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245 were listed as 'head of household', 313 as lodging in other people’s homes, 123 in inns and lodging houses and 60 in 'temporary or makeshift accommodation' which could have included turf and mud huts, caves and old lime kilns. Census details for the navvies working on the 10 miles of the railway in Worcestershire would presumably have been in similar proportions<ref name=JM>[[Bibliography#Books|Marshall (1989)]] pp. 46-47.</ref>.
The 1861 census population tables attribute the increase of the population of Shineton, near Wenlock Edge,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/b24751261_0001/page/458/mode/1up Census of England and Wales for the year 1861 : population tables, on archive.org]</ref>, Highley<ref>[https://archive.org/details/b24751261_0001/page/456/mode/1up Census of England and Wales for the year 1861 : population tables, on archive.org]</ref> and Upper Arley,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/b24751261_0001/page/471/mode/1up Census of England and Wales for the year 1861 : population tables, on archive.org]</ref> as being due to temporary workers employed on the railway.
==Newspaper reports==
*1861 "IRONBRIDGE - FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Friday last a boy named Evans, son of Thomas Evans, of the Little Ferry, near [[Bowers Yard Lime Kilns Siding|Benthall Edge]], met with his death under the following circumstances :—Deceased, who was a boy eight or nine years old, had got upon a truck on the Severn Valley Railway, loaded with limestone, and which tips on its side. It appears that he lay upon the board which lifts up and down upon a hinge, and his weight overbalancing the carriage he turned the load over upon himself. When extricated from under it he was quite dead and much mutilated."<ref name=ESJ2509>Eddowes’s Shrewsbury Journal 25 September 1861, via Broseley Local History Society</ref>
*1861 "ACCIDENT ON THE SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY.—On Wednesday Richard Jones, a navvy, while getting into one of the empty trucks at [[Hampton Loade|Hamptons Load]], fell under the wheels, which passed over his right foot, and so injured his toes that lie he had to submit to amputation."<ref name=ESJ2509/>
*1862 "FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY. — An accident, which terminated fatally to one of the workmen on the Severn Valley Railway, a man named John Grosby, occurred on Tuesday. Near to the [[Buildwas]] station a siding is being constructed; and, in order to expedite the work, night relays of men are employed. About half-put three o’clock on the morning of the day named an engine passed down the line from Shrewsbury. It was stopped at the Buildwas station for a supply of water, and whilst there the discovery was made that one of the labourers had been run over. He was found close to the rails, with both his legs cut off. The engine was backed, and the poor fellow was placed thereon, and conveyed to the Bridgnorth Infirmary, where he expired about seven o’clock. The unfortunate man has left a widow and two children to mourn his untimely end. An inquest was held on view of the remains at the Squirrel Inn, Bridgnorth, before W. D. Bette, Esq., coroner, and a verdict of “Accidental Death” was returned."<ref>Shrewsbury Chronicle 17th January 1862, reported in [http://www.broseley.org.uk/Papers/Broseley%201862.pdf Broseley Papers]</ref>
*1876 "ACCIDENT ON THE NEW LOOP LINE.—One Of the men, named Abel Cooper, residing at Wribbenhall, who are engaged in constructing the new loop line between Bewdley and Kidderminster met with a serious accident on Monday evening whilst at work in the tunnel. A truck used for carrying away the soil was running along the metals, and came in contact with Cooper, who was knocked down, and the wheel went over one of his legs, causing an extensive laceration. Mr. C. Webster, surgeon, Bewdley, was summoned to attend the man, and although the latter is going on as well as could be expected, he will be confined to the house fur a considerable period. The accident occurred not far from where two men were buried alive three weeks ago."<ref>[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000150/18760408/005/0003 Worcester Journal - Saturday 08 April 1876, on the British Newspaper Archive]</ref>
*1876 "FATAL ACCIDENTS IN KIDDERMINSTER. Yesterday morning, shortly after eleven o'clock a shocking accident happened on the loop-line now in course of construction, between Bewdley and Kidderminster. About 80 men were engaged on the Kidderminster side of the tunnel, excavating the earth, and while four men were standing upon some rock about 9 feet from the metals, shovelling earth into the waggons, a portion of the rock weighing about 15 tons suddenly slipped. It is said that there was a " fault" in the rock, and the moment it slipped a volume of water rushed from the fissure. One of the men, named John Pritchard, living at Sutton Common, jumped to the ground, and the whole of the rock fell upon him, completely entombing his body. The other men were moren more fortunate. They slipped with the rock, and none were seriously injured; although one of them was buried up to his shoulders. Strange to say, the uninjured men showed no ready disposition to extricate Pritchard, regarding his case as hopeless. Mr. Dickinson and one of his foremen named Swager, set to work, and in about half an hour were able to bring out the body, which was then quite dead. The man had fallen headlong and his feet were fond first. The body was removed to an adjoining public house, when an inquest will be held. Mr. W. Cowen and Mr. D. Corbel were soon on the spot and rendered all the assistance possible. The injured men were taken to the Infirmary."<ref>[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001785/18760916/099/0005 Kidderminster Times and Advertiser for Bewdley & Stourport - Saturday 16 September 1876, on the British Newspaper Archive]</ref>
*1876 "ANOTHER ACCIDENT ON THE LOOP LINE.—On Monday another accident occurred in the tunnel on the Loop line between Bewdley and Kidderminster. The engines were engaged as usual in removing the soil, rock, &co., from the line, when by some mischance a man named Philip Stanley, stoker to one of the engines, got between that and a truck, receiving serious internal injuries. He was removed to the Infirmary where he lies."<ref>[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001785/18760923/108/0008 Kidderminster Times and Advertiser for Bewdley & Stourport - Saturday 23 September 1876, on the British Newspaper Archive]</ref>
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navvy Navvy on Wikipedia]
*[https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/navvies-workers-who-built-railways Navvies: workers who built the railways, National Railway Museum website]
[[Category:The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership]]
