Tales from the Towpath

Tales from the Towpath gathers stories and histories from the Cotswold canals, following the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal between Framilode and Inglesham. Its accounts span roughly 250 years, bringing canal workers, residents and visitors into view through a mixture of historical fact and fiction.

The collection includes Jack spinning yarns while legging a barge through Sapperton Tunnel, Elizabeth competing in the Wallbridge gala, and other characters including Amos the lock-keeper, Samuel the navvy and Anne. Fiona Eadie’s original tales are accompanied by Tracy Spiers’s illustrations, giving the waterways a cast of human stories rooted in local canal history and folklore.