5 minute read
project on the Cotswold Canals
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...
One to watch...
As we explained on the previous pages, unfortunately for various reasons we’re not in a position to be able to give you details of forthcoming canal camps this autumn. But looking a little further ahead, one site where we know WRG will be spending plenty of time and effort in the next year or two is Westfield Lock and Oldbury Aqueduct on the Cotswold Canals. Harri Barnes explains...
Even those Navvies subscribers that haven’t read very many issues over the last year or so will almost certainly have noticed that in October 2020 the Cotswold Canals Connected project was successful in being granted £8.9m from the National Heritage Lottery Fund to do the work that is needed to link the already restored section of the Stroudwater 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 the canal back under the Bristol – Birmingham railway line at Stonehouse, and the concrete sections needed to do this are currently sitting in a field waiting for installation at Christmas. Cooperation with Highways England has also resulted in the construction of a very impressive bit of canal through the middle of the A38 roundabout to the west of the M5.
But as you would expect there is also a lot of work for volunteers to get stuck into. As pandemic restrictions have eased, Cotswold Canals Trust volunteers have made an excellent start on the remedial work needed on Blunder and Newtown Locks, which were originally restored 25-30 years ago. Just below these come Pike Bridge and Dock Lock, both of which have seen WRG input in more recent times. Between them and the Whitminster and Fromebridge Mill sections (where many WRG Christmas Camps have been held including the most recent one at the end of 2019) is the ‘Missing Mile’, the stretch of canal which has largely disapJenny Morris
Trial excavations at Westfield. We need to turn this back into a lock
peared under fields and needs reinstating (mostly by contractors) on a slightly different course to link up with the culvert under the M5 and back to the new section across the A38. This section also includes the next major project which WRG has agreed to take on, the restoration of Westfield Lock and construction of Oldbury Aqueduct.
I say ‘restoration’ of Westfield Lock, but at the moment we’re not quite sure how much still exists and just needs a bit of repointing and resetting of coping stones, and how much is going to be a complete rebuild. That’s because the lock is currently infilled, with the outline just about visible in a field. We know the coping stones have disappeared, but to what extent the walls of the lock were pulled down when it was filled in is unclear. Jon Pontefract and his volunteers have dug some trial pits which show at least some of the lower wing walls are still there, but the first job with the lock will be to dig it out and find out how much is left. Then there will be rebuilding in a similar fashion to many other locks, involving brickwork, concreting and putting in new coping stones, plus reinstating a bywash (overflow channel) and possibly some titivating of the accommodation bridge at the tail of the lock, though this looks in pretty good nick, at least above what will ultimately be water level following earlier restoration by CCT.
But this isn’t quite as simple as that –before we can get stuck into the lock, we need to build a new aqueduct to carry the canal over Oldbury Brook. This was originally a feeder into the canal, coming in just above the head of the lock. In the intervening years that the canal has been shut, the brook has been dug down to a lower level, and now needs to pass underneath the main canal channel. Designs are still being finalised, but it is clear that a substantial amount of clever concreting work is going to be needed to construct a culvert for the brook and a channel for the canal, as well as diverting the water coming down the brook (as it’s a natural watercourse that can’t be dammed off) while we work on it. This won’t be an aqueduct on quite the Pontcysyllte or Dundas scale, and in fact will be pretty much invisible from most accessible angles once built, but then you can say that about a lot of the bits of canal we’ve rebuilt over the years!
As with any Lottery grants, the Cotswold Canals Connected partnership have to find a substantial amount of ‘match funding’. For this particular project, we’re very fortunate and grateful to draw on two sources which will go towards the costs of materials and plant which will be needed for what are fairly large construction tasks. One is a legacy left to WRG specifically for work on the Cotswold Canals, which IWA have agreed should be used for the aqueduct; while another gift to CCT will go towards the lock itself. Work will start with some vegetation clearance and establishing a site compound, and hopefully this will be able to get under way before too much longer.
Harri Barnes
Cotswold Canals
Total length: 36 miles Locks: originally 56 (at least one extra needed) Date closed: 1927-54 The Cotswold Canals consist of the Stroudwater Navigation (Saul to Stroud) and the Thames & Severn Canal (Stroud to Inglesham) which make up the through route across the south of England. To break the restoration down into more manageable chunks, Cotswold Canals Trust divides it into ‘phases’ as shown on the map. Phase 1a is already very nearly restored; the National Lottery Heritage Fund grant announced last year is part of a package to connect this to the national network by restoring the ‘missing link’ Phase 1b section. Volunteers including WRG are part of this ‘package’ - and Westfield Lock / Oldbury Aqueduct will be our main contribution.
To Gloucester Phase 1a: Stonehouse to Brimscombe
Phase 1b: Saul to Stonehouse
Main future WRG work site: Westfield Lock / Oldbury Aqueduct Phase 3: Brimscombe to Cerney North Wilts Canal to Swindon Phase 2: Inglesham to Cerney
