volunteers restoring waterways volunteers restoring waterways
This issue of Navvies is brought to you by the letter ”L”... Lichfield, Lapal and Louth camp reports
This issue of Navvies is brought to you by the letter ”L”... Lichfield, Lapal and Louth camp reports
After last month’s extensive coverage of the Canal Camps at John Robinson Lock on the Cotswold Canals, in this issue we’re concentrating on the rest of this year’s sites. But meanwhile work has continued at John Robinson Lock as shown in these pictures by Becky Parr on the early August Camp showing progress on the brickwork under the lock tail bridge (above left) and the gate recess (above), and by Alan Lines on the late August Camp showing the advanced state that the main chamber walls had reached by then.
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Editor: Martin Ludgate, 35 Silvester Road, East Dulwich London SE22 9PB 020-8693 3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk
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Navvies is published by Waterway Recovery Group, Unit 16B, First Floor, Chiltern Court, Asheridge Road, Chesham HP5 2PX and is available to all interested in promoting the restoration and conservation of inland waterways by voluntary effort in Great Britain. Articles may be reproduced in allied magazines provided that the source is acknowledged. WRG may not agree with opinions expressed in this magazine, but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as policy or an official announcement unless so stated - otherwise WRG and IWA accept no liability for any matter in this magazine.
Waterway Recovery Group is part of The Inland Waterways Association, (registered office: Unit 16B, First Floor, Chiltern Court, Asheridge Road, Chesham HP5 2PX), a nonprofit distributing company limited by guarantee, registered in England no 612245, and registered as a charity no 212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89.
Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, George Eycott, Emma Greenall, Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Dave Hearnden, Nigel Lee, Mike Palmer, George Rogers, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.
ISSN: 0953-6655
PLEASE NOTE: subs renewal cheques MUST be made out to The Inland Waterways Association NOTE new subs address below
Editorial good news and raffle tickets 4-5
Chairman how do the Canal & River Trust’s fundung issues affect canal restoration? 6-7 Coming soon the Reunion returns 8-9 Camp reports from the Louth, Lapal and Lichfield canals 10-23 Diary Camps and working weekends 24-25 Dig report more pipes and manholes at Beggarlee, Cromford Canal 26-29 Restoration feature The Buckingham’s new bridge and 500 more metres 30-34 Progress including a Wey & Arun Canal special 35-46 News save your postage stamps 47
...are welcome, whether by email or post. Photos welcome: digital (as email attachments, or if you have a lot of large files please send them on CD / DVD or contact the editor first), or old-school slides / prints. Send contributions to the editor Martin Ludgate, see contact details above left. Press date for issue 322: 10 November.
A year's subscription (6 issues) is a minimum of £5.00 (cheques to The Inland Waterways Association) to WRG, Unit 16B, First Floor, Chiltern Court, Asheridge Road, Chesham HP5 2PX. Please add a donation if you can.
© 2023 WRG
Cover: Well known actor and canal supporter Sir David Suchet is pictured with other dignitaries aboard Buckingham Canal Society dredger Diana at the opening of Bridge No 1 at Cosgrove and 500 metres of canal beyond. See article, page 30. Back cover: Pictures from three Canal Camps covered by reports in this issue, from top to bottom: towpath work at Lichfield; lock chamber repairs at Louth; creating an access path ramp at Lapal
Martin has a brisk canter through a lot of good news stories involving WRG and the wider waterway restoration movement - and those raffle tickets!
After my diatribes and gloom about waterways funding in recent issues, you’ll perhaps be relieved that I’ve given it a rest and am back to stringing together some bits and pieces about WRG and what’s happening elsewhere in the canal restoration movement. And some of it’s definitely good news...
The Reunion: there’s been another significant step in the long journey back from 2020 lockdown to normal life resuming: for the first time since 2019 we’ve managed to organise a WRG Reunion (sometimes known in the past as the Bonfire Bash), a major working party and big get-together which we hope will attract people from all over WRG and our friends from other restoration groups. We also hope that we’ll be able to do a decent amount of work and give a big push to a canal restoration that’s getting going again after a quiet period: the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canals. See page 8 for more information and how to book - we look forward to seeing you there. And meanwhile we’ve got a date set for our other annual large ‘centrally booked’ weekend - the BCN Clean Up. See page 9.
Canal Camps: also in this issue, you’ll find four Canal Camp reports from three different sites - the Lichfield, Louth and Lapal canals. My thanks to the contributors who sent them in: it’s very clear from reading them that canal camps are well and truly back on track, and we look forward to another step forward when the 2024 programme is announced, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. So that’s Centrally Booked Weekends and Canal Camps doing well again; that leaves one final prong...
Regional mobile groups: I can’t speak for the other groups, but I just got back from a successful London WRG weekend on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals, where there were a couple of things worth highlighting. Firstly we held our AGM on the Saturday evening, and rather than organising weekend digs one at a time on bit of an ad-hoc basis like we’ve been doing since we first ventured out after the end of the 2020 lockdown, we’ve actually put together a programme of approximately monthly work parties for most of the next year, like we used to. And secondly we had no fewer than five new (to London WRG) volunteers, three of whom had joined us as a result of going on summer Canal Camps. Truly a sign that things are going well again. I hope our AGM didn’t put them off...
And on to the wider world of canal restoration: whilst not forgetting that (as related in previous editorials) we have a battle on our hands for the future funding of the navigable network, not to mention a struggle against rising construction costs for restoration work, there’s also plenty of good news that’s covered in this issue. This includes a couple of actual extensions to the navigable network that have either already happened or are on the way: . The Buckingham Canal: reopening of Bridge 1 and the first section of canal beyond at Cosgrove (see front cover and feature on page 30) Getting fixed soon: the MB&B 1930s breach
. The Cromford Canal: more progress with the initial works for the Beggarlee project which will see boats from the Erewash Canal continuing onto the Cromford Canal in the nottoo-distant future (see dig report, page 26)
. The Montgomery Canal: work continuing beyond the recently reopened Crickheath length, with Schoolhouse bridge under construction, clearing the last major obstruction on the English side of the Welsh border at Llanymynech, and SUCS volunteers at work on trials to test how much relining is needed to make this length hold water (see progress report, page 38)
Looking further ahead: As well as just getting back from a London WRG dig I also just got back (it was a complicated weekend!) from a meeting of the Northern Canals Association, hosted by the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society, and there was good news to be heard there too. What was always going to be a very tricky restoration as a result of the difficult terrain that the canal was built through (leading to the major breach which closed it in the 1930s) and the fact that much of it runs through built-up areas including central Salford meaning that it has been obstructed by buildings and roads since it shut, is set to see some good progress as a result of developments happening along the route. One of these will actually fix the 1930s breach at last, and (although not everything is going the canal’s way just yet), other developments look likely to lead to further progress on at least two more sections.
But there’s also hope for other restorations that aren’t yet at the stage of the above three in terms of welcoming visiting boats from the national hetwork. Even some that are never likely to, because they were never part of it:
. The North Walsham and Dilham Canal: The Society is planning to ask for WRG help to restore two more locks - see progress report, page 42
. The River Gipping: The River Gipping Trust has now restored a continuous series of four locks, and is looking forward to re-gating them and starting an electric trip-boat operation. See progress report, page 40
And finally, I’ll end with one which is very much on track to join the national network as the reincarnation of ‘London’s lost route to the sea’ - the Wey & Arun Canal. It’s not going to be welcoming visiting boats just yet, but there are multiple volunteer projects involving both the Wey & Arun Canal Trust’s various different working party groups and plenty of input from WRG and other visiting teams, which are bringing this ultimate goal ever closer. See our ‘progress special’ covering all of them on page 44.
But all of these are going to need financial support from the Wey & Arun Canal Trust’s resources (which are already tight as a result of an unfortunate vandalism attack earlier this year) - so please do consider contributing via the raffle tickets enclosed with this issue. Rest assured, we at Navvies don’t treat requests from canal trusts to ask for your money in this way lightly - and we do completely understand that many readers will feel they give enough already in time or money, or just don’t ‘do’ raffles. We wouldn’t include them if we didn’t wholeheartedly support their cause, and we wouldn’t without including an article to do our best to show why the project is deserving of your support.
So yes, I’m afraid this editorial really has been two pages of working my way round to asking you to consider handing over your cash!
That’s it for now; I’ll hopefully see lots of you on a Canal Camp, or a regional group weekend, or the Reunion, or somewhere soon!
Martin LudgateDoes the Canal & River Trust’s campaign for funding for the navigable waterways threaten restoration projects? Or does it help them? Or both?
Hello everyone – how was your summer? Now that was obviously a ‘polite’ enquiry to justify a several page reply from me about how good Waterway Recovery Group’s summer was. Except that I see that our editor Martin Ludgate has done a particularly good job of answering that question already on Pages 4 and 5!
Which obviously is a little frustrating, as I was thinking of filling these two pages with exactly that.
However, I didn’t get to be Chairman without being able to see the positives in a situation, so let’s simply take the opportunity to:
. Genuinely thank Martin for such a wideranging summary of the recent months.
. Repeat in these pages the key message from Martin’s summary:
Not only is there a lot of news, but a lot of that news is good news.
Which is wonderful, but it does mean that these two pages run the risk of just being random thoughts. Ah well let’s see what happens, shall we…
Perhaps I should start with a comment that hopefully complements Martin’s summary of the ‘high profile’ news: from where I am sitting, one of real pleasures has been seeing how all the background stuff has also returned to full strength following the pandemic. I know it feels strange to add to the excitement of pages 4 and 5 with comments like “and we’ve had some great meetings too”! But it is important to note that those successes were often the result of careful, patient work. Hmm, I’m not sure I‘m quite putting my message across...
I’m not saying that in order to have success you have to sit through dull, dreary meetings and paperwork. What I mean to say is that it’s not just out on the worksite that the magic happens – the wonderful thing about the waterways restoration movement is that it is full of people who are able
to apply their passion, creativity and humour in meetings as well. A good measure of an organisation is: do people enjoy the meetings as well as the other stuff?
I cannot really write that previous paragraph without taking time to thank both the WRG Committee and the WRG Board – I was genuinely thinking of you all when I wrote “passion, creativity and humour”.
Martin also mentions the recent Northern Canals Association meeting on the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal. Those three characteristics were certainly on show there. But also on the agenda was Richard Parry (Chief Executive of Canal & River Trust, the body responsible for most of the navigable waterways of England and Wales) with a subject of CRT - Future Funding and Prospects for Canal Restoration. Now the issue of CRT’s funding negotiations with Government has been discussed elsewhere, so I won’t dwell on this as I think the second half of that
subject is of more interest to you readers.
Now the second half (Prospects for Canal Restoration) actually turned out to be just one slide with six bullet points; however I think pretty much all of them merit repeating here. But first I think we should acknowledge that it was pretty courageous for him to give this presentation. Yes, I know the more cynical out there will simply say “Oh, he is going anywhere he can spreading scare stories about how an underfunded CRT will result in untold damage to the network” but I thought only the last of the six bullet points qualified for that analysis.
