Dig report W&A with Kescrg It’s not just WRG Canal Camps that have been cautiously re-starting lately - regional mobile group Kescrg report from a Wey & Arun weekend before and after the event, and heightened Wey & Arun Canal Kescrg at Tickner’s Heath Road Bridge awareness of hygiene and space both on site Not only has the Covid pandemic disrupted WRG Camp activity over the last 18 months, it has also curtailed the efforts of the regional visiting weekend groups. Seeing local societies return to site work over the last year, and limited WRG Camps restarting this summer has been very encouraging; but it hadn’t seemed sensible up until now to draw our volunteers from a wider geographic region to cram into a village hall to sleep, and the local pub to socialise. However following Kescrg’s successful single day on site in June on the Wey and Arun Tickner’s Heath Road Crossing project, and all the preparation work done by the Inland Waterways Association’s head office team to make the WRG summer camp season safe and successful, it felt like in midSeptember, 18 months since our last weekend dig, the time had come to restart full weekend work parties. This would be with sensible Covid precautions such as LFT tests
and at the accommodation. The Tickner’s Heath Road Crossing is an exciting and very well organised project on the Wey & Arun Canal which will extend the restored summit level section at Dunsfold southwards towards Sidney Wood. The road here originally crossed the canal on a humpbacked bridge on an S-bend, which has long since been demolished so that the road crosses the canal just a foot or so above water level. Modern highway regulations and access to neighbouring properties will not allow for the original bridge to be reinstated. So instead the canal is being diverted to cross under the road through a new bridge constructed a couple of hundred yards east of the original crossing point where the road is straight and high enough to allow passage with minimal alteration to the road alignment and elevation. A new canal cut excavated through the new bridge will curve round to re-join the original canal to the west of the old crossing, and a sepa-
fact file Wey & Arun Canal Length: 23 miles
Locks: 26
Date closed: 1871
River Wey to the Thames Shalford
Bramley
The working party project: Setting up formwork and reinforcing ready for casting the concrete wing walls for the foot, cycle and horse bridge which will form part of the new Tickners Heath road crossing. Site for Kescrg
Birtley
Dunsfold Summit
Why? This work is the first stage of a major project which will see dig: Tickners 9 length the new road bridge itself built by contractors, following which Loxwood volunteers will return for the final stages of work. The new bridge will replace the current low-level culvert blocking the Restored Loxwood canal, and thereby extend the existing restored navigable Tickners to Link section Fastbridge length of the canal’s summit level southwards. Newbridge
The wider picture: A few years ago, having previously concentrated much of its work on the Loxwood Link section, WACT adopted a ‘Three Sites’ approach to spread its efforts more widely along the canal, including the summit section and also the north end near Shalford. Ultimately the aim is to link all these sections Tidal River Arun Pallingham together and reopen the entire route from the Wey to the south coast. to the coast
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