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[[File: Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_Navvies.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Railway Navvies portrayed in the film [[God's Wonderful Railway]]]]The canals of Britain were known as Inland Navigations and the labourers and tradesmen who built them became known as "'''Navvies'''". As canal building turned to railway building in the 19th century, the name stuck and the Railway Navvies, and their exploits, became almost part of British folklore. By 1850 a quarter of a million workers (more than the combined manpower of the Army and Navy) had constructed more than 3,000 miles of railway line across Britain. Navvies and their families would travel long distances to find work, often tramping on foot. They lived and worked in terrible conditions, often for years at a time. While some would take lodgings in the area, many lived in rough timber or turf huts alongside the bridges, tunnels and cuttings that they built. Despite this they achieved amazing feats of engineering using little more than gunpowder, picks and shovels.
Around 900 navvies were used to build the Severn Valley Railway. They were mostly recruited from those who had previously worked on the [[Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway|Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton]] and Worcester and Hereford Railways, although [[Henry Orlando Bridgeman]] made a special visit to Liverpool in May 1959 to enlarge the labour force<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Nabarro (1971)]] p. 34.</ref>.
==1861 Census==
Their ages ranged from under 15 (7) to over 60 (14), with most (416) aged between 20 and 34. 442 were unmarried, 258 married, 20 were widowers and the other 21 unknown.<ref name=JM/>
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.
===Worcestershire and Staffordshire===
The southern end of the Severn Valley Railway mainly lay in Worcestershire, although at the time it was built Arley was in Staffordshire. 126 persons may be identified in the census as being likely to have been involved in the construction of the railway at the time, based on their proximity to the railway and their type of employment, variously described as 'Railway Labourer', 'Railway Excavator', 'Carpenter on Railway’ or 'Railway Contractor or foreman'. Of these, 37 came from Worcestershire, 30 from the surrounding shires (Salop, Staffs, Warwicks, Herefords), 44 from elsewhere in England, 4 from Ireland, 4 from Scotland, France and Spain and 7 unknown.
Their ages ranged from under 20 (15, of which the youngest was aged 11) to over 60 (2, of whom the oldest was 67) with most (81) being aged between 20 and 39.
40 were resident at Wribbenhall, 39 at Arley, 12 at Bewdley/Ribbesford, 12 at Stourport/Mitton, 5 at Hartlebury and 18 in the Kidderminster area. 55 were married with family present. 62 were in lodgings, including 13 recorded as lodging in Railway Huts. There were 7 'Railway Huts' recorded with the address 'Railway Station Arley, Pound Green' These were probably adjacent to the line between the station and [[Victoria Bridge]]. Each of the Huts were run by a ‘head’ being an experienced Railway Labourer with a wife and up to 4 children living there as well. They were from Devon, Ireland Hereford and Bedfordshire. 21 navvies were present in the huts with 19 wives and children. Two of the huts had only 2 persons present probably reflecting the run down of the works at this late stage in construction<ref>Review of the 1861 census by Chris Haynes</ref>.
==Newspaper reports==
[[Category:The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership]]
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