So let’s start with that bullet shall we? It was of course the usual line that if CRT is forced to save money then “some of the network on the periphery may need to be restricted/closed”. Which of course caused quite a stir in the audience as many of them represented restorations on the geographical periphery of the CRT network. But it seems to me that the underlined phrase is just too ambiguous – is he really being as crass as to say “if you are on the physical edge then you are out”? Surely that’s a very clumsy assessment of just how much contribution to the UK a waterway is making?
Now if he is talking Periphery of Use, or Periphery of Importance (cultural, economic, heritage) then that is the sort of attitude that might make more sense from CRT. But just as clumsy as “on the physical edge”? Anyway, to dip to the cynical side, perhaps that was just his dramatic flourish to finish with.
Bullets 5 and 2 also had a taint of ‘threat’ about them, but they were at least presented in an honest way. Bullet 5 is that, put simply, IF they have to find the money somewhere other than government then there is the possibility that they will end up in competition for the same funds that we in the restoration sector are going for. Seeing as we are already in competition with some really good, really big causes (hospitals, guide dogs, cancer, etc.) I don’t think the addition of CRT really makes us worry that much. Because after all, each scheme is already in competition with others anyway. Bullet 2 was that, IF short of cash, then their ‘assistance’ on restoration schemes may have to be reduced. Now that perhaps might not scare some of the restoration schemes but seeing as, out of the 100 restoration schemes out there CRT have land ownership in 20 of them, that might make a difference. So perhaps there needs to be someone to
step into the breach with advice, resources, and support. Anybody know of any such organisation?
Now that I’ve covered those three bullets, even I have to admit they are all sounding a bit ‘doom-laden’ so I’ll finish with the one that did sway me. Put simply, the fact that CRT are having to bring their campaign for funding into the public domain actually benefits all restorations. As part their campaign they have to promote (both to government and to the public) the benefits of waterways – and we all gain from that.
Indeed there was much use of the term ‘infrastructure’ during the presentation, which aligns very much with WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association’s thinking at the moment: the waterways network is not just a niche feature. It is a vital part of the infrastructure of this country and it provide benefits to all, not just those on it or in it. If you’re not convinced by this suggestion then I do recommend a visit to the IWA website to read/download the Waterways for Today report. It’s a very convincing read and a splendid argument as to why waterways should be valued by all (even the Treasury!)
So I’ve included all of the above not just as a ‘meeting report’ for noting; I think that they are the conversations we should be having and, if they are not happening in Navvies, then where on earth will they be happening?
Oh, I know – on a canal dig somewhere! Which means I can finish off (as Martin does) with the traditional message from me: I’ll hopefully see lots of you on a Canal Camp, or a regional group weekend, or the Reunion, or somewhere soon!
Mike PalmerStop press: are these yours? Boots
That’s right, the Reunion is back. This is one of the most popular events in the WRG calendar, a big annual get-together for volunteers from Canal Camps, WRG and other regional groups and anyone else who wants to join us, for a major weekend working party and a Saturday night party. However as with everything it went on hold in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, and since then we’ve struggled to find a canal restoration project with enough of the right kind of work, suitable accommodation, and everything else we need for a successful weekend. But now we’ve got one: we’re heading for South Wales in early November...
. The site: the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canals, near Pentre Lane, just south of Tycoch locks where we held a series of summer Canal Camps a few years ago, on the section of the canal’s main line between Newport and Cwmbran.
. The work: a large amount of tree and scrub clearance along the canal banks - plus possible other work too.
. The accommodation: a local school, so close to the work site that it’s literally walking distance to work. Full directions will be sent to everyone who books.
. The leaders: regular Canal Camp leaders Becky Parr and Nigel Lee are in charge.
. The cost: £18.00 including meals and accommodation
. To book: by the time this appears in print, bookings will be open at wrg.org.uk. Or contact head office on enquiries@ wrg.org.uk or 01494 783453.
Making a difference: clearing vegetation on a WRG Reunion on the Montgomery a few years ago, and boats on the canal for this year’s reopening
party and get-together that’s back for the first time since 2019...
Regional groups London WRG and KESCRG will be getting together for another big scrubbashing and bonfires weekend on the Wey & Arun Canal, with Christmas dinner on the Saturday night plus fancy dress and fun & games. And this year’s theme is ‘Disney’. See the Navvies diary on pages 24-25 and the groups’ Facebook pages for more details and to book.
Another regular event that’s been absent from the calendar since 2019 but which we’d like to bring back is the Christmas Canal Camp. But unfortunately as we went to press we couldn’t confirm whether (or where) there would be one this year. So please keep checking the WRG website and Facebook page for any news.
The annual weekend of throwing grappling hooks into the murky waters of the lesser-frequented parts of the Birmingham Canal Navigations network, and pulling out old bikes, supermarket trolleys, tyres, prams, you name it... we even pulled out a coffin once! We’ll have more information about booking, the worksite, the accommodation and more in the next couple of issues, but the date’s confirmed so you can put it in your diaries for now.
We’ll have details of our regular springtime events in the next couple of issues, which are likely to include:
. Canalway Cavalcade: the usual call for volunteers to help set up and run this popular London boating festival
Come and grapple with the BCN’s finest in March
. WRG Leader Training Day: a day dedicated to helping leaders and aspiring leaders of Canal Camps, regional groups, local canal societies and anyone else who’s interested
. WRG Training Weekend: an opportunity to learn or practise the skills you’ll need for summer Canal Camps - or wherever else you’re volunteering in 2024
...as this issue goes to print with the last of the 2023 summer Canal Camp reports, we’re already well into planning our work for 2024. We hope to have a programme provisionally put together at the WRG meeting held at the Reunion (so we can start recruiting leaders at the Saturday night party!) and published with the next Navvies. Watch this space...
After concentrating on the Cotswold Canals last time, in this issue we have WRG Canal Camp reports from a selection of sites - starting at Lichfield...
Lichfield Canal Camp: week two 5 to 12 August
Day 1: Arrival Vans RFB and BOB were acquired at different ends of the country and the destination was set; Brownhills Community Centre, our home for the week. The rain wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits, as the set up and kit checks began. Chris and Henry (allegedly he is called Jack but we don’t believe him) got to work organising loading and checking all the site equipment with the team. This includes rather impressively loading all the equipment into one van.
After realising the folly with this plan, the instructions were double checked with Jess (the Boss) and given the nod… so 99% of everything went into the van before finally Colin & Jess, our camp leaders, came to view the work in horror. After rapid disassembly, the van was soon filled with a more minimum amount of kit, much to our leaders’ apologies. It was put down to being an impromptu ‘team building exercise’.
That evening, following on from the much-loved Oscar-winning theatrical cut of the WRG Health and safety video, everyone was introduced or reintroduced to each other via a mystery bag of mini presents from Steve, our Cook. We were also given a wonderful demonstration and run through of the site via a to-scale drawing complete with LEGO-wrgies and mini red WRG vans. Top Notch, Blue Peter badge-winning stuff. Later after a few beers, Colin and Tina had to test our mental prowess with a series of scientific K’NEX/Meccano style build kits as well as enable an arms race between Jordan and Andy. Safe to say many did not manage to finish before clocking off for the night.
Day 2: getting stuck in After a quick tour from Paul of the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust, we got stuck in on site, wary of stray golf balls from the Darnfield Moors Golf Club and glad of our hard hats. The plastic tubing we would be burying later in the week was carried down to the bottom
of the site, Nigel supplying terrible dad jokes with Graham.
Later we were split between two sides of the canal, with Jack, Louise, Will and Rhiannon digging up a route for the plastic tubing/ducting while team two shifted many barrows of stone for the new towpath, Jordan, Andy and Tina making sure it was flat enough and fixing any dodgy looking spots. Meanwhile Jess and Chris sorted arguably the most nervy job, seeing if the dumper could cross the swing bridge without any scuffs.
The day finished with a fantastic beef pie and a trip to the local pub. Despite it being cloudy with scattered showers all day, Jess, El, Andy and Jordan all came back to Brownhills closely resembling tomatoes. Perhaps trying to blend in with the WRG
shirts? Aloe Vera was a welcome pick up from the shop, and that evening we were joined late on by Colin Smith and Pete (the machine!).
Day 3: Paddle to the pub The slow adjustment to our noisy home (and plenty of snores) was starting to settle in. During the day the plan was to continue working on the towpath on one side of the canal while a large excavation trench was dug on the other; phase 1 and phase 2. Will, Jack, Louise, Graham and many others throughout the day worked on digging out the space for ducting and housing boxes for future electrical fittings and services when the canal is eventually in use for moorings (very forward thinking!). Graham pretty much dug all the way to Australia by shovel. On the other side, more barrows of stone were shifted than the average working day at a quarry!
You’d think these tired bodies would have got home and gone right to sleep, but after a rather rapid dinner and the helpful of four enthusiastic instructors, most of the team canoed or kayaked two miles up the canal to the Fingerpost pub and back for a pint. Top marks to Chris who did the first leg on a paddle board without getting soaked.
Day 4: Showers & Pints In particularly damp conditions and the occasional passing shower (which always seems to disappear once Jonathan puts his coat on), the plan for
the day was much the same. A lot of stone to shift, a lot of ducting to fit, and showers to brave. A lot of earth and stone was shifted with the help of dumpers driven by Chris and Rhiannon, the diggers manned by the two Colins. Only one wheelbarrow was pancaked in the process; nothing that a good hammer can’t fix. By the end of the day the trench was fully dug and the towpath had roughly 100m of stone laid down. We also finally found Graham some carpentry as the wooden trim for the path needed redoing. Heading home and kept awake by Nigel’s weapons-grade dad jokes, we arrived back to a delicious pork roast. The now wellfed team were given a presentation by the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust to fill us in on goals of the project, the work site and the current status of the cana… *ahem* I mean “Reservoir and ecology park”. Any progress is good progress! Later some of the team adjourned to the pub for a swift round that quickly became three as even the more hesitant of us such as Andy, succumbed to ‘beer pressure’ as El put it.
Day 5: Tunnels and Pies A shorter day on site led to a few smaller tasks being completed and some time available for people to gain a little experience learning about diggers and dumpers. After finishing up the shuttering for the ducting housing and the shifting of yet another great load of stone, and early finish allowed us to travel to
Laying the new towpath
Dudley, and Dudley Canal Trust’s base of operations next to the Black Country Living Museum. We were given a fun guided tour of the boat tunnels and the history of the mines, wide-eyed with beaming expressions. Two of the team even got to experience ‘legging it’ (moving the boat by pushing their feet on the tunnel walls) to get us out. Tow paths are a luxury underground! The day was ended at the Pie Factory pub, an absolutely brilliant local pub which is you be surprised to learn… makes very good Pies!
Day 6: Big Effort and Beam engines The idea of Thursday was to take it easy as we were fast running out of work. However as you might expect, WRGies are not the best at taking it easy so most of the team gave it large with whatever tasks came to hand. The trench was backfilled by hand, mostly by a very enthusiastic Henry, and the concrete shuttering was finished, with some of concrete work beginning later.
