coming soonish Cotswold Looking a bit further ahead, Harri Barnes previews what looks set to turn into one of our main worksites over the next two years... under the Bristol – Birmingham railway line at Stonehouse, and the concrete sections As we explained on the previous pages, needed to do this are currently sitting in a unfortunately for various reasons we’re not field waiting for installation at Christmas. in a position to be able to give you details of Cooperation with Highways England has also forthcoming canal camps this autumn. But resulted in the construction of a very impreslooking a little further ahead, one site where sive bit of canal through the middle of the we know WRG will be spending plenty of A38 roundabout to the west of the M5. time and effort in the next year or two is But as you would expect there is also a Westfield Lock and Oldbury Aqueduct on the lot of work for volunteers to get stuck into. Cotswold Canals. Harri Barnes explains... As pandemic restrictions have eased, Cotswold Canals Trust volunteers have made an excellent start on the remedial work needed Cotswold Canals: Westfield Lock / Oldbury Aqueduct on Blunder and Newtown Locks, which were originally restored 25-30 years ago. Just Even those Navvies subscribers that haven’t below these come Pike Bridge and Dock read very many issues over the last year or Lock, both of which have seen WRG input in so will almost certainly have noticed that in more recent times. Between them and the October 2020 the Cotswold Canals ConWhitminster and Fromebridge Mill sections nected project was successful in being (where many WRG Christmas Camps have granted £8.9m from the National Heritage been held including the most recent one at Lottery Fund to do the work that is needed the end of 2019) is the ‘Missing Mile’, the to link the already restored section of the stretch of canal which has largely disapStroudwater and Thames and Severn canals through Stroud (where WRG has worked on lots of projects including the locks at Bowbridge, Ham and Griffins Mills and Gough’s Orchard) back to the main national waterways system at Saul Junction. You may have read the article by Dave Marshall of Stroud District Council in the last Navvies about putting Trial excavations at Westfield. We need to turn this back into a lock the canal back Jenny Morris
One to watch...
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