The Navvie Man

I am a roving navvie man I rove from town to town
And when I get a job of work I'm willing to sit down
With my kit upon my shoulder and my grafting tool in hand
So up to London I did go like a roving navvie man.

O when I came to London town the girls did jump for joy,
Saying one with the other: Here comes a navvie boy.
Some treats me with a bottle, another with a dram
So it's round the country I did go like a roving navvie man.

I had not been to London town above two days or three
Before my master's daughter she fell in love with me.
She asked of me to dine with her, I tooked her by the hand
And so slyly told her mother that she wooed a navvy man.

O daughter, dear daughter how can you say so?
To love a roving navvie man you never saw before.
O hold your tongue dear mother, it's do the best you can
For it's round the country I will go with my roving navvie man.

Sung by William Nott, Mershaw, Devon. Collected by Cecil Sharp in 1905.
This a variant of 'The Little Beggarman' or 'The Roving Journeyman'. Though it does not mention canals specifically the navvie in the song would have been working on either canals or railways or perhaps both.