The levelling of the area beside the culvert at the bridge and fitting of trim became another big undertaking. Everyone gave it some welly with shovels, rakes and whatever else to hand, including clearing back weeds with the digger, while we waited for good news regarding the delivery of some stone aggregate.
That evening we paid a visit to Sandfields Pump House and its incredible restored Victorian beam engine. A fantastic project, along with the team behind saving it from demolition and restoring it. As one of our team put it “the Victorians were so wonderfully extra” with regards to their architecture and engineering.
Day 7: Finale The last day coincided with the sudden delivery of a great deal of stone and the need to shift it, as well as finishing the concreting. Maximum effort was given and plenty of squash drunk in order to reach the lunch break with most of the work done. Colin had devised a learning opportunity (but
also a bit of fun) regarding the diggers. A scoop assault course. Mostly everyone who tried, despite the nerves, managed the challenge of navigating a cup of water a full 360 degree circle through different angles and lengths. A rather nervy and hysterically laughing Verena from head office provided the most entertaining successful attempt. Top marks went to Will for completing the challenge and also guiding a golf ball into a cup from a digger all in under 2 minutes.
After returning from site, the usual check-a-thon commenced, but once that had been managed, and one final batch of quality grub from Steve, everyone put their feet up having set things up nicely for Week two.
A great many thanks to Jess, Colin, Tina, Steve and all my fellow volunteers on what was a brilliant week. 100m+ of towpath, 100m+ of ducting fittet and dug, and many, many, many piles of stone and earth shifted (65 tons!), all to help improve this stretch of cana… I mean, Reservoir & Ecology Park.
Jonathan Green
Evening activities included canoeing...
...and having a go at legging in Dudley Tunnel
A second week of towpath laying work, as the volunteers on the Lichfield Canal Camp help to create the Darnford Moors Ecology Park
Canal Camp: week two 29 July to 5 August
The WRG work site for this camp is at Darnford, very close to Lichfield, where a one-mile stretch of canal is being restored as the Darnford Moors Ecology Park.
We are carrying on the tasks of the first week’s canal camp. This includes installing side boarding for the lengths of towpath and landscaping soil to support the external boundaries of the paths. Next, there’s installing the infrastructure underneath and laying ‘type 1’ hardcore to the paths and then compacting it down using a Wacker plate. Sorry if that’s not much in the way of technical details for a WRGie camp report, but it’s enough to keep us busy for the week.
The canal trust is employing a contracting company to do the lining and landscaping of the actual canal itself. Landscaping the canal bed, laying a two-layer waterproof Bentonite clay lining covered by a foot of soil and a stone reinforcement layer where necessary. A serious task as many a WRGie will know from experience.
The contractors have been making slow progress, partly due the bad weather but largely due to the limited supply of stone. This will be a recurring theme for them and WRG during both weeks.
Our accommodation is at the Brownhills Community Centre, familiar to many volunteers as our home base for many past camps and bonfire bashes. This is great accommodation with lots of space and car parking. It is well located and has a dishwasher to boot. Our cook for the week is Steve, so we are set for a cracking week. Talking of cracking, competition time: how many eggs and sausages are going to be cooked during the camp?
Sunday and Monday see the camp making steady progress along the towpaths. Andrew and Yolande spend a whole day doing a great job of clearing out the culvert under the canal which is completely lost in thick reeds. How are we going to get the 1 tonne lump of clay out of the channel? (AnswerSomebody else’s problem!)
Meanwhile, Colin, Tina and Andy have been organising some extracurricular activities. All camp participants are given a Meccano / Lego / Technics challenge. Prizes to be awarded at the end of the camp. That, and roast pork and vegetables for tea. Happy campers!
Monday: rain stops play at lunchtime, so entertainment this afternoon is a quality shopping challenge. To find the best items
The Canal Camp project: Creating a towpath alongside the canal on a one-mile length at Darnford Moors
Why? In parallel with work by contractors to re-line and re-water the channel, this will create a restored length of canal and a local wildlife reserve on the edge of Lichfield.
The wider picture: Ultimately it’s about recreating a route which opens up access from the busy Coventry Canal via Lichfield city to the underused northern Birmingham Canal Navigations.
To Anglesey Basin
Ogley Junction
To Wolverhampton
Length: 7 miles Locks: 30 Date closed: 1955
To Fradley
Diversions to be built to bypass obstructions to restoration
Fosseway Heath work site LICHFIELD
from the local charity shops. the theme of the challenge is “detectives”, thanks to Rex. Maximum spend of £2 per person, after a 3-hour shopping expedition, it results in some splendid finds including: A Scotland Yard board game, a pull along singing police car and a Mugshot photograph chart. Most successful. Cheesy mash and sausages for tea and a splendid cheeseboard including port and stilton for supper.
Tuesday: Fine weather today, 40 tonnes of hardcore to be delivered at 10 o’clock…. erm 2pm… erm …tomorrow. Did you know that manyana does not mean tomorrow, but means “not today”. Lots of ground work is accomplished, but without the hardcore we call it a day.
Building up the manholes to match the finished towpath level
This evening the more adventurous WRGies go off canoeing with the local canoeing club. Three miles along the existing canal. It is not well used so the water is perfectly clear. Our task is to reach the Fingerpost pub, which, when we got there, we find to be shut. Humph!
Wednesday: More of the same…. One delivery of hardcore arrives. Tow path works continue, and we dig a trench and install a substantial overflow pipe for excess water in the canal to go into the brook. The pipework is installed, but not connected and it will have to go through an as yet non-existent hole on the wing wall of the bridge. This is a lovely brick facing backed by a 1-foot-thick concrete wall. Drilling through that will be easier said than done! Emergency lubricant is required to get the pipes to fit together. Problem solved: Tina’s shower gel does the trick.
Evening visit to the Dudley Canal Tunnel and Caverns. An interesting boat trip through the limestone mines underneath Dudley Castle and Zoo. The largest cavern is the size of St Paul’s Cathedral. The canals here reflect the 300-year history of the industrial revolution.
Then on to Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory. World famous in Dudley, this Victorian Black
Country pie factory is now an eccentric restaurant whose menu includes lots of fabulous pies with chips and gravy. Not a vegetable in site. (apart from Yolande’s vegan pie) I can recommend the steak and kidney suet pudding. Fabulous. Andrew goes for the Desperate Dan pie challenge and wants seconds...
Thursday: Work continues with more stakes and side boarding and landscaping. Two manholes previously buried under hard core are excavated and brick work installed to allow the manhole covers to be flush with the ground level. This is all part of the futureproofing of the towpath to have electricity available for moored up boats. No stone again today, which allows for lots of training and practice in using diggers and dumper trucks.
This evening we go to visit the Sandfields Pumping House Museum in Litchfield. The pump house was first built by the South Staffs water company 150 years ago to cure an urgent problem. The industrial revolution was in full swing, and with small manufacturing towns across the Black Country running out of clean water, sanitation and hygiene were dreadful. As a result, there were regular outbreaks of Cholera and other diseases killing thousands. The new water company was able to provide clean water to much of the Black Country. When electric pumps were installed in the 1960s the pumphouse was locked and forgotten. The fabulous old pumphouse
remains. When you go into the pumphouse the main pump is fully intact. Three stories up the main beams of the pumps are all in place, each weighing 22 tonnes. Much speculation as to how they were installed in the first place.
The museum society was only started in 2017 by locals who were afraid Persimmon Homes wanted to demolish this fabulous bit of Victorian engineering – which would be criminal. This is a must go and visit site.
hopefully give the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust a much-needed shot in the arm going forward.
Friday, and we are still waiting for delivery of stone. It turns out that HS2 has ordered all supplies of hardcore for the whole country...
With all the ancillary tasks now finished, it’s time for a game of digger golf. (All in the name of training, of course). Can you get the golf ball into the canal camps mug using a 10-tonne digger? Only Colin achieves the task (show off). But many brave attempts are made.
Just as have cleared the site and are about to leave, a tipper truck of hardcore arrives! Decision time: to leave site, or to unload the tools and get back to work? By democratic decision the stone is loaded into the dumpers and delivered to the towpath and spread-out in record time. The team can now leave the site feeling satisfied that we have done our bit.
Great food for dinner, followed by a film night. Hot Fuzz is the film of the day (another ‘detectives’ treasure trove) and enjoyed by all.
Saturday and the weather is dreadful. Heavy rain all night and morning - boy are we glad we loaded up all the kit into the trailers on Friday night before dinner. Despite the contractors and ourselves suffering from inadequate supplies of stone, the camp has completed all the tasks requested that it could. We have made a significant contribution to the Lichfield canal project, which will
Thanks must go to Colin, Tina and Andy for organising an entertaining week, Steve the cook for his patience, The Litchfield Canal Society for their support and Wilma for teaching us how to speak Dutch.
Rex
PS Competition: How many eggs and sausages are going to be cooked during the camp? 196. Congratulations to Peter, who wins a packet of mixed seeds so that he can grow his own Christmas dinner.
Unusual approach to worksite planning...
A project that (unless you know differently) hasn’t been a venue for a week-long WRG Canal Camp before - Lincolnshire’s Louth Navigation
Louth Canal Camp 12-19 August
Welcome to the Louth Navigation Canal Camp (the one in Lincolnshire, not Ireland).
Another two Mi(c)k(k)s canal camp [ Mick Lilliman / Mikk Bradley], this time in deepest Lincolnshire on the Louth Navigation. We were guests of the Louth Navigation Trust (LNT) whose aim is to preserve the navigation (which ran from Louth town to the mouth of the Humber estuary) as far as possible. We believe that WRG has not worked on this Navigation before [ I’m not so
sure – can anyone remember going there? ...Ed]. The work consists of brickwork repairs to Ticklepenny Lock, a short way out of Louth. It’s a job made more difficult by having the River Ludd running through the lock. The locks on the Louth Navigation are unusual in having barrel sides with vertical wooden beams at the inner edge.
LNT had obtained permission from the Environment Agency who are responsible for the operation of the river. We hoped that nobody had done a rain dance, to ensure a workable level of water in the lock. The objective set by LNT was to complete the brickwork repairs below water level and the buttress wall. We over-achieved by also pointing the second section of buttress wall, completing a repair to the lock wall on the offside and starting to dismantle the buttress wall on the offside. We were able to achieve this only with the help of LNT.
Saturday consisted of everyone turning up in our quaint accommodation, a community and scout hall. One of the jobs to do on the first night was putting suitable covering over some of the windows to keep out the early morning light. Some gaffer tape, tarpaulins and builder’s black sheeting later, and a suitable night-time abode ensued. Our tallest WRGie Daniel came in very useful for the high ceilings. Some of the locals joined us for the WRG safety video and our evening meal.
Sunday saw us at site, introducing the joys of brick-cleaning to newbies Sachin and David S. Sandbags were filled by Richard, David M and Daniel. Mikk and John L put on waders and
started putting sandbags into the lock chamber to gain access to part of the wall where a tree had made its home. What is it about WRGies and waders? In the meantime, Janet, Carol, Susan and Mick started to take the buttress wall back to sound brickwork, making more bricks to be cleaned. Unfortunately, it was noted that the lime delivered to site was hydrated lime and not the required NHL 3.5 lime.
