Restoration Blog

Inglesham Lock

by: Jon P.

Ever wondered about what's happening in the Far East - not rioting in Hong Kong, or the activities of Huawei, but the restoration of Inglesham Lock?   Well, the last year has brought a frenzy of activity from volunteers of the Waterway recovery Group and the lock chamber is now 99% complete.   Work has required both sides of the lock chamber to be demolished down to water level (same as the Thames) and a full rebuild completed in new bricks and concrete blocks.   In addition, the stone used for copings, hinge and plain quoins is quite poor, so quite a few of these have had to be replaced.   There's still a bit of debris from the rebuilding to remove from the base of the lock, together with some work around the spill weir.   

So, what happens next?   The eventual plan is to install a landing stage below the lock to allow boats to enter from the Thames.   It is also proposed to install a back pumping system to allow the 400m of CCT-owned canal above the lock to be filled with water.   Every Thursday evening, CCT volunteers from the A419 to Kempsford group have been busy clearing the canal bed.   This is hard work, as there's 90 to 100 years of neglect and dereliction, with fallen trees down across the bed, but we are getting there.   We've already reached the far (southern!)end on the western bank, and we're working back along the bed. 

The final photo shows Alan and Tony attacking opposite ends of one of several fallen trees - Alan is on the offside bank and Tony is down in the canal bed!   

A reminder that Inglesham Lock isn't accessible to the public and access is via private property, so all work parties have to be notified to the owner of the Round House. If you fancy coming to join us, we're there every Thursday from 5pm - contact Jon Pontefract on 07986 351412 or jon.pontefract@stroud.gov.uk