Source C is from the memory of man named “Jack Allen” (1920-1999) which was written down in 1988. This source tells us about the early life of Jack Allen. The beginning of the source tells us about where Jack was born and where he belonged. It says that at the time of his birth he was three foot six under water. The source is from a memory and this information may be not have been accurate, however from knowledge and judgement of the models this is likely to be the case. This information is irrelevant in telling us about the lives of the people who worked on the canals. The second paragraph talks about his childhood and he says that he grew up on the boats but form the age of six he sometimes used to go to his relatives to go to school. This information links with the fact that after 1817, education was compulsory for a certain length of time for one year. Source C has been backed up by this fact and shows the reliability of the source. The paragraph later goes onto say that Jack Allen went to school in many places right across the country, which also relates back to the fact that school became compulsory after 1817. Not only this, but the source also shows how difficult it must have been for children to receive a proper undisrupted education. The matter that children also had to focus on canal life made having a good and proper education a lot harder. In the next paragraph Jack Allen says that from an early age he was the man of the family and that from an age of nine he was buying and selling horses. This information tells us a lot about childhood and how it differs from the current idea of what childhood is about. It is staggering to understand that Jack Allen was buying and selling horses at the age of nine. In comparison to the present times, this idea would be completely crazy and unbelievably difficult. It is hard to even imagine, how we would cope, doing this kind of job at the staggering age of only nine years old. Not only does this source give information from Jack Allen, but it also gives us a photograph of Jack as a young man. Although the photograph is slightly blurred, I am able to distinguish that he wearing black trousers, a shirt and a v-neck jumper over the top. Along with this he is wearing hat. The photograph shows him as a young man and he is seen drinking out of a glass. The information from the source is quite good in telling us about the lives of young people who lived on canals and how the pattern of education they received. Coming from the memories of Jack Allen, it is likely to be reliable and quite accurate. Although it could be argued that memories could have been forgotten or sensationalised. The text relates to work as well, and we are able to gain a good understanding of what life was like on the canals for the people. The photograph is also helpful in telling us about the clothes that people wore living on the canal, which helps to explain more information about their lives. Comparing this to the evidence in the museum, I feel that the museum has a lot of information .In the museum there was some good evidence and information to tell us about the lives of the young people and the responsibilities which they had. In the museum, one piece of text told us about the work that they did living on the canal. The evidence mentioned work such as, “bow-hauling”, “long lining” and looking after the horses. Here there is some evidence of work that was done by young people in a family and the last example relates back to the source of dealing with horses. This shows that the two sources must be reliable to some extent. Another piece of evidence to backup source C was the photograph of a young child leading a horse. This evidence from the museum tells us that source C is even more likely to be reliable. The Life Afloat was directly linked to the source; it talked about how schooling was for children and had a picture of the Salvation Army teaching kids. One point which I picked out was the fact that schooling only took place when boats were being loaded and unloaded. All of this information form the museum is very helpful in telling us about the lives of young people and how their education was. Although the focus of source C is not the photograph of Jack Allen, the museum at Stoke Bruerne gives us plenty of information on the clothing of the people who lived on the canals. To the right is picture which I had taken of a model at Stoke Bruerne. The model shows the clothes that were worn by a man who worked and lived on the canals. The model looks quite well dressed and smart for living on the canals. He is dressed quite respectably, and this can tell us a lot about the lives of people who worked on the canals. Many people would stereotype the people who worked and lived on the canals, “tramps”. However this photograph definitely does not show this, but shows a status and wealth of comfortableness. Overall looking at the source and the museum evidence, it is clear to me that although Source C is helpful in telling me about the lives on people who worked on the canals in specific detail and accuracy: In the museum, there was several pieces of evidence which told me about the lives of young people who lived and worked on the canals. And because of these reasons the museum evidence was better than Source C.
Looking at Source D, this shows a still from the film “painted boats” made on location at Stoke Bruerne and Blisworth in 1944. Looking at the source, the still shows a narrowbaot, with children playing alongside it. Although it is a still from Stoke Bruerne, the source is definitely unreliable and cannot be trusted. This is because it is a still from a film called, “Painted Boats”. The still which can be seen most probably would have been edited by including extra things and removing parts to make the film as effective as possible. It is not a natural still and cannot be used to tell us about the lives of people who worked on the canals. On the caption for the still as an example, it reads, “The neglected state of the canalside is evident”. Everything about this quote shows it has been embellished to attract people to watch the film. Source D cannot really be compared to any museum as there is no evidence which falls under the category of films and media.
Looking at Source E, it is a photograph of the house and rope shop of Thomas Amos at Stoke Bruerne. The photograph shows a large detached Georgian style house and it is highly likely to be reliable being a photograph. The photograph enables us to see the living conditions of the people living alongside the canal. The photograph shows a house which is big and seems spacious. This tells us that fro the people living in the houses alongside the canal, life would have been quite nice and comfortable for them. They must have had substantial wealth and would be of a high status. The source says that the photograph was taken “probably…around 1900” therefore we cannot completely pin point the exact time of when the picture was taken. And this is important as when it says around the, “1900”, it could be between ranges of 100 years which is very significant. Although we can say this about Thomas Amos, this might not be the case for all people living alongside the canal and therefore this links to the museum. Comparing the evidence seen from the source to the museum, there is a lot more evidence seen ion the museum. In the museum, there are several pictures and photos of houses at Stoke Bruerne. The museum shows a range of houses alongside the canal and gives a better answer to what the houses were like alongside the canal; the museum has a wider range of pictures and photos which allows me to distinguish a more balanced opinion and observation of the houses at Stoke Bruerne. Therefore because there is more evidence in the museum which can be completely trusted, the museum is more useful in telling us about the housing at Stoke Bruerne.