Monday started with heavy rain so we decided to abandon site work as the path down to the work site would have been too slippery for safe access. So Mikk and Mick went for a tour of North Lincolnshire to a stockist of NHL3.5 lime. After a bit of discussion, we decided to spend the (slightly brighter) afternoon doing wader work to remove the tree, with the rest of the volunteers carrying out brick cleaning in the site compound, a safe grassed area.
On Tuesday we had a leaders’ conundrum: we asked the volunteers to check the kit in the trailer but didn’t ask them to check if the diesel cans were full. (Is there a protocol for full/ empty fuel cans?) [ Yes there is – they
Length: 11 miles Locks: 8 Date closed: 1924
The Canal Camp project: Repairs to the brickwork of the walls at Ticklepenny Lock
Why? The lock is a historic structure which has suffered from decay and damage from water running through the chamber and would deteriorate further if left unrepaired
The wider picture: The Louth Navig ation was an 11-mile canal which connected Louth with the mouth of the Humber Estuary at Tetney Haven. Although mostly built as an artificial canal, it made some use of the River Lud in its upper reaches near Louth. It fell into disuse and was abandoned in the 1920s but survived as a water channel because much of it formed part of the local land drainage system. Since the 1980s the Louth Navigation Trust has been working to conserve and restore what survives of the navigation structures, as well as promoting the towpath as a walking route, and restoring the Navigation Warehouse at Canal Head in Louth as a community centre, and generally raising awareness of the Navigation.
should be left empty ...Ed] Quick trip to get fuel and the mixer training could start with Mick L, the locals videoing the training for onward briefing. A star is born?
Mortar duly arrived courtesy of Richard and Rachel so Janet and Carol started laying bricks on the buttress wall, with Mick L starting at the other end. The friendly local reclamation yard kindly delivered two pallets of bricks; we think they were free to the LNT. In the meantime, Mikk and Sachin used a boat to gain access to the more difficult parts of the lock to assess repairs. John L continued to fill one of the voids in the lock wall with recycled bricks, keeping the mortar team busy. Following Monday’s rain, it was noted that the water level in the lock had risen by 4in, good job we followed the Environment Agency’s stipulation that the scaffold boards were removed overnight. After another one of Anne’s fabulous meals, we went to the Navigation Warehouse for a talk
by one of the locals on the history and economics of the Louth Navigation, followed by a few Bateman’s Brewery beers.
On Wednesday good progress was made on all the areas of brickwork with our Duke of Edinburgh’s Award student Sachin adding to his skill portfolio by laying bricks. John H and David M continued filling one of the voids. The mixer dream team of Richard and David S kept the bricklayers happy, only one mix being rejected. Some of the team had an early finish to go to Skegness whilst the remainder stayed on site.
Thursday the weather did its best, lots more bricklaying, mortar mixing, with Richard and David S taken under Mikk’s guidance whilst Rachel remembered how to lay bricks with a bit of help from Mick. John and David M continued facing and filling the void in the lock wall. The locals helped with lock repairs,
pointing and anything in waders. We had a visit from WRG royalty in the form of Jenny Hodgson of Head Office who visited Anne the cook, and the site. In the evening we had a games evening of Pooh Bingo, Dominoes, Jigsaws, assisted by drinks courtesy of the leadership team.
Early Friday morning Sachin arrived back from his ‘A’ Level results day with a place at University to study Mechanical Engineering. On the way to the accom he showed his Mum where we had been working, and she was suitably impressed. At site we laid bricks until the lime mortar ran out; in hindsight we should have obtained another couple of bags. Mikk proved it was possible to lay bricks on the lock wall from a small boat.
Tools counted, trailer packed, van cleaned, showers and another excellent evening meal. Some of the locals joined us for an informal beer and all the WRGies were presented with a goodie bag include a Navigation booklet, pin badge and tea towel.
Food by Anne was as fabulous as ever including the following:
SatBolognese with pastaVeggie feta pasta Brownies, strawberries and cream
SunRoast Pork Mushroom wellingtonPlum and blackberry crumble and custard
MonMikk’s curry extravaganza Mikk’s curry extravaganza Mango lassi
TueChicken and leek casseroleVeggie stewStrawberry crumble plus leftover blackberry crumble
WedBeef stewVeggie casserolePear and brown sugar puddle pudding with ice cream
ThuAnne’s surprise Leftover curryLemon and raspberry cheesecake
FriChicken stew Salmon (pescatarians)Eton mess ice cream
Mikk’s curry extravaganza included poppadoms and pickle for starters, mains including Gajar Kobi Nu Shak, Sri Lankan style sweet potato curry, Aku Shak, Malay Chicken Korma, Cauliflower in Mustard Sauce, Hyderabadi Baingan, rice and saffron rice.
Cakes included a homemade Lincolnshire Plum Loaf plus all the usual cakes.
In all, a good fun camp, with the locals happy and inspired to do more. We would love to come back.
Mick Lilliman
Meanwhile in a park on the outskirts of Brum, Evvo and his team are tackling a tough job while invoking Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs...
Well, isn’t it just amazing how conversations during an evening on a canal camp develop and evolve? New WRGies suddenly become joined at the hip with a bunch of experienced WRGies and there’s no telling what will come up! How to mix lime mortar properly? Lager v bitter? Lemon Meringue Pie v Bread and Butter Pudding? How to cure (or reduce) snoring? Does Deirdre (the Navvies agony aunt) really exist? All camps I have been on have touched on some of these subjects some of the time but one evening in our digs in central Birmingham (not the dig itself but the digs….) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need somehow came up. No, I hadn’t heard of it before and had to do some covert googling under the
table to cover up for my lack of knowledge in such arcane matters of psychology. Upon my return home I did mention this to Mrs Evvo, who said that she had studied this when doing her MSc in HR stuff. Should she have mentioned this to me in case it came up on a canal camp?!
Anyway, moving on… Back in 1943 one Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, wrote a ‘Theory of Human Motivation’ and this hierarchy of need concept helped to illustrate the theory. Now some readers will already be shouting at their Navvies that the only motivation WRGies need, unlike the general human race, is an abundance of mud, good food, cake, biscuits, etc and washed down by a liquid of their choosing each evening.
Such shouting WRGies should not reproach themselves because the foundation of
Length under restoration: 5 miles Locks: none as built
Date closed: 1917 (tunnel collapsed)
To Stourbridge
Dudley No 2
Canal navigable to Hawne Basin
Gosty Hill Tunnel
To Netherton Hawne Basin
The Canal Camp project: Creating the first half of an access ramp connecting the towpath to a bridge in Selly Oak Park
Windmill End California
‘Lapal Canal’ is a name given by canal restorers to the abandoned length of the Dudley No 2 Canal from Hawne Basin to Selly Oak
Why? To provide public access to a length of canal that’s being restored / reconstructed from a new junction with the Worcester & Birmingham Canal into the Park, where visitor moorings will be created. See Navvies 320 for a feature article with full details of this project.
The wider picture: Reopening from the Worcester & Birmingham into Selly Oak Park is the first ste p towards opening the two miles to the surprisingly-named California (yes!) and a new marina at the east portal of Lapal Tunnel. Ultimately Lapal Canal Trust hopes to bypass the collapsed tunnel and open the canal right through to Hawne Basin
Proposed diversion with new locks
Lapal Tunnel (collapsed)
Canal Camp site: Selly Oak Park
To Birmingham
Worcester & Birmigham Canal
Selly Oak
To Worcester
the Hierarchy of Need (often visualised as a pyramid) is physiological need: eg: air, water, food, sleep, shelter, clothing and, quoted widely, reproduction. WRG provides all these staples to the fine people on its camps although perhaps not the reproduction bit. However, it should be noted that a number of romances, marriages and children have occurred because of canal camps. Now is the time to note very quietly that this camp’s accommodation was in the student union at Aston University and we all had our own en-suite bedrooms so who knows if any actions to fulfil a reproductive need took place! No sneaking round the back of the village hall needed on this camp!
Once the physiological needs are satisfied, the need for safety arises. Again, WRG satisfies the needs of its volunteers by providing personal security (a hard hat), employment (no pay though), resources (loads of heavy materials to carry and mix with one’s newest best mate), health (fresh air and exercise) and property (volunteers can keep the gloves they have been using).
In the middle of the five-layer simplified pyramid (let’s not over-complicate things for WRGies by using the extended pyramid) comes the need for love and belonging. Friendship, family and sense of connection are key needs here and also intimacy. Let’s concentrate on the first three as camps readily meld a group of strangers into a family of friends, many of whom will become long-term friends and forever talk about their first and last canal camps and all the camps in between. My Lapal bunch bonded very quickly.
etc are soon gained and very much so when canal restoration / construction is something new WRGies have never attempted before. They will feel good about themselves and be applauded by their new mates. Some may even be called a MUP! Most Useful Person –not necessarily more useful than others and certainly not muppets.
Now we are at the upper pointy bit of the Hierarchy of Need – self-actualisation as Abraham Maslow called it, although he spelled it with a zed, or ‘zee’ as he would have said. This is the desire to become the most one can be, and my camp volunteers achieved this as individuals and as a team which you will see from what we achieved.
Here is the pyramid for you which proves my mention of smutty stuff was justified!
Now those shouters will be back in full voice asking:
“But what on earth did they do on that camp on the Lapal Canal (aka Dudley No 2) in Selly Oak Park, Birmingham between the 5th and 13th August?”
Getting close to the top now and the next need is for esteem . The pyschologists describe this need as providing respect, selfesteem, status, recognition, strength and freedom. These needs are met when volunteers have been briefed, trained and are then able to do important tasks on their own or as leaders of a small task group. Respect,
We turned an informal, sometimes slippery, path on a bank down from a bridge to the towpath into a safe access route – a hardened wheelchair-usable ramp to a landing / resting area at the mid-point of the descent. This was one of those “I have started so I will finish” pieces of work and we realised we would not have the time or resources to complete the lower ramp so a set of temporary steps was built. The lower
ramp to complete the access for people of all abilities will follow soon.
I am not going to tell you that all materials were moved by hand, all the digging (post holes included) was by hand, etc but it was the toughest canal camp I have ever done –physically and mentally. We did allow ourselves some luxuries – to use WRG’s mixer and wheelbarrows and a Wacker plate which came out of the Tardis-like tool van of one of WRG’s finest. Some post holes had to be rather deep and their finishing off sometimes required volunteers to be flat out in the mud (nothing a WRGie likes more) with a hand scrabbling to get the last bit of stone, dirt or whatever out of the hole.
We did enjoy an afternoon’s boating through the caverns of the Dudley No 1 Canal and a sampling of Mad O’Rourke’s pies, as seems to be the tradition when on a Brum camp. The local hostelries served some decent ale; can’t speak for the quality of the lagers.
We did one thing when building the landing area which we don’t think has been done before in canal restoration. We used industrial grade expanded polystyrene (EPS) blocks to provide the infill for the landing area. This EPS has been used in major civil engineering projects like Crossrail so there was good provenance. It was marginally more expensive than ten or so bulk bags of Type 1 but didn’t need compacting. It was carried from lorry-drop to final resting place in minutes instead of our having two days of shovelling, barrowing and compacting torture. A concrete blinding followed by paving slabs gave us the desired surface for the landing area.
