THE Canal & River Trust has put the finishing touches to its substantial winter programme of repairs aimed at safeguarding the nation’s historic waterways.
The multi-million-pound maintenance operation, carried out between November and March to avoid the peak boating season, this year centred on replacing more than 100 worn-out lock gates, each nearing the end of its typical 25-year lifespan.
Specialist teams at the trust’s workshops in Stanley Ferry, Yorkshire, and Bradley, in the Midlands, design and hand-build every gate; no two locks are alike in width or depth, and the bespoke wooden structures can weigh as much as an adult Asian elephant.
Projects this winter included lock gate replacements at Sykehouse Lock on the New Junction Canal in South Yorkshire; six lock gate renewals on the Rochdale Canal in Manchester, funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery; a series of replacements along the Stoke Bruerne Lock Flight on the Grand Union Canal; and new gates at Hamstead Lock on the Kennet & Avon Canal, near Newbury.
Progress was challenged by one of the wettest winters in recent years. Severe flooding during Storm Claudia temporarily halted the lock gate replacement at Bank Dole Lock on the Aire & Calder Navigation, although teams recovered lost time within weeks. Additional projects along the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal were delayed by flooding, freezing conditions and high winds.
Malcolm Horne, the trust’s chief infrastructure and programmes officer, warned: “Canals are centuries-old working heritage and, with rising costs, climate pressures and more extreme weather events, the challenge of keeping them in good condition for navigation has never been greater. Millions of people use the canals every week, but many don’t realise what it takes to maintain them – or what would be lost if they disappeared. Our canals cannot take care of themselves.”
Among the more unusual statistics from this winter’s works, 14 lock gates collected from the Stanley Ferry workshop weighed the same as three London buses and, placed end-to-end, would nearly match the length of an Olympic swimming pool. The new gates for Bank Dole Lock weigh 4300kg, roughly the weight of an adult Asian elephant.
