progress Lichfield Canal

Our roundup of work on restoration projects begins with the Lichfield, where’s there’s progress at Darnford Moors and Tamworth Road...

Lichfield Canal

The Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust continues to make significant progress, with the main focus of work (as previously) being on two key areas with some remedial maintenance elsewhere.

Darnford Moors Ecology Park: Once completed, and opened, this stretch of the canal will not only provide an environmentally friendly, visually appealing setting for walkers and boaters alike, but will also connect up to one of the few remaining parts of the original canal and, through that, reestablish the link with the Coventry Canal and the national network.

Huge progress has been made on phase one, with our contractors Onsite Central speeding ahead on lining the canal.

A potential weak point was identified early on. The joint between the ground and the vertical metal piling was found to have totally different material characteristics. To get round this problem a four-stage process was/is being used.

Firstly, a base sheet of matting is laid to abut the piling. The surface textile is removed and handfuls of bentonite putty are applied into the corners and across the face of the piling. A quadrant material is then forced into the corner of the putty. Finally, a second layer of bentonite is spliced to the shape of the piling, its rear geotextile removed, and it is then forced into place with more putty added. Since this material expands when in contact with water, a confining layer of 300mm of soil is added on top of the matting. Clever stuff! Meanwhile, our volunteers have been preparing phase two of the site, between the lift bridge and the former lock. This has involved repairing the piling, shifting about 1,500 tonnes of soil, and shaping the channel.

The piling was leaning forward due to the soil pressure acting behind, so we dug it out and added additional three metre tie rods and anchor piles, before setting a universal height via the use of a digger mounted vibro-plate.

As the rear of the piling has now been completely dug out, for this Phase 2 area we changed our approach slightly. In order to align the sheets and restore them to the vertical position, instead of putting tape across the back of the joint and pumping resin into the front we dug down the front of the piling and then pumped an elastomeric sealant (having elastic properties) across the joint, having first cleaned the joint with a solvent activator. Our thoughts were that at least when the canal is in water hydrostatic water pressure would be pushing the sealant into the joint on phase 2 (rather than trying to force the tape off the back of the joint, as with phase 1). It all progressed rather well and we completed our works on phase 2 in April, ready for handover to our groundworks contractor.

The work on phase 2 has been greatly facilitated by our recent gain of a substantial grant from Biffa Award; a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK, as part of the Government’s Landfill Communities Fund. We are naturally most grateful to the awarding body and are already putting the grant to good use as described above.

Lichfield Canal

To Anglesey Basin

Ogley Junction

Tamworth Road (A51) / Canal Park / Cricket Lane: With the bottom part of the eastern section of this length in water, as it has been for a number of years now (and unable to proceed further until we can get under the A51 into Darnford Park), ongoing work here has focused on securing the channel from the Canal Park to Cricket LaneTamworth Road Narrows.

Length: 7 miles Locks: 30 Date closed: 1955

Diversions to be built to avoid obstructions to restoration HS2

To Fradley

Fosseway Heath LICHFIELD

Huddlesford

The Lichfield Canal is the name given by canal restorers to the abandoned eastern seven miles of the Wyrley & Essington Canal. The canal originally stretched from the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line in Wolverhampton to a junction with the Coventry Canal at Huddlesford, but this eastern length which included all 30 of the canal’s locks was closed in the 1950s to save the cost of maintaining the locks.

Here the team have been working hard on the offside wall and buttresses. The buttresses support the historic canal wall, as it is now intended for this to sit higher than the new water level, which will be several feet lower than the original level. This is because we need to approach Cricket Lane at a much lower level than was the case with the original canal, as the canal needs to pass under Cricket Lane, which it originally did via a humpback bridge. If only we could have a new humpback bridge – sadly no chance! This also means that the old lock 24 will have to be relocated to the other side of Cricket Lane, where the new lock will raise the canal to its original level.

Work is also in hand to add themed sculptures to the towpath to create a much more ambient environment and complement the flower planting that has already taken place and is certainly adding colour and appeal to the canal banks around this point.

General maintenance: One recurring problem is our battle with Mother Nature to ensure that the work we have already completed is not undermined by plant/shrub growth which threatens to erode newly restored walls and banks.

Gorse bushes along the Fosseway section (parallel to the old Lichfield to Walsall railway line) present a classic challenge of this nature. Deploying a combination of volunteers, Duke of Edinburgh candidates and local Scouts, cutting parties have been (and remain) in action for much of March and April. While the flowering gorse bushes are not without visual appeal, the damage they could potentially cause if left to grow unchecked does not bear thinking about. Meanwhile up at Summerhill (off A461 Walsall Road), the paths and ramps leading down from the Boat Inn towards the M6 Toll Road aqueduct have been cleared to make what is a pleasant walk slightly less fraught.

Conclusion: Overall a period of significant progress refecting the continued hard work and commitment of all parts of our volunteer team. Thank you everyone and thank you to new funders Biffa Award, as well as ERDF and HS2 CEF.