montgomery canal

  • Scythe of the times: canal volunteers get back to nature

    Scythe of the times: canal volunteers get back to nature

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    Volunteers are turning back the clock at Aston Locks nature reserve on the Montgomery Canal, using traditional hand-held tools to manage the site in the spirit of the canal lengthsmen of a century ago. WORKING at Queens Head, near Oswestry, the group plans to rely only on non-motorised equipment such as scythes, loppers, billhooks and…

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  • Swans Forced ashore as invasive weed chokes The Monty

    Swans Forced ashore as invasive weed chokes The Monty

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    SWANS have reportedly been forced onto the towpath because an invasive plant has grown so thickly across the Montgomery Canal that they cannot get through. Now Glandŵr Cymru, the Canal & River Trust in Wales, is stepping up efforts to protect one of the nation’s most treasured waterways. Water soldier, an aquatic plant native to…

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  • The canal campaigners who refused to let the Monty run dry

    The canal campaigners who refused to let the Monty run dry

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    Sixty years after a last-ditch meeting in a Newport hotel, the Shropshire Union Canal Society is still fighting for the waterways of the historic Shropshire Union network – turning threatened closures into volunteer-powered restorations and keeping up the pressure to bridge the final ‘Shropshire Gap.’ THE Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS) began life on Wednesday,…

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  • Shropshire Union Canal Society – June 2026 work party report

    Shropshire Union Canal Society – June 2026 work party report

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    A very busy work party. 5 days, record volunteer numbers (again), multiple different activities. Apologies if this report is a little longer than normal. “June was the second successive work party with two days of preparation before the main work party started on Friday. And once again, two full days of profiling the channel was…

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  • MONTGOMERY CANAL: Interactive audio trail launched

    MONTGOMERY CANAL: Interactive audio trail launched

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    An audio trail telling the story of the rich heritage and wildlife of the two-century old Montgomery Canal has been created. VOICES of the Canal is the work of schoolchildren and members of the local community who have come together to create the trail for people to enjoy while exploring the canal or from home.…

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  • MONTGOMERY CANAL RESTORATION: Work continues apace

    MONTGOMERY CANAL RESTORATION: Work continues apace

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    VOLUNTEERS from the Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS) are inching the Crickheath section of the Montgomery Canal closer to Schoolhouse Bridge. During a recent work party, volunteers laid 3500 blocks to line the canal, completing 135 metres towards the bridge. Their work was approved by Jason Leach, head of external programme delivery at Canal &…

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  • BIODIVERSITY BOOST along towpath

    BIODIVERSITY BOOST along towpath

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    WORK to improve wildlife-rich hedgerow running along the Montgomery Canal is underway by Glandŵr Cymru, the Canal & River Trust in Wales.  Thanks to funding from the Local Places for Nature Fund, the initiative is part of the Putting Down Roots project. Volunteers have been undertaking hedge laying along the canal towpath between Newtown and…

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  • FREEZING WEATHER BRAVED for restoration project

    FREEZING WEATHER BRAVED for restoration project

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    HARDY volunteers from the Shropshire Union Canal Society braved freezing temperatures to ensure Montgomery Canal restoration work stayed on course. They managed to continue their work at Crickheath despite frozen ground preventing them from hedge planting and managed to clear a sizeable stretch of vegetation as part of the restoration plan. Tom Fulda, restoration project…

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  • CANAL SOCIETY looks back to the future

    CANAL SOCIETY looks back to the future

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    IT WAS a busy end of year for the Shropshire Union Canal Society with work parties, success on the Montgomery Canal and ghostly discoveries on the cut. A work party in December concentrated on hedge-laying at Crickheath, with volunteers putting in the final few hours of the year – taking the total for the society…

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  • COMPLETED EARLY: Canal restoration work

    COMPLETED EARLY: Canal restoration work

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    DEDICATED and hardworking volunteers from the Shropshire Union Canal Society have finished more vital work on the Montgomery Canal – months ahead of schedule. Using funding from the Rural Prosperity Fund grant, they completed a towpath, canal channel and hedge-laying. Working near the Crickheath and Schoolhouse Bridges, the volunteers completed the towpath and bank, channel…

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  • SAVED: ‘At risk’ Aqueduct

    SAVED: ‘At risk’ Aqueduct

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    AN AT-RISK aqueduct has been saved from falling into disrepair after Glandŵr Cymru, the Canal and River Trust in Wales, stepped in. The Grade-II Listed Aberbechan Aqueduct on the Montgomery Canal has had extensive repairs which should ensure its survival for the next 200 years.  The aqueduct carries the canal over Bechan Brook, a tributary…

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  • AQUEDUCT WORK: Boosts Canal Restoration

    AQUEDUCT WORK: Boosts Canal Restoration

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    REPAIR work on an aqueduct on the Montgomery Canal will aid wildlife and keep the canal restoration project pushing forward. Work has recently been completed on the Aberbechan Aqueduct, between the restored canal in Shropshire, which is connected to the national canal network, and the isolated Welshpool section north of Refail, near Berriew. Aberbechan Aqueduct…

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  • GHOST BOAT: Resurfaces on a Shropshire canal

    GHOST BOAT: Resurfaces on a Shropshire canal

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    RELICS of a ghost boat said to be haunted by its skipper have resurfaced during work to restore the Montgomery Canal. A digger working on the canal channel at Crickheath Tramway Wharf came across ironwork from a narrowboat deep in the earth. All the woodwork had long since rotted away but the iron skeleton remained…

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  • RESTORATION COMPLETE: England-Wales canal link edges closer to reopening

    RESTORATION COMPLETE: England-Wales canal link edges closer to reopening

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    The latest phase of the Montgomery Canal restoration project has been completed – bringing the dream of linking England and Wales via the closed waterway ever closer. THE latest phase of the Montgomery Canal restoration project has been completed – bringing the dream of linking the two countries via the closed waterway ever closer. Volunteers…

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