These specialty spades were used to dig out the lower section of a drain, which was considerably narrower than the upper section. The workers would press their heel on the stud at the front to push it into the soil.
The narrowest drain-spade served “to throw out the earth loosened by the last picking, and to trim the sides of the bottom of the drain” (Slight and Burn, 1858). Once the soil was out of the drain, convicts such as Jones were tasked with “throwing the earth back from the edge to prevent it falling in again” (Diary of William Archer, 11 August 1829).
