For those seeking the tranquillity of a waterway, the River Wey Navigations present a peaceful scene. Here, those in search of leisure pursuits can run, walk or drift lazily downstream, soaking up the Surrey countryside and admiring the remnants of a former industrial age. A curious mix of urban backdrop meets rural charm, the Wey Navigations have successfully ridden out the 20th century decline of Britain’s waterways and become a haven for those in search of not only a pleasurable leisure experience but a cultural encounter too. This is for the most part due to the foresight of one family – the Stevens – who managed the Wey Navigations during the 19th century and through the slow decline of commercial traffic in the first half of the 20th century.

The Stevens’ journal forms part of an archive kept at the National Trust’s Dapdune Wharf in Guildford, the largest of three wharves along the Wey Navigations. The journal gives a unique insight into the challenges facing those who worked the river, detailing severe weather conditions, floods and their impact on business and the community, as well as the day-to-day management of the river during the golden years of commercial traffic. Their story is one of several that have been unearthed by a team of research volunteers at the Wey Navigations. As Sarah Crawcour, visitor experience manager at Dapdune Wharf says, ‘Our volunteers are aiming to reveal some of the hidden voices from the past. Some of our interest was stimulated by the centenary of suffrage and our lack of women’s stories, which we intend to interpret for our visitors. We recently had a very lucky break when a previous resident of Dapdune Wharf rang up to offer a box of photographs going back to the 19th century. Stories of the people who worked on the Wey and their everyday lives help our visitors gain a deeper understanding of the history of the Navigations and what made it such a successful waterway.’

The Wey Navigations were conceived in the 1630s by Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place, near Woking. Recognising the benefits of the canal and lock system used in the Netherlands, Weston aimed to make the River Wey between Weybridge and Guildford navigable. The Civil War of 1642-1651 saw a hiatus in progress but in 1651 a bill authorising the works became an Act of Parliament and work commenced. By the time of Weston’s untimely death only a year later, 10 out of the 14 miles of waterway had been made navigable. The work was completed by his son together with Major James Pitson, and the first British river to be successfully canalised for commercial traffic was finally opened in 1653. The Godalming Navigation was added by a further Act of Parliament in 1760 and a further four-and-a-half-mile section was added by 1764.

Throughout its history the Wey Navigation has needed people – from those who helped to build it in the 17th century to the ‘lurgymen’ of the 18th century who kept the channels clear. From the early 19th century the Stevens family, owners of the aforementioned journal, became the chief players in the story of the Navigations. They first appeared on the scene in 1812 but it was during the time of William Stevens II that the family seriously began to take control of the Navigations, as well as build up their own business as coal merchants. On his death in 1890, his son William Stevens III took over personal management of both the Wey and the Godalming Navigations and sought to gain full control through the purchase of the remaining Navigations shares. Up until the early 20th century the Stevens family had purchased their barges from other owners but by the end of the 19th century they had their own on-site barge builders at Dapdune Wharf. By 1909 work had begun on what would total 11 new barges by 1940. Their determination to make the Navigations successful led to efficiency measures and it is only through their diligent record keeping that we can see how every profit-making avenue was explored, such as the sale of wood from the trees that grew along the river bank and the selling of fishing bait.

For the first 100 years of operation the management of the Navigations was centred around the wharves, which were managed by a ‘wharfinger’. A wharfinger was responsible for the operation and maintenance of a section of the Navigations as well as the operation of one or more locks. Around 1764, lock-keepers took over responsibility for lock operation and bank maintenance and cottages were built for them alongside the navigation. It is through these permanent riverside dwellings that some of the stories of the Wey workers have been discovered.

One recently unearthed story is that of Emma Jackman, the first recorded female Wey lock-keeper. It has long been assumed that the wives of lock-keepers contributed to their work, yet on the 1871 census record for Walsham Lock Cottage, Pyrford, Emma’s occupation is shown to be ‘lock-keeper’ along with her husband Thomas. This makes it the earliest record to date of a female lock-keeper listed in her own right. Emma was born in West Clandon in 1831 and by 1851 she had married Thomas Jackman, the day before the birth of their first child. By 1865 and with seven young mouths to feed, Thomas took on the post of lock-keeper. Most of her fellow lock-keepers’ wives at that time had their occupations listed as ‘none’ or ‘wife of&hellip’. It is not clear whether Emma took on a greater role than her counterparts or insisted on her right to be listed equal to her husband, but her 13-year tenure as lock-keeper ended in 1878 with the death of her husband. He drowned between Walsham and Pyrford at the age of 51 – whether this was as a result of his work or his social activities is not known.

