the woman and the little girl on top of the boat are quite different. This suggests that styles were changing from traditional boaters' clothes to contemporary workers' clothes. This happened between the two World Wars.

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