At the manorial court held at Stoke Bruerne in May 1801, it was reported that certain pieces of land belonging to the Duke of Grafton had been 'enclose' without his consent. Several houses had also been occupied. The culprits were Joseph, Benjamin and William Ludlam and there were other offenders whose names were not known except for a John Durrant.

The Ludlams gave their excuse as needing the land for the cultivation of garden produce. Joseph Ludlam, presumably the father, was fined two shillings and sixpence and the other two were fined one shilling each. All the fines were to be paid annually during their stay at Stoke Bruerne. Seemingly the Ludlam family had arrived at Stoke Bruerne to assist with the canal and tunnel construction. Joseph Ludlam is recorded as owning three brick kilns at Stoke Bruerne and Blisworth.

As for the canal tunnel project, workers from the commencement of activities were subject to ill-fortune. The Ludlam family was no exception; in 1797 a youth named George Ludlam was working on one of the tunnel access pits on Blisworth Hill when he fell into the pit which was more than 30 yards deep (preparatory to the excavation of the tunnel), he was instantly killed. Then again in 1800 another young member of the family, named Benjamin and a brother of the ill-fated George, was likewise working at a pit on Blisworth Hill when, having occasion to go down into the pit, got into difficulties and he called to be drawn up but the 'damp' (methane?) was so great that he was instantly suffocated and fell to the bottom. David Williams, a miner, attempted to go down to his assistance but nearly lost his life in the attempt. He had descended 15 yards when under the necessity of making a signal to be drawn up was nearly suffocated when taken out. The 'damp' was so strong that it was necessary to throw a large quantity of water into the pit and it was an hour and a half before any person would venture down to fetch up the body of the unfortunate youth.

George Ludlam was buried in Blisworth on Dec 18, 1797 and Benjamin Ludlam was buried in Blisworth on Oct 24, 1800.

The project suffered severe troubles and in 1802 new contracts were handed out for the completion of the canal tunnel. In 1804 Mr Barnes, Chief Engineer to the Canal Company, entered once again a treaty with Mr Ludlam for finishing the deep excavations at both the Stoke Bruerne and Blisworth ends. Once again luck was not with Joseph Ludlam for in June 29, 1804 Mr Barnes is told to "measure and pay him for such work and his pit be let to other persons in order that the work thereon may not suffer any longer than can possibly be avoided" on account of the then confinement of Joseph Ludlam in the goal at Northampton. He had been committed following his works failures at the tunnel which had bankrupted the poor man.

Up to the year 1802 a lot of work had been done on Blisworth Hill in sinking pits and aligning the route to be taken for the 3000 yards of tunnel. Many underground headings (horizontal, or nearly so, ducts) were constructed to take away water into a major one which ran northwards and presumably joined the Blisworth stream called Fisher Brook. In his May 1802 report Barnes wrote "as the progress of the works are likely to be impeded by the pits being subject to foul air, I recommend that the contractors be obliged to pound the crevasses of the working-face with clay when sinking the pits in order to prevent it". No other deaths are known of due to the 'damp'.

Also in 1802, Ludlam had another set back when Barnes, in the re-shuffle of contracts, recommended that the brick-kilns at Stoke Bruerne and Blisworth be taken over by new contractors at a price of £108 - a payment based upon a fair valuation. We might conjecture that the moved was forced upon Ludlam because of a shortage of cash. Evidence of brick kilns at the Blisworth end of the tunnel has been found near the tunnel mouth. Also, of course, the field in which Candle Cottage is situated is called Brick Kiln Field and, in places, bears a profile suggestive of material extraction as well as having near the surface a large amount of broken old bricks.

Foul Air and 'Damp'  Footnote by Tony Marsh.

The date of these difficulties, 1800 - 1802, precedes any use of Davy lamp type of air test so a canary would probably be used after the first death.  That someone saw fit to throw water into the pit suggests that the problem was carbon dioxide which would partially dissolve into the water.  An alternative is that the walls of the pit smelled nauseous and some men might panic and actually feel suffocated.  If they then fell to the bottom to become overcome by a small carbon dioxide accumulation then that might explain the deaths.  There is a problem explaining these air conditions from what is known of the geology of Blisworth Hill.  The upper levels are ironstone laden sand and sandstone through which water would easily permeate.  The lower levels, at least for the most of the pits that were dug, would be lias clay.  Neither of these materials would emit methane, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, these being the commonest 'damp' gases.  A tentative suggestion is that the pits giving trouble were near to the Berry Hill area.  If one accepts that the name is a derivation of 'bury hill' or 'burial hill', where perhaps the bodies of Black Death victims were interred some 130 years before and as remote from any neighbouring village as one could find, then it seems reasonable for there to be problems with the air.  It's a chilling thought!