Source F is information from a website of photographs about Blisworth and the local area. This source talks about the houses along the canal side, what they used to be and what they are used for today. It also mentions Sister Mary Ward and why she came to the village. This is a useful source because it talks about individuals from the area, and not the area as a whole and it allows us to see how specific people from the area lived. It could be judged to be very unreliable because we are not told by the source who it was written by, or any other information of this sort. However the information which we are given by the source is correct to my knowledge. An example is, “The …Georgian House…today known as the Bruerne’s Lock Restaurant”. Although the source does not tell us who or when it was written, my own knowledge from visiting the canal allows me to understand that this source is reliable. The source also talks about Sister Mary ward and a number of other people. Mary was the daughter of Thomas Amos who was the owner of the building. Linking back to the whole source it is good in a manner as it enables us to gain an understanding about a number of different people in two short paragraphs. It gives us an insight into what life was like for these people and the conditions they lived in. Comparing this to the evidence in the museum, the museum does not give us a lot of textual information on Thomas Amos and his shop, however has lots of pictures and photographs with captions. This museum information is very helpful to give us information about Thomas Amos and the way his life was working alongside the canals. The second paragraph of the source gives us some information on Sister Mary Ward and how she took over her fathers business.
Comparing this to the evidence in the museum, the museum by far had lots more information on Sister Mary Ward. To the left is a photograph which I had taken on the visit to Stoke Bruerne. As you can see there is a lot more information on Sister Mary Ward than in the source. Although of this the museum is able to back up Source F as the opening paragraph contains the same information as in the source. The museum info gives us more facts and information on the life of Sister Mary which is very important in answering this question. Therefore in general, looking at this source and the museum information; the museum evidence is much more effective and useful in telling us about the lives of people who worked on the canals.
Although this is a useful source, in relation to who and what it talks about, it is not reliable due to the fact that we are not told by who it is written, when it was written and where the evidence was taken from. Because of this, this source cannot be used, for the reason that we know nothing about whom and when this source was written.
Source G is from a description of the village of Stoke Bruerne, written by a pupil at Stoke Bruerne School in 1902. This source is very beneficial and useful in talking about the village in detail. In the source many things are mentioned, such as: the boat keepers and the shop, which we saw in the village itself, along with other things that were seen on the canal side itself. This source is very useful in telling us about life on the canals because the source is directly coming from a school pupil who grew up at Stoke Bruerne during the rise of the canals and therefore will be accurate and reliable. It is backed up in reliability as we know who wrote it and when it was written. Looking at the source, the impression which I get is that the child must have had a nice childhood and therefore must have been in the higher division and status of society back then. The child describes, “It is a pretty village”. This description seems to, en overgenerous description whereby the normal child would not have had this opinion. This is because many were involved in hard work so their opinion would completely differ. This leads me to thinking that this source may be biased. Looking at the actual source information, the child generally talks about work and the steam tugs which used to tow the boats through the tunnels. The second paragraph focuses more on specific work and the town of Stoke Bruerne itself. It could be easily that this information should not be trusted, however having been to the museum, I have knowledge which proves that this part of the information which is given in Source G is accurate and correct. This source does not specifically link itself to lives of people who lived on the canals but gives us some information on work for the people who did not work and live on the narrow boats, but in the village. Comparing this evidence to that in the museum; there is some information on the steam tugs on a notice board. The photograph to the left is one which I had taken on the trip to Stoke Bruerne which links to the source information. In the source it says the steam tugs went from 5am to 9pm at every two hours. However in the museum, this differed and the board to the left shows the times were from 5am but only till 7pm at every alternate hour. Looking at these two different times, this shows that their must be some error in one of the two pieces. I believe this to be in the source because; I trust the museum more as I have visited the museum and all other information which I have used is accurate. The second paragraph of the source is about Stoke Bruerne and what the village offers for the local community, though this could be said to completely useless, it gives us some information about what the people who lived on the canals, had nearby in terms of amenities and close by shops. Comparing this to the evidence in the museum, this did not have that much information on the close shops and amenities that were available for the people living on the canals. Although some were told to us by our guide, there wasn’t any in the museum. Overall, I feel that the source is more useful and helpful in telling us about the lives of people who worked on the canals.
Source H shows a photograph of a lattice plate, this source simply shows an image of a lattice plate. The source really is not that helpful in telling us about the lives of people who worked on the canals. The only thing to note is that they were used to cover cabin walls inside the narrow boats. Comparing this to the museum, the museum was far better as it had a whole display of lattice plates with a variety of patterns on them. However once again, the lattices plates do not tell us a lot apart from the fact that they were quite cheap and were used on boatmen’s cabin walls.
