Progress Lichfield Canal

Meanwhile the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust have been dealing with a ‘big pipe’, and restoring a former lock as a ‘narrows’

Lichfield Canal

Work by Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust has been progressing on two fronts in Lichfield: at Borrowcop Locks Canal Park and at Darnford Moors. However for this update we’ll concentrate on Borrowcop Locks, alongside Tamworth Road on the edge of Lichfield.

The main focus of work has been at former lock 24, which will no longer be required in its current location. We need to get the canal under a road at a lower level than it originally crossed at, now that hump-backed bridges are no longer allowed. A new lock 24 will therefore be built on the other side of the road and the canal will be in a new deep cutting. Confused yet?

There have been several engineering challenges at old lock 24, one being the ‘Big Pipe’: a ground water drainage pipe laid along the canal bed that is in the way, but can’t be moved until it’s either diverted or the canal is in water. It’s a chicken and egg scenario.

The other challenge has been the need to support the old canal wall, which now doesn’t have sufficient foundations as the canal will be at a lower level. The solution?

The team has moved the canal slightly south and has built the ‘Big Pipe’ into the new canal wall, with additional buttresses to support the old canal wall. It has created a section called the ‘Tamworth Road Narrows’ but it’s all in a day’s work for our volunteers.

With a ‘Big Pipe’ comes inspection chambers and the team has integrated the front wall of the chamber into the new north wall. For a short while it did look like we had constructed a replica

Second World War pillbox, but a final course of bricks soon sealed up the chamber once more.

The new south wall has progressed with accompanying towpath and drystone wall as the path goes through the cutting. These have been built with an almost continuous source of imported and cleaned bricks by one of our volunteers.

The new towpath will soon join up with a diverted path we previously created, so that the public could still use the towpath trail, but out of the construction zone. Walkers will be able to choose whether to take the high road or the low road. But high or low, they will be able to see the restored historic overflow bywash, which has been underpinned, and has had a bit of extra brickwork to cover the concrete buttress.

What challenges will our valiant volunteers face next?

Christine Howles Communications