 In this painting, Brown attempted to depict the totality of the mid-Victorian social experience in a single image, depicting 'navvies' digging up a road (Heath Street in Hampstead, north London) and disrupting the old social hierarchies as they did so.The image erupts into proliferating details from the dynamic centre of the action, as the workers tear a hole in the road – and, symbolically, in the social fabric.Each character represents a particular social class and role in the modern urban environment.