Insights into a Black Country legend

Working the Waterways: NarrowBoat, Winter 2024

Andy Tidy

Andy Tidy explores documents relating to late Birmingham boat-operator, Caggy Stevens

Most accounts of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the 20th century include at least a brief reference to Caggy Stevens. Many will also include an atmospheric photo of the man and his horse Mac, towing a boatload of rubbish as they undertook what was the BCN’s last regular commercial horse-drawn carrying contract. This involved the transportation of industrial waste from various canalside factories to a tip in Moxley on the Walsall Canal. I have always felt that there was more to Caggy Stevens than was covered in this brief synopsis but, sadly, very few records have survived detailing his life afloat, which represents a challenge for canal historians. This absence of a cohesive written record makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction, and the man from the myth. I was, therefore, delighted when Brenda Ward gave me access to a bag of assorted documents which had been rescued from a skip at his yard following his death in 1997. This haul included a couple of his accounti…