Canal restoration.

basil | 11/12/2005 | 2:04 pm
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    clearance of the Droitwich Barge Canal. We found a virtually dry canal comprising an eight mile long bramble bush lined and blocked with diseased and dying Elm trees.The towpath was impenetrable and a local told us it had been impassable for thirty years.
    Over the next ten years we cleared and burned all the obstacles. Over 1000 dead Elm trees between eight inches and eight feet in diameter were felled and the logs sold to raise funds for the purchase of equipment and fuel. We restored three Priestman Cub dragline excavators from scrap and laying a two foot gauge light railway using a First World War designed Simplex locomotive and hopper wagons some three hundred thousand tons of silt were removed and used to build up tow paths and spread and fill depressions in friendly farmers fields. The main work took place from Droitwich down to Lock 6 at Mildenham Mill.
    Having removed the bulk of the material and held all sorts of fund raising events we employed Mr Watkins from Leigh Sinton to ‘square up’ our work with his sophisticated draglines and dumpers.
    This created a sixty five foot wide by eight foot six inch deep canal.the six foot wide reed banks originally planted by Brindley as wash protection soon re-established themselves.
    Undertaking this work enabled us to start the detailed restoration work on the brick and stone work. Max
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    The first explority party March 1968 Droitwich Barge Canal.

    Currell brothers, Ian Bruce,young Ian Sinclair and Max
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    Clearing lock five, Droitwich Barge Canal.
    Letter from Max sent to the authority regarding the Barge Lock. Above the lock the canal ran in an arm parallel and close to the river for about 100 feet, this was there before the lock. A sluice allowed river water into the canal when the wooden guillotine sluice was lowered. The twerps from Severn Trent, against our advice, replaced this with a concrete weir, which now diverts the river, and an enormous tonnage of mud, into the canal. The Canal Company left this guillotine open until water was required or a narrow boat travelled along the Junction Canal. When the gate was lowered the Miller in the Town water mill would rush out as the water drowned his wheel and wrestle with the Lock keeper to try and lift it. The open gate washed the mud down the river, as it should do in the future. Other twerps from the council, without permission from the Trust, brought the flow of muddy water from Herriots pool, without a silt trap, into the basin through this arm which still exists under the grass. We removed some 300,000 tons of silt from the canal and I estimate the council drains have returned most of it over the last twenty years. The plans before and after the barge lock construction exist.
    Excuse my uncomplimentary language, I was a Civil Engineer once. No doubt I will hear from you again. Max

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    Geoff, Max and Bob recover disaster on Droitwich Barge Canal.

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    Repairing broken dragline, Droitwich Barge Canal.

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    Dorman Simplex Loco.

    For some years this Dorman Simplex First World War designed loco worked the canals two foot gauge dredging systems. Max

    These engines were designed and built by The Motor Rail and Tramcar Company of Bedford England. At least two other companies copied their designs.

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    The Simplex.

    A cutting was made through the embankment so that the Simplex loco could take the dredgings through to the fields. Max

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    Below Ladywood the canal started to appear as we taught ourselves draglining. Max

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    With the towpath cleared and access gained we could find the hidden locks under the brambles. Max

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    In 1973 over a thousand volunteers worked over an October weekend clearing the hundreds of tons of brambles and saplings which completely hid the waterway.
    They camped in village schools and halls and drank the Copcut Elm pub dry.This was the start of a long restoration which is at last moving to completion. New Locks are now being built on the Hanbury Road, either side of the motorway and soon work will start constructing a tunnel under the A449 at Hawford.
    Reed beds have been built to replace those which will be removed from the navigation.

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    Droitwich Barge Canal
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