montgomery canal

The canal campaigners who refused to let the Monty run dry

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Mark Lancaster

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June 12, 2026

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

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Web Editor

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June 11, 2026

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

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Web Editor

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October 29, 2025

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

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Mark Lancaster

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May 7, 2025

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

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Web Editor

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March 17, 2025

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

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Web Editor

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March 15, 2025

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

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Web Editor

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January 31, 2025

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

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Web Editor

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January 4, 2025

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

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Web Editor

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December 31, 2024

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

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Web Editor

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November 20, 2024

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

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Web Editor

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October 25, 2024

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

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Web Editor

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October 8, 2024

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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DONATION: For Restore the Montgomery Canal! group

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Web Editor

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September 13, 2024

Phil Pickin reports… HOT on the heels of the recent official opening of the Schoolhouse Bridge on the Montgomery Canal, the Restore the Montgomery Canal! group has announced a charity donation from the Weeping Cross Fund, which was set up in the will of David Tomlinson, a pioneer of the movement to restore neglected waterways.…
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ROTARIANS: Helping Montgomery Canal Volunteers

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Web Editor

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August 26, 2024

A COMMUNITY group is hoping to help speed up the closing of the Shropshire Gap. Enthusiastic members of Borderland Rotary have seen at first hand the work to restore the Montgomery Canal and, in particular, the section known as the Shropshire Gap which covers two miles from Crickheath Basin to Llanymynech. The group, which included…
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