Lengthsman

I started working on the canal when I was only 14. I was a lengths man on the Shrewsbury, the canal. It was my job to cut hedges and to keep the toe path^([sic – meaning towpath]) clear.

It became common practice for day-to-day maintenance to be undertaken by a number of roadmen, each appointed to maintain a length of road. This gave rise to the term, ‘the lengthsman’. Over time, greater mechanisation and centralisation replaced lengthsmen with area-based work teams, controlled from County offices and depots. […] In 2000 Herefordshire Council launched a local initiative, the ‘Lengthsman Scheme,’ to devolve some minor highway works to Parish Councils. […] Parishes are permitted to use the delegated budget to employ a local contractor to undertake the works – the lengthsman. […] Works carried out by lengthsmen can range from clearing minor storm debris discharged onto the highway, cutting back overgrown hedges encroaching on footways and verge cutting as required by the parish.