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The Glastonbury Canal

from Fish House Blues by Daniel Shaw

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about

The Glastonbury Canal was conceived as an economic endeavour in the early part of the 19th Century. Local townsfolk met in the town hall to subscribe to the project. It was needed to bring timber, coal and building materials from Bristol, down the Severn and into the town to help it to develop. The muddy and difficult routes to Bristol over the Mendips were stunting the literal and economic expansion of the town (other than the bricks cut from the clay of weary-all hill in the 18th Century and the medieval power struggles of the Abbey over the Doulting stone quarries).

The canal hit many difficulties in adapting the drains and being cut largely through peat and it failed, superseded by the rail lines (now a path through the reserves) that brought trains right into the town. Glastonbury has been a place of industry since prehistory as the glass beads in the county museum attest, but when the Canal failed financially and the Prat brothers disappeared (they had ‘borrowed’ from the investors’ money) leaving the company bankrupt. Guarantor and Church Warden John Bullied was left culpable. On the morning of January 28, 1840, he climbed to the roof of St John's Church tower, and threw himself from the roof, dropping 150 feet before landing at its base. "In a fit of desperation occasioned by his being defrauded of money to a great amount by the infamous R P Peat [sic] leap'd from the tower of St Johns Church at Glaston and literlly [sic] broke every bone in his
body."

lyrics

Floating Coal, Floating Stone
Dig out the peat down to the bone
Herons fish and Bitterns Boom
Dig out the draft to make more room
Hauling down to Bridies Yard
Sign the paper and stamp your card
From Bristol down to Highbridge wall
Bullied’s climbing tower fall

They All fell under the Spell
Of the Glastonbury Canal

John’s corpse in the Graveyard Sprawled
He never shouted; he never called
Left the company; left the plan
Silted up before it began
Dry canal, no tracks on the line
All roads covered with the grace of time
But we still follow the Roman Roads
By width and length, weight of the load

Now Dead Tracks Lie Parallel
To The Glastonbury Canal

Investments come and money flows
Canals silt up and money goes
Roman roads and Roman Stones
By the hollow way where no one goes
Dry canals and sleepless paths
Used for goods; used by craft
When John Climbed the stairs of the Tower
He had no bread, he had no flour
_
Boats are waiting in dry dock
To line the wallet and turn the lock
Subscription Signed with an honest pound
John was a man down to the ground
Carrying Coal and Loads of Stone
From Bristol City Banks and Loans
Back with Weary all Brick Clay
But nothing flows but the drains today

The Commercial Rationale
Of the Glastonbury Canal

Now I’m walking down paths in the reeds
Fish in the Lake, birds in the trees
Investors jump, finance fails
& Ahab chases the great white whale
He tries to strike but he’ll fail
A black scar in the blubber pale
Cuts through flesh of the land
Lines traced on Glastonbury’s hand

credits

from Fish House Blues, released April 20, 2021
Abi Shaw - Violin

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Daniel Shaw Glastonbury, UK

Daniel Shaw based in Glastonbury & S.W.area.
Past work includes performances with the poet Laureate, Simon Armitage; & performances in Europe, Tennessee, Kolkatta and the Uk.
Daniel has also performed and recorded with the The Aardvarks, double bass & Bass with Mossflower, The Minor Works Unit, Mr Keep Calm & The Cancelled Cheques, The Blackdown Bluebirds andThe Duncan Batey Trio. ... more

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