Any idea what a Navvy was? Originally a man who worked on digging and building a 'navigation' - i.e. a canal. By extension, a man who later dug out and laid the foundations for a railway line, which could be regarded also as a form of navigating accross country. By further extension, it was applied to any labourer on a large construction, like a major road, municipal building or a dockyard etc. EVE Author of The McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society