Water could flow under 'saved' Stonehouse bridge on the Stroudwater Canal

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Water could flow under 'saved' Stonehouse bridge


Westfield canal bridge still exists, but now stands alone in the middle of a field

A bridge, which was saved from demolition as part of a campaign when the M5 motorway was built, could soon have water flowing underneath it again.

Westfield canal bridge near Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, was saved in 1969 by a woman who stood on it for a day to prevent workmen from blowing it up.

A scheme to restore the Stroudwater Canal includes plans to reinstate the waterway beneath it. A ^15m bid for Heritage Lottery cash for the project has begun.

The Cotswold Canals Partnership is behind the bid, which would allow a section of the canal to be restored through to Saul Junction by 2020, at a total cost of ^20m.

Work will include burrowing beneath the Bristol to Birmingham railway line and ducking below the M5 with a new cutting being created alongside the River Frome.


The Stroudwater canal has been partially restored but currently ends in a dead end near the bridge

Westfield canal bridge still exists but now stands alone in the middle of a field.

It was saved from demolition by local woman Christine Hearsey, who made local history by defying contractors who had been ordered to blow it up it to make way for a link road to the new motorway. As a result of her actions the road was built nearby instead.

A six-week public consultation has begun and the final application for funding will be submitted in November.

The scheme is part of the ongoing project to restore the seven mile-long (12 km) Stroudwater Navigation and the 29 mile-long (46km) Thames and Severn Canal.

When completed, it will see the connection of the River Thames and the River Severn for the first time in more than 70 years.

[patch38]

When completed, it will see the connection of the River Thames and the River Severn for the first time in more than 70 years.

And it could also form part of a future plan to supply London with much-needed water by shifting water from the Severn to the Thames via the canal, saving pipeline and reservoir costs while assisting with another worthwhile canal restoration.

CCT details at www.cotswoldcanals.com (with apologies for the gratuitous plug - I admit to being a member!)

[Richard Fairhurst]

Just for the fun of it, a few historic pics of the Cotswold Canals from a book in my collection:

[Bmblbzzz]

Good news. I'd love to walk or cycle all the way from Saul Junction to ^ well, into Stroud would be great, beyond would be even better!

I think this Westfield bridge is the one beyond (to the west of) the William Morris place at Eastington? Or is it another one?

[Bmblbzzz]

Ok, having checked on google earth, yes, it is. It also looks as if the A419 between the M5 and A38 was built, in part at least, over the course of the old canal.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Indeed. Here's a few more details on the Phase 1b restoration to which the HLF bid relates: http://www.cotswoldcanals.net/phase_1b.php

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Derelict lock gates at Saul Junction removed

Four derelict lock gates have been removed from a lock at Saul Junction on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.

The work was part of a ^210,000 Canal and River Trust project to revamp the 200-year-old lock, near Stroud.

It is part of a wider scheme which aims to restore the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal, which will eventually reconnect the River Thames with the River Severn.

[Bmblbzzz]

Good to see some progress.

Meanwhile, just to show you can't do any transport-related project without someone complaining, a few miles further east:
http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/14286532.Family_blame_canal_restoration_work_as_their_Thrupp_garden_slips_towards_the_water/

[Richard Fairhurst]

And an update on the Heritage Lottery Fund bid to join Stroud to the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal:

http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/pages/posts/heritage-lottery-fund-visit-report-830.php

Really rooting for a successful bid here. The Phase 1A section (Stonehouse and Stroud) will be perfectly pleasant when restored, but it will essentially be an isolated pond with a handful of locks on it. Very few boaters are going to make the effort to get their boats trucked across for six miles of cruising - just those with fibreglass Wilderness trailboats and a handful of canoeists.

But connect it to the national network at Saul Junction, so that the 30,000 boats on the Canal & River Trust network can just cruise straight in, and now you're talking. When the boats come, the canal comes alive, to everyone's benefit.

We had a great wave of canal restoration 15 years ago thanks to the Millennium Commission: the Forth & Clyde and Union canals, the Rochdale, the Huddersfield Narrow, the Ribble Link, the Anderton Lift. Since then we've only really had one major reopening (the Droitwich). The Cotswold Canals are the biggest prize right now - an HLF award would do so much to get them on their way.

[Bmblbzzz]

That's interesting. Three questions, if I may:
Why is the bridge at on Whitminster Lane called Walk Bridge?
How will connecting the Saul Junction stub to the rest of the canal make a connection to the national network? AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know) the Sharpness Canal only connects Sharpness to Gloucester and doesn't link to any other canals at either end; is the idea that boats will access it via the Severn upstream of Gloucester?
And is the lottery decision a simple yes/no or can they decide to award a part of the requested ^15 million?

[grahame]

Connection to rest of network - yes - initially via Gloucester and Sharpness canal to Gloucester, then the river Severn to Worcester, Hawford or Stourport.  For a suitably powered boat, shouldn't be a problem ... though great care needed upstream of Gloucester and I wouldn't tackle that at times of high river flow or anticipated high flow.

Eventually (but these "eventuallies" do happen in the canal work!) it will also connect via Stroud and Sapperton Tunnel to the Thames at Cricklade; further possibilities include a restored North Wilts Canal to a restored Wilts and Berks ( that work ongoing at present, but some years from completion )

[Bmblbzzz]

The reopening of the Sapperton Tunnel is like nuclear fusion. Always thirty years off.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Connection to rest of network - yes - initially via Gloucester and Sharpness canal to Gloucester, then the river Severn to Worcester, Hawford or Stourport.  For a suitably powered boat, shouldn't be a problem ... though great care needed upstream of Gloucester and I wouldn't tackle that at times of high river flow or anticipated high flow.

We moor at Diglis Basin in Worcester and have done the Severn above Gloucester a few times now. Going downstream, the only tricky bit is the entrance to Gloucester Lock itself, and if you phone ahead then the lockie gets the gates open for you. Upstream it depends on the current - we did it when the level was on orange last year, and absolutely crawled through the Partings (the section from Gloucester Lock to Maisemore); I don't think we managed more than 1.5mph even at full revs. But once we got out onto the main channel things were easier, even with our little 1-litre engine.

Sapperton is (he says glibly) a simple matter of applying money to the problem. The Fuller's Earth which caused the various collapses is a known quantity, and modern tunnelling techniques should prove up to the challenge of keeping it in good order. But it'll require major lottery funding, and there's no point applying for that until the other sections of the two canals are done. In particular, progress on the eastern side (Lechlade-Sapperton) has been much more tentative so far than that in the west.

For the current bid, I believe that HLF could choose to award a lesser grant than that applied for, but given that this would require rescoping the project and (probably) therefore failing to achieve the connection between Phase 1A and the G&S, I'd think it unlikely. As for Walk Bridge, no idea I'm afraid!

[ellendune]

The reopening of the Sapperton Tunnel is like nuclear fusion. Always thirty years off.

I thought Nuclear fusion was always 40 years off has it progressed?

[johnneyw]

The ITER project in southern France is building a prototype fusion reactor. It,s a multi continental colabouration.