CHARITY INSTALLS NEW LOCK GATES AS PART OF VITAL CONSERVATION WORK ON CHESHIRE’S CANALS

The Canal & River Trust has completed a programme of major maintenance and preservation works on Cheshire’s waterways to help keep the county’s historic canal network navigable and safe.

Lock gates have been replaced at several locks on the Llangollen Canal, Shropshire Union Canal and Trent & Mersey Canal, as part of a £1.2m programme of repairs and restoration across the North West region.

Works to install the new lock gates have been carried out at:

• Quoisley Lock, near Marbury, on the Llangollen Canal.
• Lock 10 at Audlem on the Shropshire Union Canal.
• Lock 76 near Dutton on the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Specialist teams at the Trust, the charity charged with the care of 2,000 miles of canals and river navigations in England and Wales, have been working to replace and repair the lock gates, which have reached the end of their 25-year lives.

They also worked to restore brickwork within the locks, ensuring they remain watertight and navigable for boats as well as helping to protect the historic structures from the increasing impacts of flooding and drought.

Each lock gate is individually designed and hand-built at one of the charity’s two specialist workshops, by skilled craftspeople using traditional techniques.

Jon Horsfall, regional director for the Canal & River Trust, said: 

“Winter is the time of year when the focus for our skilled specialists, including our in-house construction team, turns to delivering the larger maintenance and engineering projects that are essential to keeping our 250-year-old canal network open and alive.

“Cheshire’s 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.

“While millions of people use and visit the canals every week, perhaps they don’t stop to think about what it takes to look after them – or what we would lose if they were gone. Our canals cannot take care of themselves - keeping the nation’s canals open and safe requires millions of pounds. And the reality is, we cannot keep them alive without the support of boaters, our volunteers, supporters, and the wider public.” 

The works in Cheshire formed just part of the Trust’s vast, multi-million-pound endeavour to care for the nation’s 250-year-old man-made canal network. These essential works spanned 45 canals and rivers nationwide, including 137 separate projects at more than 100 locks, 14 bridges, two tunnels and a host of embankments, sluices, culverts and canal walls. The work, which spanned the length and breadth of the country, took place between November and March when there is less boating traffic.

To find out more about the Trust, including how you can support its vital work, go to: 

Canal & River Trust

Pictured - Quoisley Lock near Marbury - Llangollen Canal