Who was on the team? Here they are in all their glory and properly attired to satisfy some of their physiological and personal security needs!
My thanks to all of them, especially Bev and Paul, excellent cook and assistant respectively. Also, many thanks to Hugh H from the Lapal Canal Trust for all his help and for the team’s mug-shots. Lee the Office and Dave the Driver from nearby Travis Perkins were exceptionally helpful and patient. The permissions and actions of many people from Aston Uni and UNITE Students were also very much appreciated; for providing the accommodation (free of charge) to regularly changing our electronic access cards (did I mention our primitive sleeping arrangements?!) and for the many openings and closings of the height restriction barrier at the car park so we could get the vans in and out. If any new or embryo camp leaders are feeling nervous about their first or next camp, don’t fret. You can see that WRG has it all covered and science governs WRG’s looking after its volunteers! Get a laminated copy of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need in your back pocket and all will be well. I might be testing everyone on all this at the next Leaders Training Day on 18 May 2024. Keep on digging
David (Evvo) EvansPS – our welfare area was under the bridge so I didn’t have to worry if the gazebo had a roof this year!
Use of EPS: a first on a canal restoration?
Canals Camps cost £80 per week or as stated. Bookings for WRG Camps with number Court, Asheridge Road, Chesham HP5 2PX. Tel: 01494 783453, enquiries@wrg.org.uk
DateGroup or campDetails
Oct 20-22 NWPG Working party - site To be advised: Wey & Arun or Cotswold
Oct 21-22 wrgBITM To be advised
Nov 4-5 WRG WRG Reunion working party on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canals -
Nov 4-5 London WRG Supporting WRG Reunion on the Monmouthshire & Brecon - see above
Nov 4-5 KESCRG Supporting WRG Reunion on the Monmouthshire & Brecon - see above
Nov 18-19 NWPG Working party - site to be advised: Wey & Arun or Cotswold
Nov 18-19 wrgBITM Maidenhead Waterways: Bray Cut, removing fallen trees
Dec 2-3 KESCRG Joint Christmas dig and party with London WRG on the Wey & Arun Ca
Dec 2-3
London WRG Joint Christmas dig and party with KESCRG on the Wey & Arun Canal
Dec 9-10 wrgBITM To be advised: Christmas Work Party
Dec 26-Jan 1 WRG Possible Christmas / New Year Canal Camp - site to be confirmed. See
Jan 13-14 London WRG Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation (to be confirmed)
Jan 20-21 wrgBITM To be advised
Feb 17-18 London WRG Cotswold Canals, John Robinson Lock (to be confirmed)
Feb 17-18 wrgBITM Maidenhead Waterways (to be confirmed): Bray Cut, removing fallen tr
Mar 16-17 WRG/IWA/BCNS BCN Clean Up, see next Navvies for more information
Mar 16-17
London WRG Supporting BCN Clean Up
Apr 13-14 KESCRG
Joint working party with London WRG on the Wey & Arun Canal
Apr 13-14 London WRG Joint working party with KESCRG on the Wey & Arun Canal
e.g. ‘Camp CC-202302’ should go to WRG Canal Camps, Unit 16B, First Floor, Chiltern . Diary contributions to Dave Wedd, Tel: 07816 175454, dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk
ContactPhoneEmail
Bill Nicholson
01844-343369 bill@nwpg.org.uk
Dave Wedd 07816-175454 dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk
see pages 8-901494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Tim Lewis
anal
07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Ed Walker 07887-568029 ed@edwalker.eclipse.co.uk
Bill Nicholson
01844-343369 bill@nwpg.org.uk
Dave Wedd 07816-175454 dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk
Ed Walker
Tim Lewis
07887-568029 ed@edwalker.eclipse.co.uk
07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Dave Wedd 07816-175454 dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk
WRG website / Facebook page for confirmation of whether and where it will happen
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Dave Wedd 07816-175454 dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
rees
Dave Wedd 07816-175454 dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Tim Lewis
07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Ed Walker 07887-568029 ed@edwalker.eclipse.co.uk
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Back to the Friends of the Cromford Canal’s Beggarlee project with KESCRG and friends, for some more excavation, manhole building and pipe laying...
Were I a lazier person (or perhaps, one with fewer pages demanding to be filled!) I might find it rather tempting to just say “more of the same” and leave at that.
After all, our report in Navvies 320 covered the July four-day working party involving excavation work, the installation of a manhole, and the connecting up of existing and new culvert pipes to it, all in aid of burying an existing land drain deeply enough that when the Beggarlee length of the Cromford Canal is reinstated on its new route, it will pass safely over it with room to spare. And what did we do on the September five-day dig? Well, we did some excavation, we created a manhole, and we laid some pipes, sufficiently deep that… you get the idea?
But actually there were quite a few differences. Starting with the volunteers. In July it had been a small group of experienced volunteers, with representatives of London WRG, WRG BITM, NorthWest, and a couple of ‘WRG tarts’ (“We’ll go with anyone!”) This time it was a KESCRG-led dig, plus a couple of extras including myself. They were there to welcome me as I rolled up at the accommodation in the church hall / community hall at Ironville on the Thursday evening to find that the in-house bar had sadly already shut, but that some kind person had saved me a pint!
We arrived on site on Friday morning to find that there had been some clear
progress by the local Friends of the Cromford Canal volunteers in our absence. The pipework that we’d laid on the first culvert had been extended and buried, and most of our work was going to be on the second culvert. And the work to be done on this culvert marked another change compared to the July dig. Rather than putting in a precast manhole to connect the new section of culvert (to run under where the canal channel was to be built) to the existing culvert (which passes under the A610 road embankment), this time we were going to take the concrete ‘headwall’ forming the exit of the existing culvert, and rebuild it into a concrete ‘box’ that would form the manhole. This was going to involve casting the new walls to compete the box (including a circular hole for the exit pipe); that in turn
was going to require a fair amount of purpose-made shuttering sections; scaffolding would also have to be erected, to support the shuttering and to provide access. Work began on the shuttering, and after various discussions some tower scaffolding was procured courtesy of the kind chaps from the Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association at their nearby Langley Mill base and erected inside what would be the ‘box’.
Meanwhile the first two 900mm diameter sections of the outlet pipe were put in place, with difficulty (and with a couple of excavators). At one point it looked like they were using a two-armed digger! And just to make their job more interesting, they found a giant lump of masonry (probably a remnant of a long-demolished canal bridge) buried where they were deepening the ditch to lay the pipes in. The only way it could be dug out involved moving the excavator to the other side of the ditch, and the only way that they could do that involved filling the ditch in, tracking the digger across it, digging out the lump of masonry, tracking back across, and digging the ditch out again…
I said that most of the work would be on the second culvert, but not quite all of it: one job still to be done on the first culvert was building up a concrete channel in the bottom of the manhole, shaped so that it matched up smoothly to both the inlet and
outlet pipes – and to a small third pipe carrying water from road drains. This, I learned, was called ‘benching’, and had to be done carefully, in stages, and with the right mix to stop it from slumping and leaving any kind of steps or irregularities that could collect silt.
Returning to the accommodation, we were fed a delicious lasagne followed by bread pudding by Anne, before we went to the bar. It’s great having a bar next door. It’s even better when there’s a short-cut via our own door straight into the bar…
Back on site on Saturday, and there was more work to be done to complete the benching inside the manhole on the first culvert.
Meanwhile on the second culvert, amid what my notes describe as “much reversing of vans and trailers” there were more pipe sections to be added, and it didn’t seem to get any easier to get them lined up and connected, as the first one took all morning. But after that, by what my notes say involved “lots of lubricant and scraping off any rough bits” it started to go a bit more smoothly, with three more lengths installed and an ‘elbow’ joint.
While this was going on, Dave S had got a shuttering workshop in full swing, producing all the various shaped pieces
High Peak Junction
The project for the working party: Putting in pipe culverts and associated work at Beggarlee, Langley Mill, to extend existing land drainage r unning under the A610 road embankment
Why? To replace existing drainage ditches with pipes laid deep enough that the new canal channel can be built above them as part of the Beggarlee Project - see next page.
Length: 14½ miles
Locks: 14
Date closed: 1900-1944
Butterley Tunnel Ambergate Sawmills
Beggarlee working party site
Cromford Erewash Canal to the Trent Langley Mill
Ironville Pinxton
The wider picture: The Friends hope eventually to reopen the entire canal through from Langley Mill to Cromford. There are difficulties including the missing Bull Bridge Aqueduct (over the main road and railway) near Ambergate, the collapsed Butterley Tunnel and the need to work sensitively in par tnership with wildlife groups. However there is a restored length with trip-boat from Cromford to High Peak Junction, and work has been carried out at other sites includin Sawmills and the Pinxton Arm.The Beggarlee Project will open up of the southern length extending north from Langley Mill (head of the Erewash Canal and a link to the national waterways network). It will represent a major step forward towards full restoration by putting the Cromford back on the waterways map.
necessary for creating the concrete box. In order to be ready to set up the shuttering, the rest of us put up a traditional ‘tube and clip’ scaffold which would support the shuttering as well as providing a platform for barrowing and tipping concrete. And to bond the new concrete to the old, a series of holes were drilled in the existing structure and rebar secured in them with resin, while the surface of the concrete was attacked with a breaker to roughen it up – this being known as ‘scabbling’, not to be confused with the well-known word game...
Th use of showers at a local football club had been organised for us by FCC – my notes, rather cryptically, say “Men hot. Women locked in.” Make of that what you will…
Roast pork was followed by crumble, and that in turn was followed by a brisk walk up a steep hill to the Moulders Arms.
Saturday’s new word:
was time to assemble enough of the completed shuttering and reinforcing for the first part of the concrete pour. The shuttering was perfect – as Mick put it, “spot on the dog’s bollocks” (that’s what my notes say, it must be true!) – but sadly the existing wall wasn’t quite as perfect. But a certain amount of foam filled the gap.
Two electric mixers were set up, and despite it being the hottest day of the year so far, we did the first part of the pour in approximately 40 minutes.
There was also some shifting of materials by dumper: gravel for the bed for the pipes, and to start covering them, and soil for filling holes and generally levelling the site.
Sunday and the pipe laying crew only managed two sections – but that’s because they’d reached the end of the job. Although apparently they were troubled by “rising water / underwater lubrication”. Meanwhile it
Steve D and I walked back to the accommodation via the route of the old canal, trying not to get too despondent about the state of the first section (it was obliterated by opencast mining since the canal shut, and reopening it would be more of a new canal than a restoration) but being encouraged by the generally good condition of the Ironville Locks (all bar the demolished top lock), spotting various bits of old railway and other industrial relics, and dodging the trip to the showers.
The Beggarlee Project will reopen the first 1.25km of the Cromford Canal northwards from Langley Mill, terminus of the Erewash Canal. This is not an easy length to restore as it was blocked in the 1980s by the construction of the new A610 Langley Mill bypass road.
