PUDDLERS

Like most employed in waterway maintenance, Puddlers had a hard job,   to make drainage channels, canals or raised river banks waterproof by puddling the clay lining which was either dredged from the bottom of rivers or dug from nearby pits.

SLUBBERS

Drainage channels in the Fens needed to be kept clear and it was in the 19th century a painfully laborious job for Slubbers.  The word slub is an alternative for mud or ooze