My granddad grew up on a barge. His father (who, thanks to Ancestry I discovered), had left his wife and 7 kids and bought or worked on a barge with a young girl who became my great-grandma!! In those days, if a man left his family, they would serve time!! My granddad was their youngest! When he met my grandma, he also worked on barges and I found them in 1911 delivering coal to London! They had 4 children who, apparently, were tied by a rope to the poles on the barge to stop them falling into the canal, which was a receptor of washing, chamber pots and all sorts of filth! Lots of children died in them! Incidentally, my granddad's barge, The Thistle, is the only surviving iron barge still working! It is now a floating restaurant up north!! I have a photo of it, which I would like to upload! How??