Creating a new navigable culvert to carry the restored canal through the road embankment on the original route would be prohibitively expensive and difficult, but an alternative exists in the form of a bridge which was built to carry the road over a freight railway siding which served a coal mine. The mine closed not long after the road was completed, but the unused bridge still stands and can be used to carry a diverted canal. However this is not a straightforward job, for several reasons. Firstly the siding ran east-west while the canal runs north-south, so the new channel will need two very sharp bends. Secondly the bridge wasn’t built to carry the weight of a waterway on its foundations, and thirdly it’s at an awkward height relative to the canal. The solution to these latter two issues is to build a pair of staircase locks (replacing two single locks on the original route) to raise the canal to a level such that it can then be carried through the old railway siding bridge on an ‘aqueduct’ structure suppor ted by abutments on either side of the bridge, rather than putting any of its weight on the bridge foundations.
Site for winding hole and end of initial Begqarlee project
Original canal route blocked by A610 embankment
Planned canal diversion using old railway siding bridge
Route of old railway siding New staircase locks planned
Current work site
Culvert ‘B’: main focus of Sep dig
Culvert ‘A’: main focus of July dig
Dinner was paella followed by blueberry and cinnamon tray bake. Then another brisk walk up the steep hill to the Moulders, where…
Sunday didn’t generate any new words on site, but the evening in the pub led to the surprising discovery (thanks to the pub quiz) that malaria was spread by the Sexy Fly, while the cryptic words ‘Inspector Somersby’ and ‘cider’ appear in my notes.
Monday was the day that I skived off (sorry, went on an important waterways photo-shoot) – and so I missed the second part of the concrete pour. Note that I said ‘second part’ not ‘second half’ – it was a rather larger part than Sunday’s, and once the final sections of shuttering and reinforcing had been secured in place it took something like two and a half hours to mix and pour about 1.4 cubic metres. So it was a fairly knackered team that I met when I got back to the accommodation in the evening. Apparently “Penny saved the day” as regards showers, although she “interrupted the bingo” in the process. Blimey, naked bingo?
Tuesday: all complete, ready to be buried under a canal
Meanwhile Anne had departed, but had left us with a pre-cooked cottage pie and crumble, following which we took a brisk walk up the steep hill to find that the Moulders doesn’t open on Mondays and the other pub had just shut early.
Monday’s new word: perhaps it’s a measure of exactly what I missed by being away that all I could get out of those who’d been on site was “knackered” and “hot”…
Tuesday’s main jobs were to strike the shuttering and then dismantle it, to take down the scaffolding, and to admire our pristine new concrete box before it’s buried underground for ever. In fact we began the process, with some burying of the completed pipe sections. Although some parts of the Beggarlee project – such as creating the new canal channel under the old railway bridge – will be done by professional contractors, there will still be plenty more work for both FCC
and visiting volunteers on this important site. In the immediate future, completion of these land drainage works will involve:
. Completion of covering of the culvert
. A top on the new chamber
. An inspection ladder in the new chamber
. Head walls on the outfall of both culverts
. Site levelling ready for channel construction
…and a work party is being planned for November to continue the work. And yes, it means that once again, we’ll end up with almost nothing to show for our hard work except a couple of manhole covers. But it’s necessary work that was critical to satisfying the terms of the planning permission for the site, and forms a crucial part of what will be a very interesting project engineering-wise, an all-too-rare extension of the navigable canal network, and a major step forward towards the Friends of the Cromford Canal’s longterm aims of reopening through to Cromford. Martin Ludgate
Taking an in-depth look at the Buckingham Canal as it celebrates the
Buckingham Canal Section One, Diana, and then what?
A lot has been happening recently with the Buckingham Canal Society who have a “new” dredger and have just opened another 500m of restored, navigable and connected waterway!
On Saturday 2nd September, actor and waterways enthusiast David Suchet and Braunston Marina’s Tim Coghlan joined the Buckingham Canal Society (BCS) team at Cosgrove to re-name the Society’s ex-Canal & River Trust dredger in memory of Tim’s late wife, Diana.
Diana adds narrow channel dredging capacity to the BCS team’s growing fleet. She has already had the original Lister engine rebuilt and is currently undergoing renovation to restore her appearance and ensure that all equipment is in full working order. Nearly all the work was done by BCS volunteers led by Alan Mynard and Gerry Millard supported by Colin Levett, Matt Lane, and several others in the team.
The inaugural deployment of the operational dredger on the Buckingham Canal was to remove the last few stop planks from under Bridge One enabling navigable access to this 500m section of the arm.
The first length west of Bridge 1 is known as Section One due to it being the first 500m section in need of restoration. ‘Section Zero’ is the 238m length of canal from the junction with the Grand Union at Lock 21 to the rebuilt Bridge 1 on the arm, which has historically been used as mooring. The 500m Section one is defined by two features: Bridge One and a farm crossing created in the late 1960’s that effectively forms a dry channel breach in the towpath bank.
In consultation with a range of engineers over the years, recommendation has always been to segment the restoration and rewatering to enable control. So, a narrows has been constructed at the farm crossing with stop planks fitted to form a water control section.
Water has been added and taken away for the past three years to identify and enable resolution of leaks in the clay liner. The clay has been patched with bentonite granules and in some case the leaks have been partially remediated by digging a narrow ‘slit trench’ along the towpath and in filling with clay. A couple of more significant leaks ar e anticipated to need piling and this work is scheduled for the next three to five months.
SectionFrom ToDistance Water depth comment
ZeroMarker postBridge 1238m 0.9m nominalOriginal part of arm at junctionstop planksnavigation depth used for moorings
OneBridge 1Farm crossing 501m 1.4m navigation Section opened stop planksstop planks depth2 Sep 2023
TwoFarm crossingOil pipeline 290m0.75mClay liner on bed stop planksbundrehydrating
ThreeOil pipeline Bridge 2 480m0.1mClay bed bundrehydrating
FourBridge 2Dogsmouth 265mDry brook culvert
FiveDogsmouthA5 Access 239mDry Brook culverttrack
Section 1 is complete; sections 2 to 5 will extend navigation to the A5
In January 1992, the small team who became the original trustees of the BCS met after a crazy thought by Mike Freeman: “we can restore the Buckingham Arm”. As with all such great visions, Mike says it seemed a little whimsical, but they agreed to try! From there the
reopening of the first section of canal at Cosgrove and arrival of a new dredger
Society collected memorabilia, created an archive, collated records, and information. Practical work included the inevitable scrub bashing and bonfires as well as some visits by WRG regional groups to help with spillweir brickwork and other structures.
In 2007 one of the only two locks on the Buckingham Canal was stabilised using a grant from the Landfill Community Fund. Following his daughter seeing the press coverage and wanting to do a skills section for her Duke of Edinburgh
Length proposed for restoration: 10 miles Locks: 2 (originally) Date closed: 1944 (see below)
What canal restorers call the Buckingham Canal was built as two branchesof the Grand Junction Canal (now the Grand Union). the Old Stratford Arm opened in 1800 from a junction with the main line at Cosgrove to Old Stratford, followed the next year by the Buckingham Arm which continued for another nine miles from Old Stratford via two narrow locks to Buckingham. For the following century the canal carried a modest but regular trade. However silting at the Buckingham end (not helped by the town discharging its sewage into the canal) led to the ending of trade there by the early 20th Century, and on the rest of the route by the 1930s. In 1944 the canal was dammed at Cosgrove Bridge 1, but in theory it remained legally open. The Buckingham Arm was finally abandoned in 1964 and since then has suffered from infilling, blockages and demolition of structures. The Old Stratford Arm was never legally abandoned - but this didn’t prevent the demolition of Bridge 1 or the construction of the new A5 from blocking it, creating one of the more serious challenges for canal restorers.
Final length not currently proposed for restoration
Proposed diversion
Original line blocked by A5 and A422
Bridge No 16 Little Hill Farm Bridge restored work site
Award, Terry Cavender got involved and now holds the post of Executive officer and Trustee.
2015 saw the first section in water at Bourton meadow, near Buckingham, created to show the Society was serious. Over the COVID pandemic this became immensely popular with locals for taking children out into nature and walking dogs. Deliberately planted with ‘locally prevalent’ plant species, twelve different butterfly types have been recorded along with dragonflies, damselflies, bees, toads, six types of fish… the list goes
on. This section is now used to evidence biodiversity outcomes and vision to grant funders.
The BCS went on to start the excavation and rebuild of Bridge One at Cosgrove, with survey and excavation commencing in 2016 through to the finished rebuild and opening to farm traffic in 2021 (after construction was allowed at a reduced speed during the COVID period). People often ask, why could it not be a traditional looking bridge? The short answer is that this is what the heritage advisors wanted: a modern bridge built on top of and contrasting to the historical ruins. The original remains are retained and visible, including grooves worn in the masonry by the towropes of horse-drawn boats, amassed over a hundred plus years of operation. Next came rewatering, with various discussions and solutions considered, supported by several members of the CRT team from the East Midlands. Rehydration and wetting of the original clay liner worked well with just a few leaks. Resolution of those has gone through a range of solutions with a couple of them heading for being piled over the coming months.
The efforts of the volunteers and visiting WRGies have been noted by those who walk part or all of the route which forms a section of the Ouse Valley long distance footpath from Water Eaton to King’s Lynn.
Bourton Meadow at Buckingham is a 420m section of canal that is fully in water. It is kept topped up by a solar powered pump drawing water from the nearby River Great Ouse with an Environment Agency abstraction licence.
Hyde Lane Buckingham Canal Nature Reserve is owned by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust and leased to BCS. It is the site of one of only two original locks on the whole eleven miles of canal route as the canal follows the Great Ouse valley and is a ‘contour canal’. BCS have installed a solar powered pump that is slowly lifting water from the stream below the lock into the canal bed to rehydrate the clay liner and allow any wildlife to relocate as the level slowly rises.
The Buckingham Canal is made up of two original canals: the Old Strafford Arm of the Grand Union and the Buckingham Arm of the Grand Union. BCS found that this just did not fit on grant forms! So, in agreement with British Waterways, prior to their transformation to the charity CRT, it was agreed it would be referred to as the Buckingham Canal.
Terry says, “We love the naysayers with the ‘It will never happen’ and ‘not in my lifetime’ comments. They motivate us to crack on and deliver!” His favourite one was “You will never build a bridge” –oh, so wrong they were! Next on the naysayers’ list is the new A5, crossing the canal at its original
Hyde Lane nature reserve and ‘stabilised’ lock fitted with second-hand gates
water level and blocking its progress along the original line. Discussions have been happening over the past decade with what is now National Highways (NH) to propose an alternative route, creating three miles of new canal with new locks passing under the A5, this being the BCS’s preferred route. Discussions continue with NH and landowners, and prospects are looking positive as regarding overcoming the A5 challenge, albeit with some major construction work ahead.
Adjacent landowners have separate visions for their own land and BCS have support from CRT and relevant councils to protect the route and create the new descent channel with its biodiversity outcomes high on the benefits list.
