New Compound, new era
“A superbly productive work party, aided by a handful of volunteers attending on Thursday for preparations in the new compound – but all of that later. First, a location map with explanations would be in order”, said Tom Fulda, Restoration project manager.
The current “Crickheath South” project from Crickheath Bridge (Bridge 85) to Schoolhouse Bridge (Bridge 86) was originally conceived as Phase 1A, Phase 1B (both delivered out of the Crickheath compound and now complete) and Phase 2 (to be delivered out of the Schoolhouse Bridge compound). As we will also be delivering the section from Bridge 86 to Bridge 87 – known locally as Malthouse Bridge – from the new compound, this section is now referred to as Phase 3. Phases 2 and 3 are shown green on the map below.
During this work party, we also worked in the wooded Waen Wen area – which stretches from Bridge 85 to where Penygarreg Lane turns away from the canal towards Pant. Where we worked this time is shown in dark orange on the map.
Bridge 85 to Bridge 86 is ½ mile, Bridge 86 to Bridge 87 is 1/5 mile and the Waen Wen area is ¼ mile. All of these sections are part of the “Shropshire Gap”, the two miles of unrestored canal in Shropshire from Crickheath South to the previously restored section at Llanymynech.
On Thursday, a wide variety of housekeeping jobs were undertaken to unpack and organise items from the move after the last work party. Most notable amongst these was assembly of the “new” welfare shelter. What had originally started as a few repairs of the previous shelter turned into a virtually complete rebuild with increased dimensions. Work continued through Friday but by the Saturday morning break, the job was complete and marked by guest of honour Thelma cutting a ribbon. Over the weekend, a water supply to the compound was established from Schoolhouse Bridge Cottage (thank you Chris and Julie) and a few remaining items were moved from the old compound to the new in Tim’s trailer (thank you Tim).
- Phase 2 - Before
- Phase 2 - After
On site, Friday started with an early morning visit from the ecologist to confirm that all the badger licence conditions had been met – there had been no activity – and we could proceed with removing the remaining setts in the Phase 2 channel. This was completed by Friday lunchtime. During the rest of the work party, tremendous progress was achieved in Phase 2 removing vegetation and small trees which, along with that generated last time, could now be burned thanks to recent rainfall reducing the wildfire risk.
By Sunday afternoon, all the material generated had been disposed of, together with some large stumps left over from previous work, and site strip completed in 240 metres of the 270 metre Phase 2 area. It has now been confirmed Phase 2 will be lined and blocked. Profiling the channel ready for this will start next month.
Although still well into the future, work must be done to develop the design for the Waen Wen area, in particular the basin where there will be a winding hole and moorings. This section of the channel is heavily wooded and in places almost impenetrable with undergrowth. To do the surveys and investigations required to inform the design, some clearance is required, and 130 metres of channel was cleared of undergrowth and small trees. Despite the recent wet weather, Friday and Saturday were sunny with a breeze and the neighbouring farmer requested we did not have a bonfire due to a remaining risk of wildfire. Instead, we continued with clearance and accumulated a large quantity of material by the bonfire site. It’s not often that we are grateful for wet weather but on Sunday, steady light rain developed in the morning allowing us to create a substantial bonfire and dispose of everything by the end of the day.
As ever, huge thanks are due to all those who helped.
Feature image: Welcome to our new compound
Visit: shropshireunion.org.uk
