fact file Wey & Arun Canal

Length: 23 miles

Locks: 26

Date closed: 1871

The Canal Camp project: Removing dead branches, dense brambles and ash trees suffering from ash dieback on the Loxwood Link restored section of canal.

Why? This section has been restored to navigation and is the base fo the Wey & Arun Canal Tr ust’s trip boats, as well as the towpath providing an attractive local walk. It therefore needs to be kept clear of potentially dangerous dead or dying trees and branches.

The wider picture: The Canal Trust aims to reopen the canal to through navigation from the River Wey to the River Arun. It has already opened several sections including this one through Loxwood, and others on the summit at Dunsfold, and near the southern end - and is looking to link these together and to further sections (including at Bir tley, planned site for next summer’s camps). Keeping the existing restored lengths safe and well looked after enables local people to enjoy them and is important for raising public support and funding to achieve these long term aims.

Birtley larger stack, instead of several small ones. At the end of the week the plan was for a large trailer to be towed along the towpath by a tractor fitted with a Hiab, to clear all the large stacks. All of this wood (about 30 tonnes worth) was bought by a company to go for processing into biomass.

Mid-week onwards: whilst all the other jobs continued, a bridge was formed by using a work boat and the pontoon dock so that a group could cross to the off-side bank where there were several large ash trees that needed to be felled. All along the side of the canal there were dense areas of brambles that needed to be cleared in order to give a safe escape route for the chainsaw operators. These trees could only be felled into the field. Unfortunately it was not possible to get the machines into the field to clear the timber. The plan was to drag them across the canal by using the excavator and then for them to be logged as necessary. As well as clearing the floating debris the work boat was put to use for this operation. Unfortunately the engine on the boat was overheating and so other methods had to be used in order to get the boat across the canal so that we could join the chains that were on the larger excavator to the large slings that had been put around the items to be moved. The cabin end of the boat was manoeuvred into place by using the excavator and the front end was moved by using the Mk 1 bow thruster (otherwise known as a keb!) and the boat securely tied to any convenient tree stump…

And finally Many thanks to all for all the work over the week, whether it be on site or back at the Hall. And a large “thank you” to the weather god; who would have thought that many people were working in t-shirts (well, and also some other PPE!) during October? And the rain that fell was mainly overnight.

John Hawkins

SNCT’s work to create a canal centre and showpiece restored length at Wappenshall has them rebuilding walls and installing sewage tanks...

Shrewsbury & Newport Canals

The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust’s work at Wappenshall Junction (the transhipment point and associated basins and warehouses where the Shrewsbury Canal met the Newport Arm of the Shropshire Union) suffered a setback at the end of August with the discovery of willow tree roots that had grown through the existing east basin wall at the bottom of our next door neighbour’s garden.

The very heavy coping stones had to be removed from the top of the wall and the next two courses of stonework were taken down, then the whole thing was completely rebuilt. To ensure the roots do not find their way through the wall again and cause water to leak out of the basin, an 800mm deep trench, 300mm wide, has been dug behind the wall and filled with concrete to act as a barrier.

This work has set us back about a month, but we have still managed to:

. Get a lot of the brickwork re-pointed on the small warehouse

. Replace all the iron fenders at the entrance to the skew bridge next to the stop gate

. Complete the new brickwork to the top of the new retaining wall

. Install two escape ladders and handrails to enable anyone that falls into the re-filled basin to safely get out

. Break through the concrete floor of the Romney Building to dig the hole for the sewage treatment plant and associated tank

. Dig the trench for the footings of the stable block wall.

The sewage treatment plant consists of 3 polypropylene tanks that must be lowered into a rather deep hole (about 3m deep). This creates more challenges for the team because the water table is quite high at Wappenshall and we encountered water just

2m down in the “test hole” that we dug. We will need to install some sheet piling to hold back the sub-soil whilst we pump out the water, which could get to about a metre deep otherwise. Once this has been done, we need to put in a 150mm layer of concrete and whilst this is wet, lower the tanks onto it. Then to stop the tanks “floating” whilst more concrete is poured around them, the tanks need to be gradually filled with water. Then more concrete added and so on, until the tanks are completely enveloped in concrete. Once this has been completed, the inlet and outlet pipework to the tanks will be installed. This will require more of the concrete floor of the Romney Building being taken up. The level of this floor is too high and needs to be reduced by approximately 200mm eventually, to allow the whole area to be levelled and converted into a car park.

The other major task we need to undertake is the installation of a new 3phase electricity supply. This is being planned with National Grid at present and, in preparation, we have dug out the difficult part of the trench to take the cable that passes in front of the small warehouse entrance. This too necessitated getting through about 225mm of reinforced concrete. So, it was out with the angle grinders to cut away the steel and the concrete was broken up and removed from site. We plan to fill the East Basin with water this autumn by pumping water into it from the Northern Storm Interceptor. This will require the use of our diaphragm pump and a long hose. Fortunately, this has already been started naturally. The heavy recent rains have filled the basin to over 9" deep already! [see pictures in the last Navvies] But watch out for this major goal being reached in the coming weeks.