“Be opportunistic” is the Society’s mantra. BCS would like to see the canal re-opened, using the original line wherever possible. The restoration of the canal brings new life, new recreational opportunities and new environmentally friendly businesses to the countryside and towns between Cosgrove and Buckingham. Restoration projects elsewhere in the UK have overcome much greater obstacles than any found on the line of the Buckingham Canal.
The Society recognises that restoration is a long-term project which will involve major investment but when the canal is restored it will bring considerable benefits to the areas through which the restored canal passes.
And finally...
Terry has a favourite slide that typically ends all his presentations. Here it is (right). Thanks for reading.
A message to Navvies readers from Terry Cavender...
As described in the article, we have now opened 500m of canal on the Buckingham Arm at Cosgrove.
. Firstly a huge thanks to all that have helped in whatever way over the years
. Secondly, a mini moment of motivation as I again shout “Keep the restoration faith!” even in these uncertain times
. And thirdly as a bonus, an offer you can’t refuse... We now have ‘Diana’ the narrow dredger (ex CRT) and our wide beam crane boat along with our on loan tug, mud hopper and work-flat. We also have a second wide beam dredger which we were donated and would like to pass on to a good home in the restoration sector. If you are able to make use of and help find a new home for ‘Percy’ please contact terry.cavender@ buckingham canal.org.uk
At the Malswick site where WRG volunteers worked on the 2022 camps, the H&G Canal Trust has put more of the new canal channel in water
The Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust now has more of our route in water at Malswick, scene of last year’s WRG Canal Camps: see picture (right) and a drone picture from Steve Wright (below left.) More views of the Malswick site and the great progress we have made can be seen on our YouTube site . We are looking at around 600 metres in water by the end of the year. The bottom right picture is a view continuing down towards Gloucester. We own the nearby wooded area and then the next bit of woodland until we get to the road. A road crossing will have to be made just about the top of the picture. The lock at this point had a rather plain name although suitable for its location - Road Lock. We would be happy to change the name should anyone want to sponsor its restoration!
More progress on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust’s project to turn the buildings at Wappenshall Junction into a canal centre
The Wappenshall Wharf Team of volunteers has done a great job on the project to create a canal centre using the old buildings at Wappenshall Junction (where the Shrewsbury and Newport canals meet) since the last edition of Navvies.
The floor screed in the smaller warehouse has now cured and has been sanded ready for tiling. All timber windows have now been installed and finish painted and the cast iron windows that need to be replaced will be cast by St Gobain Ironworks in Ketley in the first week of September. These will then be installed and glazed. First fix plumbing and electrics will commence by mid-October, and then the internal fit out can begin. The toilet block roof was finally completed to make the building water-tight.
The stable block walls have been part built inside the Romney Building (the big green metal structure - see photo, above right). This building will shortly be sold off and taken away, so we have acquired a 40’ shipping container to temporarily house our tools and equipment. Once the stable block has been built we will move these into it and sell off the shipping container. Meanwhile elsewhere on the canal, one of our newer sections that has been worked on over the past few months is at Rodington. Here (opposite, bottom) is a shot of the recently exposed site of the lift bridge that was once here. Sensitive negotiations are ongoing with the landowner, but we are confident that the bridge can be re-built. This will be a thing of beauty to behold as you drive into the village from the east and will make a clear statement of the intentions of our Trust to restore the canal.
Bernie Jones
Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers are preparing to test whether the next length of canal will hold water - or whether it will need relining...
Following the completion of restoration and reopening earlier this year of the Gronwen Bridge to Crickheath Wharf section of the canal, Shropshire Union Canal Society’s volunteers have moved on to the next section, 750 metres of channel from Crickheath to the demolished Schoolhouse Bridge (currently being rebuit by contractors), which is known as the Crickheath South Project. It is further divided up into phases, with efforts currently focused on the Phase 1A and 1B sections at the Crickheath end. Early stages of work include trial rewatering of sample lengths of each of these sections, to assess how much channel lining will be needed to make the finished canal watertight.
Wet Wet Wet! Possibly a slight exaggeration since we missed the very worst of Storm Antoni, though for those hardy volunteers present on Saturday a completely accurate description. But true to form, much progress was made.
Trust has received a grant from National Grid for environmental improvements to the Montgomery Canal at Crickheath which Society volunteers are delivering. The works comprise 320m of towpath reconstruction in the Phase 1B section of the Crickheath South project, followed by hedging and tree planting in the autumn. This work party saw the start of towpath works and a total of 55m was completed by Sunday.
Following Canal & River Trust approval of the trial dam construction last work party, two clay dams across the channel were completed and a further two will be constructed next work party. These are required to section off areas of the channel which will be water tested in October. Although temporary, these are substantial structures finished to a high degree of craftsmanship as the pictures illustrate.
Also in advance of the water testing, a 20m section of the channel bank in Phase 1A was restored where the towpath was below the required level. This was effected in a quasi-traditional way with a layer of clay covering the aggregate used for the repair. In the 21st century, the back of a digger bucket replaced trampling by a flock of sheep for puddling the clay to make it watertight! Clay for this repair and the temporary dams was all salvaged from the previous project thereby saving the cost of buying what is now an extremely costly material.
Work on repairs to the wharf wall and wash wall continued. This time, Hari and Peter from National Rail spent a company volunteer day with their colleague Mike making a first-rate repair to a section of the wharf wall. Many thanks to them for donating their time. A few more of the existing copings were replaced on top of the repaired wharf wall. Much of the remainder is now expected to wait till next summer once additional copings have been sourced. On the wash wall, young person volunteer Josh tried his hand with lime mortar repairs under the watchful eye of Margaret and received a glowing commendation.
Congratulations are also due to Kelly, Tim and Paul who spent a couple of days getting ticketed as tracked dumper operators and put their new-found skills to good use transporting 40 tonnes of aggregate from the compound to the towpath works.
Stump saga update: it’s a bit smaller! Society pyrotechnicians were at work on Friday doing such a good job that not even Storm Antoni could put out the fire. A varied and productive work party.
What a difference a month makes! Summer is coming to an end yet the weather appears to have finally remembered what it should be doing. In warm, sunny and benign conditions a number of milestones were achieved.
Preparations for the pilot scheme water tests in October are now complete. Two further clay dams were built and there is now a test area in both the Phase 1A and Phase 1B sections. These combined have a capacity of approximately 1,500 cubic metres. All arrangements for testing have been made and a large pump has been hired to fill these at the next work party with water being supplied from Crickheath Basin.
A substantial amount of surveying was undertaken including channel profiles, also in support of the pilot scheme. Enormous thanks are due to expert guidance received from
former volunteer Julian who gave up his whole weekend to assist. This work also provided an opportunity to use some of the recently purchased tools funded by a grant from the Northern Canals Association (the first of three separate grants mentioned in this report).
With substantially more favourable weather conditions than last work party, magnificent progress was made constructing the towpath in Phase 1B funded by the grant from National Grid. A total of 83 metres was added to last month’s tally – no mean feat given the unforgiving nature of the existing towpath with very stoney ground and many large tree roots to negotiate.
Work continues on the tramway wharf wall, of which 69 metres has now been repaired and approximately 20 metres remains to be started. A total of 31 linear metres of new coping stones have now been ordered, funded by the grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology. It is expected these will take 2-3 months to produce and most likely will be installed next year. It is anticipated that a further 14-16 linear metres of copings will be required to replace all the unusable ones from the original wall. Work is underway to source these.
Repairs to Crickheath Bridge wash wall on the towpath side have continued apace. This job is now nearly finished. A few metres of wall top remains which will be completed next month.
And the final milestone to mention: Monty’s Brewery will be starting to bottle Navigation Pale Ale in the autumn. A sample case was provided to work party volunteers (for consumption off site) which, unsurprisingly, met with full approval.
Completion of Pipps Ford Lock means that there are now four consecutive restored locks on the Gipping - and hopes for a trip-boat on this length
Ipswich to Stowmarket Navigation (River Gipping) - Suffolk.
River Gipping Trust volunteers have now completed all Restoration work planned within Pipps Ford Lock along the river Gipping. Volunteers cut grooves in the brick lock chamber walls in front of and behind the lock gate locations and installed steel channels in the grooves flush to the walls to secure the stop planks. A concrete base was constructed in the lock underneath both stop plank locations with a wooden cill embedded into the concrete, to stop water flowing underneath.
Four stop planks have been installed in the upstream lock grooves to help maintain a more consistent river level above the lock in summer and to create a flow through the
Needham Market
Needham Lock
Creeting Lock
Pipps Ford Lock
Baylham Lock
Locks named in red are restored apart from installing lock gates
Stowmarket Navigation (River Gipping)
Length: 16 miles
Locks: 15
Opened: 1793
Closed: 1934
bywash which was completed in 2019. It is hoped that fish stock levels will increase above the lock with the installation of the stop planks. River levels above this lock have been consistently low during the summer, often just 150mm deep.
This restoration work brings Pipps Ford Lock up to the same level of restoration as Bosmere, Creeting and Baylham locks. All four now fully restored except lock gates. All four locks were engineered by John Rennie in 1792 and are most probably his four oldest locks remaining in Britain; the navigation being his first completed canal project in 1793.
Over the past few years the Trust have had numerous attempts at damming off the river, but all failed. This time the Trust asked OnSite to install their Portadams and with a Selwood 4-inch pump running 24 hours per day the operation was a complete success.
The next time the lock will be pumped dry will be when lock gates are installed, hopefully within the next 5 years, allowing an electric trip boat to take passengers between the very popular Needham Lakes and Baylham Rare Breeds Farm. One more step completed towards navigational restoration. With thanks to OnSite Portadams, Selwood Pumps and Buildbase for their invaluable assistance.
The only true canal in Norfolk, the North Walsham & Dilham, is looking to host some WRG volunteers in the not too distant future...
Walsham and Dilham Canal Canal restoration in Norfolk
Since our Canal Trust has become increasingly disentangled from the pandemic it has become clear that the lockdown period had been a fertile time. Our colleagues Graham and Mark have built a replica wherry (the traditional sailing craft of the Broads) that fits the canal locks. I published a slim volume on species reintroduction in Devon. A good number of members have returned to active volunteering and one of our farmer canal owners has put increasing emphasis on farm diversification using the restored canal to enhance the touristic side of his business.
The transport links to North Norfolk can go no further, you cannot travel through North Norfolk to anywhere else. Perhaps that means that both our resident community and visitors value their surroundings especially the safe calm waters of the millponds and pounds of the canal.
In addition to building links in Norfolk, members of the Trust have actively visited
conferences, attended Wildlife Trust meetings and zoomed in on the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Waterways to measure the National picture.
At the CRT/IWA conference in the Spring of 2022, the canal community were advised that we had missed available Government funding for now, and to cultivate council officers who may have short term funding to distribute.
At the Staveley meeting of the Northern Canals Association the message to take back to Norfolk from Pat Moss, George Rogers, Alison Smedley, Mike Palmer and others was clear. Private canal restoration outside the network was possible.
At Bradley we discovered that lock gates could be a DIY exercise and that our canal in Norfolk had fortunately not been used as a convenient landfill site.
