History | National Bargee Travellers Association

The fight to defend our homes is far from new. For as long as land and water are privatised and our right to live on those lands and waters are restricted by private, often for-profit landlordism, people have always fought for our right to live.

In UK’s modern history, we saw this over a century ago when in 1915 the women of Glasgow resisted increases in rent prices. They formed a women’s housing association and in May 1915 some 25,000 Glaswegians joined a rent strike that eventually pressured the government to pass the Rent Restriction Act.

Statue of 1915 Govan Rent Strike Organiser, Mary Barbour, in Glascow

Unfortunately, the rent controls were reversed and another major wave of rent strikes came in the 1930s, when the working classes of London, Birmingham, Huddersfield, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Sunderland, Oxford and Sheffield seized power into their own hands and took strike action, demanding rent reductions as well as overdue repairs. Some tenants fought against intimidation, evictions and violence from bailiffs and police for months. Rent controls were reintroduced with the outbreak of the Second World War, followed by the Rent Act of 1957.

But as the government began inflicting vicious austerity programmes and privatised public housing over the past few decades, the UK has further plunged into increasingly acute housing crises.

This may not be surprising to us, as many boaters may have chosen to live aboard because living on land simply became too expensive. But with much of our waterways remaining under the control of the Canal and River Trust who have unilateral power to set license fees, we are again seeing what happens when the cost to literally live in our homes become unbearable.

But if history tells us anything, it is that we the people have power. More recently, in 2022 we saw this in action with the #DontPay campaign where families across the country pledged to withhold paying unjustly high costs for energy, which contributed to the government’s decision to offer some – if still inadequate – controls and support for households.

While too many decisions impacting our lives are made by just a handful of individuals, we have the power to resist and push for change. Affordable living should be the bare minimum, and beyond that we must continue fighting towards a commons where we all have the voice and power over our homes, our lives and futures.

NBTA London needs your support to carry on our work. Please get in touch here if you would like to volunteer with us. Alternatively your donations are vital to us supporting boaters with their legal case work, campaign banners and other printed material as well as events. You can help us with your donations online here

The River Lea has long been a multi-use space, shared by all kinds of craft. In recent years, however, the Canal and River Trust has emphasised the rights of some river users over others. This is especially true as the Trust attempts to force through bans on mooring on the site of its “Water Safety Zones”, which will prevent itinerant boat dwellers from mooring in these locations for the 14 days which applies elsewhere on the waterways.

The Trust claims that more “no mooring” sites are necessary for the safety of other canal users, such as rowers and kayakers. This is despite scant evidence that moored boats cause collisions and the fact that the Lea Navigation is among the widest waterways of the country.

Moreover, boats and large barges have been using and mooring on the Lea for many years, including in places where the Trust is calling to ban moored boats. The inset photos show boats and industrial barges moored at some of these very locations.

Figure 1: Hackney Power Station, Millfields 1950-69

Figure 1, from between 1950 to 1969, shows barges unloading at Hackney Power Station, near Millfields Park in Clapton, now the site of a recycling centre. Two stretches of canal here are threatened with restriction under the Trust’s “Safety Zones”, where previously widebeam barges have moored for access.

Figure 4: Hackney Power Station, Millfields
1950-69

Figure 5: Hackney Power Station, 1950-69

Figure 6: Hackney Power Station, 1950-69

Judging from other photos from this period (Fig.4, 5, 6), this section of the navigation near the former power station has been used by considerably larger boats than tend to operate on the river today. Not only this, but Lea Rowing Club, some of the most vocal proponents of the “Safety Zones”, operated on the navigation during these years, when timber and coal barges were evidently on the water too. The waterways have been shared for some time, and it’s unreasonable that this should change now.

In a later photograph from 1973 (Figure 2), a barge is visible moored on the inside of the shallow bend leading round to Milllfields Park. Across from the Princess of Wales pub, where the CRT is proposing no mooring sections, figure 3 shows barges double-moored on the offside. Before the Lea Bridge was constructed, the river was crossed at this site by Jeremy’s and Smith’s ferries as early as 1747, according to A History of the County of Essex: Vol. 6. Passenger boats were therefore mooring at this site as long as over 200 years ago.

The scene in figure 7 will be familiar as the view from the eastern bank of the river in Hackney Wick, opposite Omega Works and looking north toward Barge East. This photo also dates from between 1950 and 1969, and shows wide-beam timber barges moored at a site which the Trust considers unfit for mooring of boats which are homes, but perfectly suitable for more lucrative restaurant boats and water sports landings.

The Canal and River Trust continues to claim that canal boats and liveaboard boaters have not been able to moor in its “Water Safety Zones”, for the benefit of other users. Clearly, there have been large craft sharing the river with others for some decades now.

National Bargee Travellers Association – London Branch

Tag Archives: History

A volunteer organisation formed in 2009 campaigning and providing advice for itinerant boat dwellers on Britain’s inland and coastal waterways