Life on the river was hard for those choosing the waterway as an occupation. The constant threat of drowning was real and the work was demanding. The heavy work, such as operating weirs and other water control devices, was carried out by men, but other subsidiary ‘light’ work was done by other family members, who all helped to ensure the Wey was kept open and profitable to barge owners and their crews, the wharves and visitors. The hiring of leisure boats, collection of mooring fees and selling of freshly dug bait were all tasks likely to have been carried out by the women of the family and their children. On a documented visit in 1891, a journalist from the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News talks of obtaining ‘boats on hire and live bait when required, and ready information from the keepers’. Given that lock-keeping was based from home one can assume that other family members were involved in the ‘family business’. This of course would prove to be fortuitous when time was finally called on commercial river traffic and leisure pursuits would come to the fore.

Contrary to popular belief many of the Wey bargemen’s families did not live with them on board. The romantic notion of whole families of river workers living aboard a barge and travelling together on the Wey has been largely dispelled by the recent research. During the 1881 census, which located several bargemen moored along the Wey on the night of 3 April, not one was travelling with other family members, yet their wives and children are listed at residential addresses in and around the Guildford area.

The transient nature of the river workers and the fact that they moved around to different waterways makes them difficult to track and locate. However, other interesting stories involving the river have also been uncovered via historic newspapers, including the introduction of ‘Eels for Food’ in 1918 where 25,000 young eels were introduced in the waterways, lakes and ponds around Byfleet in order to ‘increase the future supply of eels, a most valuable food in this country’. Accounts of ice skating on the Wey during harsh winters are also prevalent, an ironic twist given that they Wey was destined to become a leisure destination due to those severe winters curtailing commercial traffic for good.

The Stevens journal also comments on how severe weather and subsequent floods can impact on the river environs. One account dates from May 1824, when Guildford saw ‘the greatest flood ever known’, in which ‘boats and punts [were] then used to convey people from one side of the river to the other&hellip their houses being five or six feet underwater, reaching some of their bedrooms’. The account describes how ‘furniture, timber, pigs, poultry, empty and full barrels of beer from Crookes and Elkins Breweries were washed down to Woodbridge and Stoke, and many of the aristocracy and dear lovers of Johnny Barleycorn, waded in slush and mud up to their knees on a Sunday morning, with gimlet and mug in hand, and sucked the barrels dry’.

The boatman’s oldest enemy – snow and ice – could prevent the waterways being used commercially for several months at a time. The winter of 1939-1940 saw exceptionally severe weather, as noted by Harry Stevens in the family journal, stating that on the 30 January 1940 the river was covered with ‘waves of frozen snow’ which was a ‘remarkable sight&hellip Empty barges were unable to pass through it’. In an attempt to clear it, Stevens notes that the ‘snow and ice jammed up and actually formed a dam above the lock and we had to shut the sluices down as mud was coming in the lock. One would hardly believe this possible if one had not seen it’.

The winter of 1962-63, in which the Stevens also grappled with ice, sounded the death knell for commercial traffic on the Wey. One can imagine the impact of such hard winters on the fortunes of those who depended on the waterways for their livelihoods. The last commercial barge ran on the Wey Navigations in 1969, but the Stevens family had already seen the sign of the times and Harry Stevens gave the Wey Navigations to the National Trust in 1964.

The need to keep up with change and provide a faster, more efficient service was disastrous for commercial waterway traffic and those in its employ, but the slower pace of life that was such an inherent part of life on the waterways was perfect for those searching for pleasure.

Following the bequest of the Wey Navigations to the National Trust in 1964, the Wey underwent a renaissance, becoming a successful heritage waterway that now sees 500,000 visitors every year. of the commercial barges and the families of the Wey may be long gone, but their legacy lives on in a quiet corner of Guildford at Dapdune Wharf.

With thanks to Sarah Crawcour and the Research Volunteers at the National Trust River Wey Navigations.