The conclusion that we drew in Norfolk was that in the medium term there will be sailed, paddled and battery powered craft using the navigation. However, in the short term we are offering a watery space to peo-
The North Walsham & Dilham Canal, opened in 1826, was an extension of the River Ant (one of the Norfolk Broads rivers), which climbed through six locks to terminate at Antingham Pond.
Antingham Pond
Swafield Locks
North Walsham
It was intended as an ‘agricultural canal’, aimed at taking farm produce out and bringing in coal, but was not a commercial success. The top end above Swafield Locks was abandoned in 1893; the remainder carried some trade until 1934 after which it fell derelict although it was never legally abandoned.
Bacton Wood Lock Ebridge Lock
Length: 9 miles
Locks: 6
Opened: 1826
Closed: 1934 (trade ended, never legally abandoned)
Briggate Lock Honing Lock
Despite 80 years of abandonment, most of the route survives and much is still in water, only one bridge has been culverted, and the six locks still exist. In 1972 it was said that it would be easy to restore – but it wasn’t until 2008 that the North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust was launched. Since then restoration has included rebuilding of Bacton Lock, as well as work on Ebridge mill pond and the adjacent spillway which WRG helped rebuild during the summer 2017 Canal Camps programme.
Dilham
Dilham
Dyke
River Ant
ple who do not sail on the north Norfolk coast, who cannot afford to hire on the broads but bring their small craft to splash about in our safe waters. The Trust is purchasing gantries and training a new group of volunteer members to have the skills to make our own top lock gates.
Our Trust’s aims state that we support and enhance the canal‘s neighbouring communities, protect the ecologically important river catchment and restore navigation to the whole canal.
To achieve those aims we will welcome the WRGies next year to support the restoration of two locks, Ebridge and Briggate.
We have introduced a programme of Open Days to encourage a mobile volunteer workforce and to show the canal is an alternative link to isolated rural communities.
A measure of our momentum is our first Canal Festival which was due to be held this September as this issue of Navvies was being put together. Set in a wild river valley it would be no Little Venice or Ware Festival, but it will have reflected the green nature of the canal –with not a diesel generator on site.
As a result of good relations with our local district council officers we have at-
tracted Rural England Shared Prosperity Funding to open full navigation to small craft. This is the beginning of an exciting project that will require restored wing walls and stop planks to ensure those small craft can float and puts this little off-network canal properly into the canal community.
David Batley
Whilst the Wey & Arun Canal Trust (WACT) has had no show stopper project over the past three years, volunteer work parties still form the core of the Trust’s on site activities. Supporting the teams are the Trust’s full time employees Dave Evans and Adam Rayner without whom progress would be significantly diminished.
During each week there is at least one Canal Trust work party out on the canal on every day except Friday. Weekends are generally left free for the visits from visiting groups (London WRG, KESCRG, WRG Forestry and NWPG are regular supporters). We also usually run a dig on the third Saturday of each month so that those who are still unfortunate enough to have to work for a living can get out onto the canal.
Birtley has been the worksite for the Eric Walker Group (EWG), working two days each week there during the past 12 months. This is a 900 metre length of canal south of
Bramley acquired by WACT in 2018. On this length, as well as clearance and dredging, two lifting bridges are needed to replace earth causeways built across the canal since it closed. The base structure for the southernmost bridge (‘Bridge 1’) was started and completed over the summer of 2019 –work which was supported by three weeks of WRG Canal Camps.
The northern bridge (‘Bridge 2’) was more challenging for EWG for a number of reasons. First it is on a bridleway requiring not only planning permission but design approvals from the highways authority. Not easy, as Surrey County Council had never encountered a lifting bridge before. Second, there was a 4 inch gas main running through the causeway which had to be diverted. Finally there was a continuous supply of water running into the canal right next to where we needed to move the gas pipe. In order to reduce the cost of moving the main, the EWG took on the excavation and preparation work of cutting (or trying to cut) a deep trench though running sand.
Length: 23 miles Locks: 26 (originally) Date closed: 1871
The Wey & Arun Canal was historically built as two separate waterways. First came the River Arun Navigation, opened in1790 which extended navigation five miles northwards from the limit of the tidal Arun via an artificial canal passing through three locks (and one flood lock) to reach Newbridge in 1787. This was followed by the Wey & Ar un Junction Canal, which linked Newbridge to the River Wey (Godalming Navigation) near Shalford. It was 18 miles long with a further 23 locks.
Bramley River Wey to the Thames Shalford
Birtley liftbridges work site
The main objective of building the Wey & Arun was to create an inland through route from London to Portsmouth and the South Coast (in combination with the Portsmouth & Arundel Canal). However by the time the canal opened in 1816 there was less need for such a route, as the war with France was over and newer coastal shipping was more capable of making the formerly hazardous journey around the coast.
Bonfire Hanger work site
Restored Loxwood
So the canal never really prospered (matters weren’t helped by water supplies not being par ticularly plentiful), but it carried a modest trade for nearly 40 years until a railway opened parallel to its route in 1865.
The canal was abandoned in 1871; the River Arun Navigation section lasted a few years loner but closed in 1888.
the length of the Wey & Arun Canal, ‘London’s lost route to the sea’...
The Bridge 2 support structure differs from that at Bridge 1, being built on bored piles rather than a concrete raft. Contractors put these in before the EWG excavated the causeway. In their digging, the team found brickwork from a former swing bridge, details of which were duly recorded and artefacts saved.
The brick faced concrete abutments and wing walls were built by the EWG during the first half of 2023 ready for the installation of the lifting bridges both of which were contracted to Beaver Bridges. Incidentally, this is the same company that is currently building School House Bridge on the Montgomery Canal. EWG volunteers have provided site support during the bridges’ installation in September; they have removed the causeway that Bridge 1 now replaces; and they are preparing the whole area for the formal opening of the section at the end of October.
Moving south to Dunsfold: although not volunteer work, mention should be made of massive job to desilt the canal alongside the former airfield. This work is being carried out to enable the canal to be used for surface water drainage for the 3,000+ houses and employment permitted for the airfield site. This is vital work as it will provide nearly a mile of fully restored deep water canal channel at no cost to WACT.
Tickners Heath is the site of a road crossing at the southern end of the newly dredged section, where the original bridge has long been demolished and the road crosses the canal on a causeway only just above water level. WACT has planning permission to divert the canal under the road at a different location to the original crossing point, facilitating construction of a new bridge. The Northern Working Party (NWP) and WRG Groups under Dave Evans’ leadership have com-
pleted the first part of this work including a new bridleway bridge and the entrance to the canal diversion leading to it. A lot of utility work (diversion of buried pipes and other services) has also been done including the sub-base for a temporary diversion that will take the road around the main construction site for the new road bridge. Work on the main bridge will be carried out by contractors. However before this happens, a 6 inch water main has to be diverted by Thames Water and significant funds have to be raised. When the work is done, there will be much work for volunteers to do including digging out the rest of the new channel and constructing an accommodation bridge to link the canal back to its original line.
At Bonfire Hanger on the Surrey/ Sussex border, the Trust’s Mid-Week Working Party (MWWP) has been busy clearing trees and scrub along a recently acquired 900 metre length of canal. The section includes the sites of three locks in the Sidney Wood Flight of nine that lead up to the canal’s summit level from the south. The MWWP is the largest of WACT’s volunteer groups and often splits into separate teams that head off to different locations along the canal every Wednesday. A clearance rather than construction team, recent work sites have included the Pallingham section on the former Arun Navigation and Hunt Park at Shalford –the southern and northern extremities of the canal respectively. MWWP’s current work at Bonfire Hanger is to provide a bridleway of good surface and width which will also improve access to the canal generally. As part of this work a number of larger towpath trees have to taken down (for example those suffering from ash die back) and may be dealt with by WRG Forestry during their forthcoming autumn camp.
On to Loxwood, and this section’s vandalism problems in the spring (in which backpumping equipment installed to return water used by lock operation was badly damaged) have been well documented. The Northern Working Party have spent most of the summer months dealing with the fallout. Brick pump control structures, each with steel doors and concrete roofs, have been erected at four locations and a new duct has been laid along the towpath to Baldwins Knob Lock - the existing cable not being up to scratch for the new pump that is to be installed there. The
slogan is that we are “building back better”! The new controls and pumps meaning simpler and less time consuming water management in the future with data on water levels etc being provided to a mobile phone. This work has been supported by WRG visiting groups and very good response to a fund raising appeal.
Other work on this section has included the removal of a large number of trees suffering from ash die back. This started in 2022 and will continue through to the bird nesting season in 2024 if not beyond. WRG Forestry, visiting groups and the regular NWP volunteers have been and will no doubt continue to be involved in this mammoth task. Finally, other jobs at Loxwood have included the installation of bank protection measures at Brewhurst winding hole by NWPG and the construction of a canoe landing stage above Brewhurst Lock by the NWP.
Other WACT groups also make a valuable contribution to the maintenance and improvement of the canal. The scope of volunteering opportunities on the canal is seemingly limitless.
Looking ahead to 2024, with work at Birtley and Loxwood completed for the time being, and with, hopefully, at least one of our many outstanding planning applications being granted, we plan to move on to a new project – more new restoration than maintenance. Even if we don’t, we know that there will always be work to do. Restoring a canal is one thing, keeping it open is another.
Bill Nicholson
We’re sorry to have to bring you the sad news that Neil Ritchie of the Cotswold Canals Trust has died.
Neil was a stalwart with the Trust for many years. In his role as work party coordinator many longstanding volunteers from WRG and other mobile groups will remember him being our contact and site leader from the early 1990s onwards - always accompanied by his mad collie dog - as we worked on restoring Boxwell Springs and Wildmoorway locks. He was always a pleasure to work with.
More recently WRG and CCT had reason to be thankful for his services in connection with his daytime job: he ran a company which made signs, and his handiwork has appeared in various canal-related places and adorned numerous WRG vans.
Our sympathies to everyone who knew him.
...to Inka (of London WRG) and Alex (formerly of IWA/WRG head office) on getting married.
...yes, sorry to mention it when it’s still October. But by the time the next Navvies comes out it might be a little late to remind those of you old-school folks who still receive large numbers of cards in the post to save the stamps rather than throwing them away. The WRG Stamp bank collects stamps of all types, from the normal ones on everyday post to any stamp collections no longer wanted, and sells them to dealers for funds to support canal restoration. Also collected are used inkjet and toner cartridges, mobile phones, aluminium cans and foil.
Send them to Steve & Mandy Morley at the WRG Stamp Bank, 33 Hambleton Grove, Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes MK4 2JS - or alternatively if you’re visiting the Buckingham Canal or are going to be in the area, save the cost of posting them by contacting them on steve@morleytowers.org.uk to arrange a handover.
The owners of restored 1937 Grand Union former working narrow boat Fulbourne, a group of people involving several active and former WRG volunteers (including the Navvies editor), have shares in the boat available and would welcome active and enthusiastic new members. If you’re interested, contact Tim Lewis on 07802 518094 or nbfulbourne@btinternet.com.
